I have long wished for my first trade book, Why Evolution is True, to be published in Arabic. That’s because many who adhere to Islam take the Qur’an literally (it’s almost a requirement) and the Qur’an is explicitly creationist, saying that Allah created the Universe in six days and that humans were created from a glob of mud. I am unsure how often evolution is taught is universities or secondary schools in Islamic countries, but I at least wanted the evidence for evolution that I adduce in WEIT to be available to Arab-speakers.
The book was translated into Arabic by the Egyptian Translation Service, but their copyright has apparently run out, and at any rate, someone told me that the translation was now available free on the internet.
So, if you are in an Arab-speaking country, you can find the contents of WEIT here or by clicking on the title page below. You can also find the pdf here.
I was amused to see that when I translated the cover into English, it reads this way:
So be it, I am Dr. Quinn. Spread the word about this so that others can read the book, a book up to now available only in one small bookstore in Cairo, and only in a few copies (I have only one). Certainly the original book in Arabic, as Rodney Dangerfield might say, “got no respect.”
Congratulations. Is Fact versus Faith available in Arabic?
Nope, and I doubt it ever will!
Faisal Saeed Al Mutar’s foundation Ideas Beyond Borders might be able to do it for you. They translated Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now a few years ago. https://ideasbeyondborders.org/
Jerry. You should read every word and check the accuracy of the translation. Remember the Italian saying “Traductore traitore.”
Nice! Albeit no royalties!
BTW – seen this?
“Century-old genetics mystery of Mendel’s peas finally solved
Researchers pinpoint the genes responsible for the final three pea traits studied by the famed citizen scientist.”
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01269-8?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nature&linkId=14117214
Any relationship to Anthony Quinn?
Or Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman?
Or The Mighty Quinn (Manfred Mann Song from the 60s) ?
Written by Bob Dylan. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band* also had a hit with “Blinded by the Light”, written by Bruce Springsteen.
__
* Be sure to distinguish between “Manfred Mann” (stage name of the keyboard player”, “Manfred Mann” (name of his band) and “Manfred Mann’s Earth Band” (name of one of his later bands.
“Wrecked up like a douche, in the middle of the night” lol
Mabrook! (Congrats in Arabic).
My embarrassingly bad command of Arabic isn’t up to WEIT style literature, but having it translated is a huge win!
Some of Dawkins and Pinker’s work is unofficially translated online and Richard says it is downloaded a lot, particularly in Saudi Arabia!
They VERY much need some scientific sanity there.
D.A.
NYC
A samizdat translation of Faith vs Fact might do a lot of good in the Middle East!
Congratulations, this is a big step! Very interesting how inverting the title’s word order changes its connotation.
I assume Arabic is writtenand read right to left
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Man
I challenge you to do it in Te Reo!
For giggles I ran “Faith versus Fact, by Professor Jerry Coyne” through Google translate:
The back-translation to English is “Faith and truth, by Professor Jerry Coyne”.
It’s a poetic language, everything is in verse, so I’m not surprised.
Add it is a context based one over concept. One word can mean different things depending on context.
Re context dependency, isn’t that the case for almost all languages? Maybe Maaori is more so than others? (It’s been over half a century since my undergrad linguistics classes.)
Said it better than me. It is complex in its use of words.
Congratulations!
Congratulations Dr Quinn. This is very nice news.
Congratulations Jerry.
New nickname you weren’t looking for:
The Mighty Coyne
Minor typo alert. ‘Arab-speaking country ’should be ‘Arabic-speaking country’.