Historia Mathematica 30 (2003) 85–93 www.elsevier.com/locate/hm Reviews Edited by Tom Archibald and Scott Walter All books, monographs, journal articles, and other publications (including films and other multisensory materials) relating to the history of mathematics are abstracted in the Abstracts Department. The Reviews Department prints extended reviews of selected publications. Materials for review, except books, should be sent to the AbstractsEditor, Glen Van Brummelen, Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont 05201, U.S.A. Books in English for review should be sent to Tom Archibald, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, BOP IXO, Canada. Books in other languages for review should be sent to Scott Walter, Université Nancy 2, LPHS-Archives Henri Poincaré, 23 bd Albert 1er, 54015 Nancy Cedex, France. Most reviews are solicited. However, colleagues wishing to review a book are invited to make their wishes known to the appropriate Book Review Editor. (Requests to review books written in the English language should be sent to Tom Archibald at the above address; requests to review books written in other languages should be sent to Scott Walter at the above address.) We also welcome retrospective reviews of older books. Colleagues interested in writing such reviews should consult first with the appropriate Book Review Editor (as indicated above, according to the language in which the book is written) to avoid duplication. World-Maps for Finding the Direction and Distance to Mecca: Innovation and Tradition in Islamic Science By David A. King. Leiden (Brill). 1999. ISBN 90-04-11363. xxix + 638 pp. Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science, Vol. 36, Dfl 99,17, Euro 45, US $56 All Muslims must face the Kaaba in Mecca during their five daily prayers, and hence the direction of Mecca must be determined at any locality in the Islamic world. The medieval Islamic mathematicians provided a plethora of approximate and exact solutions to this problem, usually in the form of geometric constructions, trigonometric computations, or numerical tables. In 1989 a 17th-century Iranian instrument for the determination of the direction of Mecca showed up at Sotheby’s in London. In 1995 another instrument of the same type came to light in Paris. The two instruments were probably made in Isfahan, in the same century when the world-famous mosques in that city were built. 0315-0860/2003 Published by Elsevier Science (USA).