[ book tip by Mohamed Bary ] Al-Demiri the zoologist is the 11th book of a series called Arab scientists (olomaa el Arab), which briefly discuss the achievements and life of the great Arab scientists who have enriched their fields with abundant knowledge and have introduced new discoveries in the fields of science, astronomy, mathematics, literature , and poetry. The book provides a biographical sketch of a scientist's both personal and work life creating a lucid understanding of his success.

Yet the success of the Arab scientists series doesn't only lie in its factual information or any analytical styles, instead the gist of its success lies in its narrative style that easily provides all necessary information about a scientist through a dialogue between himself and all the other essential personalities in his life, thus providing a thorough analysis of the important aspects of his success.

Things are no different in Al-Demiri the zoologist. The book starts by pointing out the indications of greatness found in young Al-Demiri and his early tendencies to diligence and devotion. The opening dialogue establishes a compromise between him and his father about the management of his work as a tailor and as a scientist devoted to research and amassing knowledge.

Events in the young boy's life move on as he gets acquainted with El-sobky, a venerated scientist who notices the remarkable perseverance in Al-Demiri. Eventually, Al-Demiri attends El-sobky's lessons at the Azhar mosque, where his inquiries have been a direct precursor to his success.

By the age of twenty five, Al-Demiri became the youngest scientist in Al-Azhar. His lectures were admired by professors and students alike. Yet, despite his academic success, Al-Demiri didn't forget his obligations towards his job as a tailor and his dad's small shop, where he continued working, a fact which he viewed as instrumental to his success.

Al-Demiri not only devoted himself to Arabic culture and religion but also explored many other sciences, including astrology, biology, and chemistry. Eventually, Al-Demiri found an irrepressible desire to write two books, which were later considered to be his greatest: Dream interpretation and The Great animal life.

Al-Demiri's resources for the latter were massive as he wanted to conceive an animal encyclopedia that was different from the previous ones. His encyclopedia wouldn't provide biological and factual information about animals, given that zoology wasn't Al-Demiri's field of expertise, instead it would describe the characteristics of animals from a literary point of view: dream interpretations of each animal, stories and tales about each animal, and the significance of each animal to certain cultures and countries. The resources needed for the book were extremely huge, therefore Al-Demiri decided to become Al-Maqreysee's apprentice. Al-Maqreysee was one of Al-Demiri's talented students, his initiative was clear to his tutors and colleagues. Since Al-Demiri had a busy schedule writing his Dream interpretation book, he needed Al-Maqreysee's help to save time and gather all the possible resources: a total of 1960 research papers on animals and their attributes. The book was an instant success throughout the Arab world and has been a great encyclopedia to the Europeans.

Although the book has provided me with a brief and concise biographical sketch, great attention to detail is needed about Al-Demiri's life and his achievements. A lot of details in the book are clearly based on the premise of the author. Also the title of the book is completely inaccurate, since Al-Demiri wasn't a zoologist and even the author has mentioned Al-Demiri's minute elaboration on the factual aspect of the book.

The book was fun to read and its suitable for teenagers starting from the age of 12.

[ book info ] Fayad, Soliman: Al-Demiri the zoologist. Al-Ahram for publication and translation, 1992 .