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Above, Al-Biruni as depicted by Russian currency in 1973. From Al-Biruni's Wikipedia page. 1. Al-Biruni was a very unique person. This book follows Al-Biruni through his life, and it is quite an interesting one. Al-Biruni is considered a polymath, meaning that he was an expert in a multitude of different fields. However, even among other polymaths, the extent of his knowledge was absolutely astounding. He was an expert in mathematics, physics, medicine, poetry, linguistics, history, astronomy, religion, and much more. He could also speak many different languages. The most impressive fact about him is that he also managed to make major contributions in almost every field he studied, making him a very important scholar and scientist. His life and his studies are very interesting and will keep you sucked in. 2. He is a lesser-known historical figure. Let's be honest, most of you have probably never heard of Al-Biruni before this blog post. However, he was an important scientist...

Benazir Bhutto was one of the towering and ground-breaking political figures of the late-20th and early-21st centuries. As the first female to be elected as the leader of any Islamic nation, she and her party brought reform to Pakistan and fought for the equality of many groups. I decided to read Daughter of Destiny over spring break to learn more about her life and although its not a perfect literary masterpiece, there are many reasons why one should read this book. I will also highlight some of the flaws that this book has but please do not let that discourage you from reading this book. Daughter of Destiny   is a political memoir written by Benazir Bhutto about her life starting from her youth to her election as Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1988. The book starts off with Benazir's childhood and details about her aristocratic family. She grew up surrounded by politics and societal change - her own mother, an Iranian Shia Muslim, was modern for her day and didn't mak...

1. It’s a page-turner. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey is book two in the Mysterious Benedict Society series and details a global scavenger hunt set up for four intelligent kids. However, the mastermind and mentor behind the scavenger hunt, Mr. Benedict, vanishes, leaving the children to track him down with evil pursuers on their tails. Most of all, the villain behind the mysterious disappearance, Mr. Curtain, has grand plans for a world “takeover” using knowledge only Mr. Benedict possesses. Despite the story having a stereotypical protagonist-antagonist “duel,” the story seems to build around the kids’ constantly evolving ideas, and the plot and clues provided by Mr. Benedit are never clear enough to predict the ending of the story. 2. The main characters are relatable - they’re kids! Throughout the book, they face constant scrutiny because they are kids. Despite their efforts, nothing seems to go their way (sometimes I feel that way too). For examp...

Recently, I read 112 Mercer Street: Einstein, Russell, Godel, Pauli, and the End of Innocence in Science by Burton Feldman . The book revolved around the philosophy and life of the physicist Albert Einstein, mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell, logician Kurt Godel, and the quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli. The four of them met during the years of World War II to discuss philosophy and science which they were at Princeton, away from the war in Europe. Although it is not know what they talked about in their meetings, Feldman gives an outlook on each of their lives and views and from that we can infer what they would have talked about. Here are three reasons to read 112 Mercer Street : 1. The book provides insight into the lives of some of the most eminent scholars of the 20th-century. Before reading this book, I knew a lot of Einstein's life and a bit about Russell's life but I had never heard of Godel or Pauli. The first half of the book describes their lives and th...

The Canon of Medicine  can teach you just as much about history as it does medicine. Ibn Sina wrote this book during the Islamic Golden Age, which was around the 8th to 14th centuries. This book specifically was written during the early years of the 11th century. This book was so successful and accurate that it was used in universities around Europe until 6 centuries after Ibn Sina's death. However, this book can also be a primary source when it comes to analyzing the time period of the Golden Age of Islam as well as the change in medical knowledge over time. By looking at this book and comparing the information presented or the explanations given for certain phenomena with our modern-day understandings of these topics, we see that doctors and physicians during Avicenna's time were actually not wrong. Something interesting which piqued my interest was that while the methods used to treat certain problems were accurate, such as massages for muscle soreness, the book would n...

Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan intertwines the stories of three musically gifted children who are exceptional harmonica players. Friedrich in Nazi Germany, Mike in the Great Depression, and Ivy during World War II share uniquely captivating stories. The characters experience hardships and discrimination and are forced to cope in their everyday lives. The musical prodigies, however, are unaware that they are fulfilling a prophecy set in motion by a mysterious young boy named Otto.  On the surface, Friedrich is a normal schoolboy in Nazi Germany. However, his family hides their jewish sympathy and even keeps medical secrets from Friedrich, which causes life to become increasingly difficult after Friedrich’s sister declares her allegiance towards Hitler. Friedrich, an apprentice in a harmonica factory, discovers a mysterious harmonica with an M engraved on it. To cope with his increasingly dangerous circumstances, Friedrich loses himself in music and is known to his peers as “monster ...

Quite recently, I read A Mathematician's Apology , an essay written in 1940 by the famous English mathematician, G.H. Hardy. The essay serves as sort of a "defense" for Hardy, with his concern being to explain to the regular layman why he spent his entire life doing mathematics and discuss the beauty and satisfaction that mathematics provides. Hardy wrote this essay when he was 62, which was when his mathematical prowess was slowly dying down. Hardy uses this essay to explain why his branch of mathematics, number theory, is the most beautiful branch of mathematics as back then, it barely had any practical use and mathematicians who would practice number theory mostly did so for the aesthetics of it. Hardy believed that branches of mathematics whose findings could be applied to real life and had any practice use were ugly and dull He says that applied mathematics would give material satisfaction but in the long run, doing pure mathematics that only possesses mathematical ...