This bibliography offers a new and indispensable tool for both researchers and practitioners in the field of Islamic law. It supplements the bibliographies published by Joseph Schacht (1964) and John Makdisi (1987) and includes some 1,600 Western-language publications which have appeared between 1980 and 1993. It contains a general and a regional section. With regard to the latter, the main focus is on the Middle East (including Afghanistan and North Africa), although publications in South and Southeast Asia have also been included. In order to facilitate its use, an authors' index and a...

This volume compares the beech forests of eastern Asia, North America and Europe. Beech forests are important in each of these three regions.

There are some good reasons to start a global study of beech forests. One reason may be the importance of beech for man. In many places and in many ages, beech has played an important role in people's lives (Table 1). Already in old ages beech was useful for nuts, fuelwood and bokiz, beechwood tablets carved with runes, from which probably our word 'book' is derived. Beech still plays an important role in people's lives. Another reason for a global study of beech forests is that it lifts us above the detailed but fragmented image of a local study. My study of beech forests started out of love...