Jason Elliot Delivers a Masterpiece: Mirrors of the Unseen

Mirrors of the Unseen

Mirrors of the Unseen, a book by British writer Jason Elliot has been on my mind recently.
I read this great book and it was as if my mind was opened to a new world. Suddenly my universe was expanded. A wonderful new world was now part of my imagination..and a real world at that. Full of poets I had only heard of in passing, kings  read of in the Bible and some in old history books. Cultures only hinted at by Richard Burton and the old stories about the Moors and great Sultans and of course Scheherazade. What girl has not heard about Scheherazade? Imagined her night after night making up tales to save her very life. 

The Medes and Persians...and more

The architectural works of the Medes and Persians and the great Sultans are to many only known from old History books and Bible stories. In Mirrors of the Unseen, they are described in very realistic terms. On the ground and in the mosques, Jason Elliot  brings to life a world both steeped in old traditions and struggling to maintain a great culture in these modern trying times. He has with great effort, (including learning Persian) enabled many to read and know about cultures new and old that not many have dared to record in recent years.  Elliot, a traveller and scholar delivers a beautiful description of Iran and the wonderful Persian culture of long ago which has left traces that he helps us to start to imagine. He has described architectural wonders that many of us may never have the chance to see except in pictures. He sets forth on trips through cultures whose great architectural buildings still exist and need to be preserved as a world heritage. The mosques at Isfahan, the Persepolis, great natural expanses, nomads still living off the land; are all described in great detail with very few pictures.
Please visit this website to see some of the beautiful iranian architectural art; http://www.yomadic.com/imam-mosque/
 and to see other great pictures of these mosques that Elliot describes, please visit bored panda.com at the link;   https://www.facebook.com/boredpanda/posts/10152610400539252

A Service to Mankind

Jason Elliot has done mankind a great service in writing this book. The past belongs to all of us and we should learn from it. The present too, is ours to live in with respect for all around us. We need to learn from other cultures. That is what civilization means, building onto what good foundation has gone before. Leaving out the harmful practices, preserving the good. Some of the greatest cultures are still preserved right under our noses and we continue to let them crumble, without learning from them, sometimes even denigrating them without even trying to understand. We need to open up our eyes, question the very status of published accessible learning.  Learn more. We need good teachers and guides to help us do this. On the great Persian civilization and culture, Elliot has proven the best guide I have ever met and to many who are not scholars in the history of Persia and Asia like myself (and I would guess even to scholars in the area) may be one of the very few and best. Join me in thanking Jason Elliot for a job well done.