Arab World

Via Terry Teachout's "Sightings" column in a recent Wall Street Journal I became aware of this very interesting project known as "Kalima". Kalima is a project based in the United Arab Emirates that is focused on translating foreign books into Arabic for distribution across the Middle East. The project can be found at -- www.kalima.ae

Mr. Teachout's column poses the question -- "Which of our (USA) books and plays would tell them the most about us?" -- to which Mr. Teachout replies with F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" and Willa Cather's "O Pioneers" among others.

Now I have some own personal list of books which I hope Kalima would include such as:

• US Constitution
• "The Mystery of Capital" by Hernando de Soto
• "1984" by George Orwell
• Anything by P.J. O'Rourke so the Arab world (hopefully) realizes we have a sense of humor when it comes to politics

Just a few thoughts to get my readers talking so I can hear your thoughts.

Translate everything you can Kalima,

Todd