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Michael Cook (1) (1940–)

Author of The Koran: A Very Short Introduction

For other authors named Michael Cook, see the disambiguation page.

Michael Cook (1) has been aliased into M. A. Cook.

10+ Works 1,272 Members 12 Reviews 1 Favorited

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Image credit: Prof. Michael Cook (photo courtesy of Princeton University)

Works by Michael Cook

Works have been aliased into M. A. Cook.

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Works have been aliased into M. A. Cook.

The Origins and Diversity of Axial Age Civilizations (1986) — Contributor — 12 copies

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A Brief History of the Human Race by Michael Cook
A nice overview, with welcome updates on details that have been uncovered since I left school, and areas that I simply know less about.
 
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Kiramke | 4 other reviews | Jun 27, 2023 |
The Koran: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short… by Michael Cook
I was initially enthusiastic, but it turns out I was just enthusiastic to be reading something on the topic; a friend and I discussed the book, and he's right, it's just okay. Cook's decision to tell the story backwards is terrible, and makes everything harder to understand. He does deal with a lot of material, and this is probably a solid enough place to start, but most of what I learned was general stuff about Islam, not about the Quran itself.
 
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stillatim | 3 other reviews | Oct 23, 2020 |
A brief history of the human race by M. A. Cook
Despite the fact that Cook does an exellent job of taking us through all of the myriad cultures of the world, and asking what happened there and why (much of the time the answer is 'geography'), I did not like this book. I did like his summary of one Arab ethnographer's reasoning behind differences in peoples: the dumb-blonde theory (northern lattitudes produce "blonde and stupid" people while southern lattitude light levels produce "black and foolish" peoples, explaining why peoples from the middle range lattitudes have moderate skin tones and the sciences.
I particularly disliked his use of Britain as a model country: why not one of the Scandinavian island nations, which by most measures does even better for lawfullness, stable government and economic well-being?

Turns out that Cook, like Armstrong, ( please read also: [b:Islam: A Short History|27306|Islam A Short History|Karen Armstrong|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403181902s/27306.jpg|131885]
by Karen Armstrong ) is a scholar of Islamic history in particular.… (more)
 
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FourFreedoms | 4 other reviews | May 17, 2019 |
A Brief History of the Human Race by Michael Cook
Despite the fact that Cook does an exellent job of taking us through all of the myriad cultures of the world, and asking what happened there and why (much of the time the answer is 'geography'), I did not like this book. I did like his summary of one Arab ethnographer's reasoning behind differences in peoples: the dumb-blonde theory (northern lattitudes produce "blonde and stupid" people while southern lattitude light levels produce "black and foolish" peoples, explaining why peoples from the middle range lattitudes have moderate skin tones and the sciences.
I particularly disliked his use of Britain as a model country: why not one of the Scandinavian island nations, which by most measures does even better for lawfullness, stable government and economic well-being?

Turns out that Cook, like Armstrong, ( please read also: [b:Islam: A Short History|27306|Islam A Short History|Karen Armstrong|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403181902s/27306.jpg|131885]
by Karen Armstrong ) is a scholar of Islamic history in particular.… (more)
 
Flagged
ShiraDest | 4 other reviews | Mar 6, 2019 |
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Albert Hourani Book Award
Waldo G. Leland Prize

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