This is an excellent account of the history of the islamic world - the scope is wider than the title suggests. Most "world history" books are really about European history, and it's very interesting to go through history from a different perspective. Of course the focus is on islam itself, and I learned a lot, e.g. about the strife between sunnis and shias and about the prominent islamic theologians. The only minus is that the author is strongly biased towards religion and tends to stand up for islam the way muslims do, e.g. by continuously referring to the peaceful statements in the quran while completely ignoring the agressive statements. Still, strongly recommended to anyone who wants to learn about islam. 8/10