IN SUMMER 1974 I set off from London on a grand tour of the Muslim world.
Starting in Morocco, I travelled through North Africa, Arabia and Asia to
Indonesia, hopping from country to country. It took me three years. In each
country, I visited research centres, universities and laboratories, hunting out
science wherever I could find it.
When I got home I published my first book, although this was not the reason
for my expedition. My original motive had been to examine a couple of
assertions, frequently stated as truths, that were commonly made in the
literature of the history…
