The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu

Posted on 17 June 2017 by Joshua Hammer

To save ancient Arabic texts from Al Qaeda, a band of librarians pulls off a brazen heist worthy of Ocean s Eleven in this fast paced narrative that is part intellectual history, part geopolitical tract, and part out and out thriller The Washington Post.In the 1980s, a young adventurer and collector for a government library, Abdel Kader Haidara, journeyed across the Sahara Desert and along the Niger River, tracking down and salvaging tens of thousands of ancient Islamic and secular manuscripts that were crumbling in the trunks of desert shepherds His goal to preserve this crucial part of the world s patrimony in a gorgeous library But then Al Qaeda showed up at the door Part history, part scholarly adventure story, and part journalist survey.Joshua Hammer writes with verve and expertise The New York Times Book Review about how Haidara, a mild mannered archivist from the legendary city of Timbuktu, became one of the world s greatest smugglers by saving the texts from sure destruction With bravery and patience, Haidara organized a dangerous operation to sneak all 350,000 volumes out of the city to the safety of southern Mali His heroic heist has all the elements of a classic adventure novel The Seattle Times , and is a reminder that ordinary citizens often do the most to protect the beauty of their culture His the story is one of a man who, through extreme circumstances, discovered his higher calling and was changed forever by it. New Download The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu By Joshua Hammer For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr This book really isn t what the title or description led me to believe what it s about It s ostensibly about Abdel Kader Haidara who collected thousands of centuries old Islamic and other texts in Mali and then attempted to keep them safe from Al Qaeda as they took control of much of Mali It does obviously include that story, but it really so concentrates on the war and Al Qaeda There are long chunks of the book that seem to never mention Haidara or the books at all If you were intereste This book really isn t what the title or description led me to believe what it s about It s ostensibly about Abdel Kader Haidara who collected thousands of centuries old Islamic and other texts in Mali and then attempted to keep them safe from Al Qaeda as they took control of much of Mali It does obviously include that story, but it really so concentrates on the war and Al Qaeda There are long chunks of the book that seem to never mention Haidara or the books at all If you were interested in read...This book was recently mentioned in the ALA Think Tank Facebook group, so I imagine every library and librarian in America will end up with this book I wonder how many of us could have done what this librarian did The title of this book covers just about everything the book is about, in a nutshell I learned a lot about the early medieval literary of north Africa, which makes sense considering Egypt is not far, but I did not know much about the manuscripts and academic culture covering centur This book was recently mentioned in the ALA Think Tank Facebook group, so I imagine every library and librarian in America will end up with this book I wonder how many of us could have done what this librarian did The title of this book covers just about everything the book is about, in a nutshell I learned a lot about the early medieval literary of north Africa, which makes sense considering Egypt is not far, but I did not know much about the manuscripts and academic culture covering centuries in the desert That history lays the groundwork for Abdul Kader Haidara, the most significant gatherer of these manuscripts, gaining the trust of families who had held manuscripts for generations, building multiple libraries and archives in Tim...It s mind boggling how one person could achieve so much Mr Haidara you are a hero My hats off to you with highest respect and admiration.Rating 2 conflicted stars.Review I m conflicted, because while the book was interesting, it is definitely not all that it s promised to be or promoted The majority of the book is consumed with the actions and movements of a constantly shifting war And while, yes, this is important information and necessary to understanding the pressure and danger to these precious manuscripts, in the e...I recommend this book with a caveat it s not really all that much about the bad ass librarians of Timbuktu Nope, maybe 20%, tops, is about the librarians race to save the world s most precious manuscripts.This is really about the jihadi occupation of Timbuktu and other parts of Mali that happened in 2012, and which you probably never heard about because a lot of Western media tends to ignore Africa Or maybe I just missed it somehow I know I am not the biggest follower of international aff I recommend this book with a caveat it s not really all that much about the bad ass librarians of Timbuktu Nope, maybe 20%, tops, is about the librarians race to save the world s most precious manuscripts.This is really about the jihadi occupation of Timbuktu and other parts of Mali that happened in 2012, and which you probably never heard about because a lot of Western media tends to ignore Africa Or maybe I just missed it somehow I know I am not the biggest follower of international affairs but I don t know how in the world I might have missed this one Anyway, Saharan Africa has lo...This book gets its title from librarians who thwarted the wishes of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb AQIM by secretly moving 377,000 ancient manuscripts hundreds of miles through a war zone The terrorists weren t the only threats they faced because the government soldiers at road blocks were also erratic and unpredictable.This book is part history, part description of Maghreb regional politics, and part adventure story The book makes clear to the western reader that Timbuktu has a proud histo This book gets its title from librarians who thwarted the wishes of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb AQIM by secretly moving 377,000 ancient manuscripts hundreds of miles through a war zone The terrorists weren t the only threats they faced because the government soldiers at road blocks were also erratic and unpredictable.This book is part history, part description of Maghreb regional politics, and part adventure story The book makes clear to the western reader that Timbuktu has a proud history and is the keeper of substantial numbers of artifacts from its cultural heritage.It has always been my understanding that when people referred to, a thousand miles from nowhere, they were referring to Timbuktu That sort of thinking is the resu...I was fascinated by this account of the libraries archives of irreplaceable old manuscripts in Arabic and other languages of North Africa and the Middle East The first chapters introduce us to the main players in the manuscript biz, as they try to find trade for these delicate, rare documents and set up local archives to store them I think many people forget how sophisticated the Arab world was, back when Europe was languishing in the Dark Ages They were responsible for maintaining scie I was fascinated by this account of the libraries archives of irreplaceable old manuscripts in Arabic and other languages of North Africa and the Middle East The first chapters introduce us to the main players in the manuscript biz, as they try to find trade for these delicate, rare documents and set up local archives to store them I think many people forget how sophisticated the Arab world was, back when Europe was languishing in the Dark Ages They were responsible for maintaining scientific knowledge, mathematics, medicine, and philosophy, while Europeans were being held back by a repressive Church The Renaissance began when Europeans re discovered the books that had been preserved by the Arabs.I don t know about you, but I remember being taught the history of civilization in grade school I think it must have been a...I really wish that I had liked thisA great initial start of the book eventually flounders when Mr Hammer starts going into the unrest in the Mali region and how that impacted Timbuktu I think just a few pages here and there would have been enough to set the scene Instead the entire book reads like a who s who of Al Qaeda and every military operation in the region I just lost interest a good 1 3 through the book and never recovered....For centuries Arabic manuscripts were collected by private households inn the West African country of Mali and particularly Timbuktu These were gilded manuscripts painted with real gold, and showed vibrant colored illustrations of nature Some were scholarly in nature and complex such as the creation of the leap year, medical, astronomy and most were written in stylized Arabic These highly valued manuscripts were handed down from family member to family member to be their caretakers Why caret For centuries Arabic manuscripts were collected by private households inn the West African country of Mali and particularly Timbuktu These were gilded manuscripts painted with real gold, and showed vibrant colored illustrations of nature Some were scholarly in nature and complex such as the creation of the leap year, medical, astronomy and most were written in stylized Arabic These highly valued manuscripts wer...I received this ARC from Simon Schuster and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.Wow, do I feel completely ignorant about the world around me after finally putting this one down I know where Mali is on a map but I had no idea that there was a major conflict from 2012 that lingers until present day Further still, I had NO IDEA that dedicated and brave as all get out scholars, academics and ordinary citizens risked their lives to smuggle some of the world s most precious literary tre I received this ARC from Simon Schuster and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.Wow, do I feel completely ignorant about the world around me after finally putting this one down I know where Mali is on a map but I had no idea that there was a major conflict from 2012 that lingers until present day Further still, I had NO IDEA that dedicated and brave as all get out scholars, academics and ordinary citizens risked their lives to smuggle some of the world s most precious literary treasures to safety.Joshua Hammer certainly taught me a little something This book follows the conflict, loosely tied together with the story of Abdel Kader Haidara the man who orchestrated the salvation of hundreds of thousands of manuscripts At a time when some of Mesopot...

17 June 2017

Joshua Hammer