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Interesting work
"Samarakand" by Amin Maalouf depicts the life of Omar Khayyam, a Polymath who lived in the eleventh century. He wrote the collection of poems - Rubaiyat, and also made contributions to Astronomy, Algebra...The book is also greatly concentrated on the way of life in Persia at that time. It presents the life in all of its aspects: the legends, political events, customs, secret societies, myths, moral...but the personal life of Omar in the center of that picture.
In the second part, the story follows a young man who tries to find and acquire the Rubaiyat-the so called "Pearl of the East". This is happening at the beginning of the 20th century. The writer draws some excellent parallels in the background between the two worlds, separated by a millennia, but at the same time between the main characters, showing us some expected differences in the way they live, think..., but also the resemblances in them and constants of the human nature which are timeless. I recommend it warmly.
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