User:Syncategoremata/Unreliable sources

Articles

— Alatas, Syed Farid (2006). "From Jami' ah to University: Multiculturalism and Christian-Muslim Dialogue". Current Sociology. 54 (1): 112–132. doi:10.1177/0011392106058837.

•  Contains the immortal claim that, "By university we mean the degree-granting institution that we find in Europe and America from the 12th century and which was introduced to the rest of the world from the 17th century." (p. 123), which puts the entire article into the joke category as far as I'm concerned.

Books

— Agutter, Paul S. (2008). Thinking about Life: The History and Philosophy of Biology and Other Sciences. Springer. ISBN 9781402088650. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

• This book does not seem to give any sources and at least the material on al-Jahiz and evolution (on p.43) appears to be based on Wikipedia, as does much of the other material in that area of the book. The rest of the book may be entirely fine.
• See this google search for current uses on Wikipedia.

— Research Committee of Strasburg University, Imam Jafar Ibn Muhammad As-Sadiq A.S. The Great Muslim Scientist and Philosopher, translated by Kaukab Ali Mirza, 2000. Willowdale Ont. ISBN 0969949014.

• See this talk page archive for some discussion of this source.
• See this Google search for current uses on Wikipedia.

— Lumpkin, Beatrice (1997). Geometry Activities from Many Cultures. Walch Publishing. ISBN 9780825132858.

• A high school maths text book being used as a source on a history of science page.
• See this Google search for current uses on Wikipedia.

Middle school books

The following book was being used as a reference at Age of the Earth#Development of modern geologic concepts and another ten pages:

• Scheppler, Bill (2006). Al-Biruni: Master Astronomer and Muslim Scholar of the Eleventh Century. Great Muslim Philosophers and Scientists of the Middle Ages. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4042-0512-3.

According to their website the book is aimed at children in grades 5–8 (i.e. 11 to 14 year olds)

Another such book, used on a couple of pages, was:

• Khan, Aisha (2006). Avicenna (ibn Sina): Muslim Physician and Philosopher of the Eleventh Century. Great Muslim Philosophers and Scientists of the Middle Ages. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4042-0509-3.

Again, a book in the same series and aimed at children in grades 5–8.

This would be true of all the publisher's other books in the Great Muslim Philosophers and Scientists of the Middle Ages series.

High school books

More children's books from Rosen Publishing being used as references (search):

• Ganchy, Sally (2009). Islam and Science, Medicine, and Technology. Understanding Islam. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4358-5066-8.

This series is aimed at high school children, grades 9–12 (14 to 18 years olds).

Websites

MuslimHeritage.com

— www.FSTC.co.uk & www.muslimheritage.com

These are not reliable: see Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard/Archive 18#History of Science — 3:15 pm, 15 August 2008 (UTC).

As an example, consider their paper:

Zaimeche, Salah (March 2005), Merv (PDF), Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation

which contains the claim that:

Al-Khazini most particularly draws attention to the Greeks' failure to differentiate clearly between force, mass and weight (p. 5)

which cites the book:

Hill, Donald R. (1993). Islamic Science and Engineering. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-0455-5.

but on checking that source, we find a rather different claim:

al-Khāzinī repeats the vagueness of the Greeks in failing to distinguish clearly between force, mass and weight. (p. 61)

See also my user page User:Syncategoremata/al-Majriti and the principle of the conservation of mass for an example of an uncritical use of a bad source.