Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Infidel
Book Review: required reading
Summary: 5 Stars
Ayaan's book should be required reading for political science majors, religious studies majors, international studies majors, etc... Here is a woman who grew up in Somalia and Kenya, then went to live in the Netherlands. The contrasts were startling to her and Ayaan looks at these differences in the two societies from a perceptive we in the West do not often get, from the outside looking in. She also has an incredible memory for details. How she remembers all these incidents in her life to such detail is beyond me. Possibly it comes from growing up in a cultural where much of the history and lore is handed down from generation to generation verbally. She memorized her family history back some 8 hundred years at the age of five. Ayaan sees religion as a crucial element in how society operates. For instance, she compares the reactions of both Somalians and the Dutch to flooding. The Somalis pray, fatalistically attributing the event to the will of God, while the Dutch blame the government for not maintaining the dikes.
The fact that Holland is a country extracted from the sea is in itself astounding to her and points to the industriousness of a people who take control of the lives and their environment. The Netherlands became a focal point of the European Enlightenment possibly because of the necessity to work and create a country in spite of Gods design of keeping it underwater. Ayaan may attribute too much to religion in her anaylses and comparisons; like attributing the chaos and lack of government in Somalia to Islam, but she does make some good points. And to her credit, she is critical of all orthodoxy and fanatical religious groups, including the Orthodox Jews in Israel.
Book Review: wow
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is great and eye opening about a world we know little about. It makes me sad that she throws any belief in God out the window. For her, it is either the god of Islam or no God.
The abuse against women in the culture she grew up in is very disturbing and should not be ignored by anyone!Islam's violence against unbelievers is also troubling.
Good read.