An intriguing overview of a unique approach to reading the Quran.
A short introduction to the author’s interpretation of the Muslim holy book, the Quran.
The author has written a number of other books on “decoding” the Quran’s meaning. Here he presents a brief overview of his theory, centered on his understanding of the meaning of the letter “B” as used in the Quran’s text. In his interpretation, Allah is seen not as a distinct entity but rather part of everything—an idea drawn from the Muslim mystic tradition of Sufism, which the author practices. Hulusi emphasizes the Quran’s metaphorical nature, and he blames the proliferation of sects within Islam on the tendency of some scholars to read those metaphors literally—as rules rather than frameworks for understanding esoteric concepts. For example, he writes that a verse commonly interpreted as permitting multiple wives in fact refers not to spouses but to “connected souls.” All the Quranic verses here are rendered in English, but the author asserts that the text can only be correctly interpreted in the original Arabic, where it is free from misunderstandings and inaccuracies contributed by translators. After several introductory essays, he includes a list of all the Quranic names for God, with explanations of the meanings of each, and a selection of verses from the Quran. The author’s passion for his subject is evident, and not only because of his frequent use of exclamation points. He tries hard to render a complex topic understandable to laypeople, and largely succeeds, although it may still be difficult for readers to make sense of some of the interpretations. Overall, the book is likely to appeal to those interested in ideas about the Quran and Islam that fall outside of the mainstream.
An intriguing overview of a unique approach to reading the Quran.Pub Date: Nov. 20, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615728971
Page Count: 116
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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