The Speech of the Birds (Islamic Texts Society)

The translation is excellent, informative, full of notes that expand one's knowledge. You don't have to be a Professor to appreciate it, just an informed lover of Persian Poetry. I had already another translation (Dick Davis) and would highly recommend to buy both, one (Davis) for the beautiful rendering of the sound (music intrinsic into the poem), the other (Avery) for its accuracy.

these english translations of attar's masterpiece 'Manteq aṭ-Ṭayr'are really good. I actually prefer this version of Peter Avery's over the more well known rhyming version by Dick Davis.Recommended, especially for all spiritual seekers interested in the spiritual tradition of Islamic Sufism.

I received my copy of Speech of the Birds and it looked beautiful. The binding was crisp and there was ample space for annotations. As I started reading, however, I discovered that my book was missing pages 163-223, line 1816-2482. I hope that was not an important part of the book... This was not from damage to my copy of the book, but it simply jumped 60 pages without warning, skipping over all of the intervening events. I am sure that Mr. Avery has given us a wonderful translation, but if the publisher does not give me a complete book, I cannot give a good review.

A classic translation in prose of one of the greatest masterpieces of Sufi literature. The Conference of the Birds is about Man's eternal quest for meaning and finding the Truth, told in one of the the most moving allegorical story of all times. A Persian classic of Islamic spirituality rendered brilliantly into modern English by Peter Avery

This book is about the old question about friendship, because it is rare to find a friend if the friend does not need your help. Animals in general and birds in this case should give true examples of real cooperation and friendship, so this book is for everyone in our unhealthy society. may be after reading these pages people might understand the real sense of life.