A recent traveler to Iran is Jason Elliot, who, after several trips backwards and forth, wrote “Mirrors of the Unseen: Journeys in Iran” (2006). Mr Elliot, who speaks Farsi well, easily makes contact with local people, which is one of the most fascinating parts of this book. He meets people of all walks of life, from remnants of the Shah’s imperium, aristocrats and business men, to villagers, nomads and the present day elite, and takes he the time to get to know them, and their stories and views. He thereby mostly avoids the political arena – no firebrand revolutionaries, no fanatics, but that doesn’t mean that religion is never a subject -, and focuses on Iran’s rich culture, instead, fitted into its historical framework. That he thereby occasionally goes overboard, at least for the casual travel book reader, analyzing and describing Isfahan’s architecture through mathematical models, is easily forgiven.

This is a great travel book, recommended for those who do, and those who don’t go to Iran, as it puts this fascinating country and culture in a different light from the day-to-day media attention it gets. ( )

Great travelogues are still being written. While bookstores nowadays offer many stories of back-packing adventurers and journalists, often producing exciting, but superficial accounts of encounters with rugged locals, it is good to know that there are still scholars who travel and write in-depth travelogues of inaccessible destinations, such as Iran. Mirrors of the unseen. Journeys in Iran is such a travelogue. It is a real eye-opener. It offers true insight into a country and culture, which has been all but shut to outsiders for more than 30 years. Mirrors of the unseen. Journeys in Iran by Jason Elliott has everything to become a classic.

For once, impressions deceive. Born in 1965, Jason Elliott has published two travelogues about Iran and Afghanistan: An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan (1999) and Mirrors of the Unseen: Journeys in Iran (2006).

While Iran, formerly known as Persia, now is an impoverished country, it boasts an ancient culture, of thousands of years. Elliott is a Persianist, and his fluency is so exceptional that taxi drivers take him for a native speaker, albeit with an accent that is hard to place. This enables Elliott to travel and mingle with the local people very naturally.

Perhaps the strength of Mirrors of the unseen. Journeys in Iran is that the author travels like an adventurer, but can interpret and describe Iranian culture with all the depth and authority of a scholar. It lends the book a great deal of credibility. Still, the book is very well-written, and never bores. In many respects, Jason Elliott is the ideal author to bring Iranian culture to light.

Some of the most revealing insights from the book are that most common Iranians are not to be confused with the extremists that dominate foreign news bulletins. Mirrors of the unseen. Journeys in Iran demonstrates very elegantly how the ancient Persian culture is throroughly rooted in Central Asian culture and bears some similarity to Chinese culture, i.e. not formal, material, but informal culture of the people's customs, for example with regard to hospitality. Elliott describes how he participated in parties that were organized in a type of "samizdat" atmosphere, ready to disperse and comply with Islamic regulations the moment they were discovered.

While most of the book deals with travels throughout Iran and encounters with common people, Elliott does not fail to describe the history of Persia in broad outlines and inform the readers about the magnificence of Persian and Muslim art.

Reading Mirrors of the unseen. Journeys in Iran can really change your mind about Iran. ( )

This English author gives a perceptive eye of the artwork in the mosques of Iran. Very insightful as to Persian people, culture and history. ( )

Simply brilliant ( )