Islamic Mandalas

It's fun! It's creative! It's a coloring book for grown-ups! In Islamic Mandalas, readers get to use their imaginations to color in the geometric arrangements and patterns that occur in the book's selection of 31 historic mandalas. Included are designs from a 13th-century plate, a 14th-century Qur'anic illustration and a motif from a 15th-century Turkish mosque. It would be helpful to have more information about the mandalas' original purpose in Islamic art, and an idea of the spiritual illumination readers can hope to gain by decorating them; the book doesn't offer an introduction. Still, each design is accompanied by a brief quotation from an Islamic poet (Rumi dominates here), a nice touch. Also, the pages remove easily for proud display on the refrigerator.