An exhaustive resource for believers, a fun diversion for others.
A reference guide to Jinn, the supernatural beings central to Islamic cosmology.
Invisible to humans, Jinn, sometimes called genies or djinn, loom large in Islamic theology. According to the Quran, they are creatures Allah formed from fire, unlike humans, who were constructed from clay. According to Ahmad, Jinn frequently interact with humans, but rarely in positive ways. He says that while some jinn are devout Muslims, others are evil demons, including the most evil Jinn of all: Iblis, known in the West as Satan. Evil Jinn–which appear in a variety of forms, including ghosts, vampires and demons–delight in causing problems for humans. Ahmad claims that some wicked Jinn even fall in love with humans and use deceptive tactics to have sex with them with predictably disastrous results (for the humans anyway). Not all Jinn are evil, however, and this book includes a chapter about the various ways good Jinn can aid humans. The author draws primarily from the Quran and other sacred Islamic sources to present this overview. To the average non-Muslim reader, the most interesting sections are bound to be the collected Jinn stories that Ahmad has culled from the Quran, but these readers are likely to find his more conjectural musings somewhat suspicious. Less skeptical readers interested in the supernatural will appreciate the author’s efforts to tie Jinn to more traditional Western-oriented paranormal topics, including UFOs and the Bermuda Triangle. Doubters–a group that probably includes most potential readers–will raise an incredulous eyebrow toward these “unseen beings,” but they’re still likely to appreciate this look at unorthodox religious views from another culture’s perspective. Although this book does feel repetitive at times, it’s at least well written and often entertaining.
An exhaustive resource for believers, a fun diversion for others.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2008
ISBN: 37.00
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Elegant essays marked by surprising shifts and unexpected connections.
Largely autobiographical meditations and wanderings through landscapes external and internal.
National Book Critics Circle Award–winner Solnit (River of Shadows: Edward Muybridge and the Technological Wild West, 2003, etc.) roams through a large territory here. The book cries out for an explanatory subtitle: “field guide” shouldn’t be taken as a literal description of these eclectic memories, keen observations and provocative musings. Four of Solnit’s essays have the same title, “The Blue of Distance,” but the first segues from the blue in Renaissance paintings to a turquoise blouse the author wore as a child, then to the blue of distance seen on a walk across the drought-shrunken Great Salt Lake. The second presents Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish explorer who wandered for years in the Americas, and then several white children taken captive by Indians; their stories demonstrate that a person can cease to be lost not only by returning, but also by turning into someone else. The third blue essay explores the world of country and western music, full of tales of loss and longing. The fourth introduces the eccentric artist Yves Klein, who patented the formula for his special electric blue paint and claimed to be launching a new Blue Age. How does it all fit in? Don’t ask, just enjoy, for Solnit is a captivating writer. Woven in and out of these four pieces and the five others that alternate with them are Solnit’s immigrant ancestors, lost friends, former lovers, favorite old movies, her own dreams, the house she grew up in, harsh deserts, animals on the edge of extinction and abandoned buildings. All become material for the author’s explorations of loss, losing and being lost.
Elegant essays marked by surprising shifts and unexpected connections.Pub Date: July 11, 2005
ISBN: 0-670-03421-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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