{"product_id":"wonders-and-rarities-the-marvelous-book-that-traveled-the-world-and-mapped-the-cosmos-9780674299337","title":"Wonders and Rarities: The Marvelous Book That Traveled the World and Mapped the Cosmos","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Like al-Qazwīnī himself, Travis Zadeh has written a deliciously baggy tome, full of delights and diversions in its tour of the cosmic horizons. This is a book to get lost in, whether one wants to or not.\" --Nile Green, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"As Zadeh concludes, reformers and modernists have closed the rich and varied archive revealed in \u003ci\u003eWonders and Rarities\u003c\/i\u003e...In this beautifully written and engaging text, Zadeh takes his readers back to the world of surprise and enchantment that preceded this closure.\"--Malise Ruthven, \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times \u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"This book about a book, like the book it describes, is a rare and marvelous thing.\" --Justin Marozzi, \u003ci\u003eThe Spectator \u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDuring the thirteenth century, the Persian naturalist and judge Zakariyyāʾ Qazwīnī authored what became one of the most influential works of natural history in the world: \u003ci\u003eWonders and Rarities.\u003c\/i\u003e Exploring the dazzling movements of the stars above, the strange minutiae of the minerals beneath the earth, and everything in between, Qazwīnī offered a captivating account of the cosmos. \u003ci\u003eWonders and Rarities\u003c\/i\u003e inspired generations as it traveled through madrasas and courts, unveiling the magical powers of nature. But Qazwīnī's compendium eventually came to stand as a strange, if beautiful, emblem of medieval ignorance. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRestoring Qazwīnī to his place as a herald of the rare and astonishing, Travis Zadeh dramatically revises the place of wonder in the history of Islamic philosophy, science, and literature. Wonder provided an enduring way to conceive of the world--at once constituting an affective reaction, an aesthetic stance, a performance of piety, and a cognitive state. Yet through the course of colonial modernity, Qazwīnī's universe of marvels helped advance the notion that Muslims lived in a timeless world of superstition and enchantment, unaware of the western hemisphere or the earth's rotation around the sun. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRecovering Qazwīnī's ideas and his reception, Zadeh invites us into a forgotten world of thought, where wonder mastered the senses through the power of reason and the pleasure of contemplation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Travis Zadeh\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harvard University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/08\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 464\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.20h x 5.50w x 1.30d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674299337","brand":"Harvard University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44383849152649,"sku":"9780674299337","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_16ce6221-8cfc-4cfc-b435-fd96c5916beb.jpg?v=1752013353","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/wonders-and-rarities-the-marvelous-book-that-traveled-the-world-and-mapped-the-cosmos-9780674299337","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}