The extraordinary account of how Leopold Weiss, born in Lvov in 1900, became a Muslim. A journalist (and later Pakistan's representative to the U.N.), Asad writes of his travels, transformation and attachment to Islam and the Arab world. His book takes the form of stories told during a camel ride to Mecca (one of his many adventurous journeys through Arabia and the Near East in the 1930s). With 11 black-and-white photographs.  (ISL23, $17.95)

Islam