Lost Enlightenment

Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane

By: S. Frederick Starr

Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell

In this rich and sweeping history, S. Frederick Starr tells the fascinating but largely unknown story of Central Asia's medieval enlightenment through the eventful lives and astonishing accomplishments of its greatest minds - remarkable figures who built a bridge to the modern world. Because nearly all of these figures wrote in Arabic, they were long assumed to have been Arabs. In fact, they were from Central Asia - drawn from the Persianate and Turkic peoples of a region that today extends from Kazakhstan southward through Afghanistan, and from the easternmost province of Iran through Xinjiang, China.

Lost Enlightenment recounts how, between the years 800 and 1200, Central Asia led the world in trade and economic development, the size and sophistication of its cities, the refinement of its arts, and, above all, in the advancement of knowledge in many fields. Central Asians achieved signal breakthroughs in astronomy, mathematics, geology, medicine, chemistry, music, social science, philosophy, and theology, among other subjects. They gave algebra its name, calculated the earth's diameter with unprecedented precision, wrote the books that later defined European medicine, and penned some of the world's greatest poetry.

One scholar, working in Afghanistan, even predicted the existence of North and South America - five centuries before Columbus. Rarely in history has a more impressive group of polymaths appeared at one place and time. No wonder that their writings influenced European culture from the time of St. Thomas Aquinas down to the scientific revolution, and had a similarly deep impact in India and much of Asia.

Lost Enlightenment chronicles this forgotten age of achievement, seeks to explain its rise, and explores the competing theories about the cause of its eventual demise. Informed by the latest scholarship yet presented in a lively and accessible style, this is a book that will surprise general listeners and specialists alike.

©2013 Princeton University Press (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Impressively follows up an interesting claim

What made the experience of listening to Lost Enlightenment the most enjoyable?

Mr. Starr paints a very interesting picture of Central Asia (say, modernly, eastern Iran through the -stan countries and western China) and for very many centuries. He does not fail his claim that the region has a "Lost Enlightenment." The numerous parallels to the better known European Enlightenment are most striking: right down to the Brethren of Purity as a rough counterpart to the 18th century Masons (my comparison, not his). The huge debt which world civilization would seem to owe the nowadays-obscure region is most impressive. And at any rate you can be confident it's a good read if you did click for pre-modern Central Asia with any idea that the subject could interest you.

What did you like best about this story?

It's always particularly titillating to learn about a time and place you know little about.I'd wonder that any Central Asian specialists browse the book on audible, so I think it's sure to be fresh to anyone who might hear it.

Have you listened to any of Kevin Stillwell’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I had not heard Mr. Stillwell before. I thought his intonation was maybe the slightest bit idiosyncratic in how often it gave a questioning lilt, but it certainly wasn't anything objectionable: endearing after a while, even.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I think this question disregards the length of the work. I listened to it without listening to anything else.

Legendary unique in both prospect and details

This masterpiece surpassed all my expectations in all aspects of Central Asian intellectual history. Truly a MUST read!

Great

Loved the history and brought me back to college days when I studied this stuff.

Thorough Account of an Overlooked Age and Area

One of the great ironies in intellectual history is that the knowledge of ancient Greece was largely lost to Europe in the early Middle Ages, but was saved in the Islamic world and then reintroduced to Europe through Moslem Spain. This book gives great insight into the middle leg of that story in a thorough and accessible manner. Starr sets out to explain the rise of the Central Asian Enlightenment, describe all its glories, and then explain its decline.

Central Asia, in the centuries both before and during its Enlightenment, was at the crossroads of vast commercial activities. These included the famous Silk Road to China, as well as routes to India, the Middle East and Europe. Starr focuses on how Central Asia was able to use the interactions and wealth brought by such trade to create an intellectual class. This class was both familiar and comfortable with different cultures and languages and was also used to serving as middlemen between different peoples and cultures. Those intellectuals took the ancient knowledge, sifted it through the other influences of the region, integrated it with knowledge from India and China and made substantial contributions of their own.

The book contrasts the acme of the Central Asian Enlightenment with the comparative backwardness of Europe at the time and then further contrasts the opposite trajectories in intellectual history each area subsequently followed.

Starr argues that religious dogmatism and conflict were prime causes of the decline in the Central Asian Enlightenment. While outside the scope of this book, Starr’s other comparisons of Central Asia and Europe lead to the fascinating question of why European intellectuals were able to escape the intellectual conformity imposed, frequently quite violently, by the Roman Catholic Church, which was even more organized and bureaucratic than Islam, while those in Central Asia could not do so.

Wow what a thorough and well written book!

Obviously the subject of Central Asia is a very niche subject, so trying to find a good book on the area made me hesitant, but this book far surpassed my expectations. The author gives such an extensive background on the area and relates how these events effect other things. History is interconnected and this relates that. Sometimes he gives a little too much detail for the average reader but that is what makes this book so awesome because you learn SO much. This book might be a little over a beginner's head but still is fantastic.

But overall, fantastic book and would highly recommend for anyone who is interested in the subject. I would be surprised to find another book that covers this area and this time so thoroughly and in such an entertaining fashion.

It clarifies the processes of thought

I have come to know if this book from Dr. Adib Farhadi. He is a teacher of mine and a direct student of Dr. Starr. I would call it a best advice from my teacher. Because the book delves into the nuances of the central Asian enlightenment. It clears the shroud of misconceptions on the great minds of that era. Taking an approach through economy, the book lays some fundamental questions regarding the rise and fall of intellectual cultures.
As there are several factors at play in the rise of intellectual cultures same goes for the fall of them. But it seemed to me that there are no certain factors that doubtlessly come at play. Rather like Ibn Khaldun pointed out, it follows a sign curve. Starting from the discussion of ancient maestro reaches to the zenith of original ideas and ground breaking thoughts. The decline entails the mere commentaries and debate on the ideas of the zenith.
The book paints a detailed picture of the genius works and time of central Asian intellectual culture. A culture that allowed a vibrant but dialectic freedom of thought.
A must read for those that seek knowledge for he sake of it. As it will give a methodical insight to the challenges of free knowledge seeking.

A great through history that is rarely covered

Great narration!

Another great story of what might have been... The lessons are timely today and I suspect will be as well as 300 years.

enlightening read!

great book! very detailed yet easy to follow. opens up a whole new world for the average person.

Excellent overview of a remarkable age

I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a broad overview of one the most fascinating and overlooked regions of the world. So much of our understanding of places in Central Asia (including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc.) is colored by very recent events. To hear about some of the great scientists, astronomers, engineers, poets, generals, and statesmen from this one region over such a long period of time was eye opening to say the least. This book will change the way you view Central Asia.
Some parts of the book can get a bit dry, but having the pertinent background to some of these stories is necessary to understand the overall arc of the history. Also some names tended to crop up repeatedly and I would be temporarily confused as to whether the author was moving backwards in time or whether a particular person was a namesake of an earlier historic figure.
I highly recommend pairing this book with Lars Brownworth's "Lost to the West" which is a very good overview of a similar time period in the lands just to the West of Central Asia. Both books cover histories that should be given more prominence in Western education, especially since much of the golden ages of these civilizations occurred during the so-called Dark Ages of the West.

Must read book

This is one of those paradigm shifting books that is very important to read. It is thoroughly researched and helped me understand about the decline of Islamic civilization and why we are in the predicament today.