The Abbreviation of the Introduction to Astrology, Abu Ma’shar, edited and translated by Charles Burnet, with technical and historical annotations by Charles Burnett, Graeme Tobyn, Geoffrey Cornelius and Vernon Wells, Arhat Publications, 350 Underpass Road, Box 1750, Brewster, MA 02631, USA, 58 pp., $9.50.

Abu Ma’shar (787-886) acquired immense renown in his lifetime as the leading astrologer in the Islamic world, a reputation maintained in medieval Europe where he was known as Albumasar. He appears to have begun his career under the caliphate of al-Mamun (813-833) as an expert in hadith, the sayings of Mohammed, but in 825 he realised that to understand philosophical arguments he should study mathematics in all its forms, including astrology. He was thus a crucial figure in the Islamic world’s rediscovery of Indian, Iranian and Hellenistic astrology, and hence of its later transmission to Catholic Europe. This text is a revision of that published by Brill in 1994 (edited and translated by Charles Burnett with K. Yamamoto and M. Yano) with the Arabic and Latin texts and philological annotations replaced by astrological footnotes which are invaluable for placing Abu Ma’shar’s astrology in its context. As an insight into the practical, cultural application of astronomy in ninth century Islam, this work is invaluable.