Thanks for those recommendations, Daniel! They both sound right up my alley.

I’m always up for another un-put-downable epic about Middle Eastern history. Right now I’m in the middle of “Babylon” by Paul Kriwaczek — I was up until 3 a.m. last night because I couldn’t stop reading it.

Central Asia and the Abbasid Caliphate are two other topics guaranteed to get me excited — especially in relation to the Golden Age of Baghdad.

I’ve added both those books to my Goodreads list. I travel a lot, so it’s sometimes hard to get my hands on books quickly (and I refuse to use a Kindle; guess I’m just old-fashioned that way) but I’ll track both of them down as soon as I can, and let you know what I think. I’m sure they’ll spark a lot of ideas.