--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I greatly enjoyed Tom Reiss's The…" description: "\"I greatly enjoyed Tom Reiss's The Orientalist, for its mingled scholarship and sleuthing, and for so elegantly solving the puzzle of one of the Twentie..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cc/paul-theroux-913_century_i-greatly-enjoyed-tom-reiss-s-the-orient_1336764.jpg" --- # I greatly enjoyed Tom Reiss's The Orientalist, for its… ![“I greatly enjoyed Tom Reiss's The Orientalist, for its mingled scholarship and sleuthing, and for so elegantly solving the puzzle of one of the Twentieth Century's most mysterious writers.” quote by Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cc/paul-theroux-913_century_i-greatly-enjoyed-tom-reiss-s-the-orient_1336764.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cc/paul-theroux-913_century_i-greatly-enjoyed-tom-reiss-s-the-orient_1336764.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cc/paul-theroux-913_century_i-greatly-enjoyed-tom-reiss-s-the-orient_1336764.jpg) > “I greatly enjoyed Tom Reiss's The Orientalist, for its mingled scholarship and sleuthing, and for so elegantly solving the puzzle of one of the Twentieth Century's most mysterious writers.” [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The review praises the book’s blend of scholarly depth and investigative storytelling, solving a literary mystery. **In simple terms:** The book mixes scholarship with detective work. Key Takeaway Read for insight and intrigue. Themes literary analysis historical mystery cross‑cultural scholarship storytelling Mood thoughtful analytical curious Type review literary When to use this quote - academic study - reading clubs - historical research - creative writing projects Key Concepts biography colonial studies narrative structure research methodology Questions to Reflect On - What does this mystery reveal about cultural narratives? - How does investigative narrative affect historical understanding? A Different Perspective May overlook criticisms of the author’s perspective or cultural bias. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Mysterious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mysterious/) [Puzzles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/puzzles/) [Scholarship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scholarship/) [Twentieth century](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/twentieth-century/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“At this point, the sequence of my memories is disrupted. I sank into a chaos of brief, incoherent and bizarre hallucinations, in which the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-lorrain/at-this-point-the-sequence-of-my-memories-is-disrupted-i-sank-into-a/) [Jean Lorrain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-lorrain/) > [“Some individuals came right out and accused me of being a Neo-Orientalist (in a pejorative Edward Said sense of the term). So of course…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/waswo-x-waswo-2/some-individuals-came-right-out-and-accused-me-of-being-a-neo/) Waswo X Waswo > [“It remains the professional Orientalist's job to piece together a portrait, a restored picture as it were, of the Orient or the Oriental; fragments,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/it-remains-the-professional-orientalist-s-job-to-piece-together-a/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) > [When we talk about Orientalist painting, we're talking about painting generally from the seventeenth through the nineteenth century, and some would say even into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/when-we-talk-about-orientalist-painting-we-re-talking-about-painting/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [The students often like to talk about movies that they feel are Orientalist like 300 or Babel. They talk a lot about the possibility…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammad-marandi/the-students-often-like-to-talk-about-movies-that-they-feel-are/) [Mohammad Marandi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammad-marandi/) > [“The Orient and Islam have a kind of extrareal, phenomenologically reduced status that puts them out of reach of everyone except the Western expert.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-orient-and-islam-have-a-kind-of-extrareal-phenomenologically/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I studied Tom Cruise running in all the Mission Impossibles. I think he's one of the best screen runners.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-stiller/i-studied-tom-cruise-running-in-all-the-mission-impossibles-i-think/) [Ben Stiller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-stiller/) > [ \[Tom Cotton\] has been an absolute champion of the idea of getting rid of Obamacare, scrapping the Affordable Care Act. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-maddow/tom-cotton-has-been-an-absolute-champion-of-the-idea-of-getting-rid/) [Rachel Maddow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-maddow/) > [I would never want to take TOMS or myself into an issues debate. That's not what we're about. We're about helping people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blake-mycoskie/i-would-never-want-to-take-toms-or-myself-into-an-issues-debate-that/) [Blake Mycoskie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blake-mycoskie/) > [ Senator \[Tom\] Cotton has campaigned on wanting to kill Obamacare. He voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act back in January, but he now… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-maddow/senator-tom-cotton-has-campaigned-on-wanting-to-kill-obamacare-he/) [Rachel Maddow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-maddow/) > [Tom Stafford was an odd character, you know - a brilliant guy. He looked weird and I think he took a really defensive attitude…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donnie-fritts/tom-stafford-was-an-odd-character-you-know-a-brilliant-guy-he-looked/) [Donnie Fritts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donnie-fritts/) > [In the 1998 Oscars, I found myself in the bathroom in a stall, next to Tom Selleck. So I leaned over and I said…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hanks/in-the-1998-oscars-i-found-myself-in-the-bathroom-in-a-stall-next-to/) [Tom Hanks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hanks/) > [I'm a big fan of Tom Stoppard's work, and have been since I was in school where I studied him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adelaide-clemens/i-m-a-big-fan-of-tom-stoppard-s-work-and-have-been-since-i-was-in/) [Adelaide Clemens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adelaide-clemens/) > [I was getting dressed and a peeping tom looked in the window, took a look and pulled down the shade.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-rivers/i-was-getting-dressed-and-a-peeping-tom-looked-in-the-window-took-a/) [Joan Rivers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-rivers/) > [I was never the best-looking guy; I was never the Tom Cruise-looking guy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-sheffer/i-was-never-the-best-looking-guy-i-was-never-the-tom-cruise-looking/) [Craig Sheffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-sheffer/) ## More by Paul Theroux > [I feel as if my mission is to write, to see, to observe, and I feel lazy if I'm not reaching conclusions. I feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/i-feel-as-if-my-mission-is-to-write-to-see-to-observe-and-i-feel-lazy/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [The larger an English industry was, the more likely it was to go bankrupt, because the English were not naturally corporate people; they disliked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/the-larger-an-english-industry-was-the-more-likely-it-was-to-go/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [Maine out of season is unmistakably a great destination: hospitable, good-humored, plenty of elbow room, short days, dark nights of crackling ice crystals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/maine-out-of-season-is-unmistakably-a-great-destination-hospitable/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [You can't write about a friend, you can only write about a former friend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/you-can-t-write-about-a-friend-you-can-only-write-about-a-former/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [“sightseeing, an activity that delights the truly idle because it seems so much like scholarship, gawping and eavesdropping on antiquity, flattering oneself with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/sightseeing-an-activity-that-delights-the-truly-idle-because-it-seems/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [The Australian Book of Etiquette is a very slim volume.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/the-australian-book-of-etiquette-is-a-very-slim-volume/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [Tourists who go to Africa have more of a traditional experience than Africans do. A tourist goes on safari; Africans don't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/tourists-who-go-to-africa-have-more-of-a-traditional-experience-than/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [In a way, Che Guevara's fate was far worse than Simon Bolivar's. Guevara's collapse was complete: his intentions were forgotten, but his style was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/in-a-way-che-guevara-s-fate-was-far-worse-than-simon-bolivar-s/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [It is the simplest fact of Indian life: there are too many Indians.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/it-is-the-simplest-fact-of-indian-life-there-are-too-many-indians/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [Pain does not create a long-lasting memory, but the memory of luxury exerts itself for ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/pain-does-not-create-a-long-lasting-memory-but-the-memory-of-luxury/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [When I began to make some money, I really wanted to have a home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/when-i-began-to-make-some-money-i-really-wanted-to-have-a-home/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [Men in their late 50s often make very bad decisions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/men-in-their-late-50s-often-make-very-bad-decisions/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [The wish to disappear sends many travelers away. If you are thoroughly sick of being kept waiting at home or at work, travel is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/the-wish-to-disappear-sends-many-travelers-away-if-you-are-thoroughly/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [To a lot of Africans, seeing an animal is a something of a rarity. So it's a paradox of this sort of parallel life.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/to-a-lot-of-africans-seeing-an-animal-is-a-something-of-a-rarity-so/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [The wish to travel seems to me characteristically human: the desire to move, to satisfy your curiosity or ease your fears, to change the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/the-wish-to-travel-seems-to-me-characteristically-human-the-desire-to/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) [Explore all 328 Paul Theroux quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) ## More Century quotes > [I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-know-always-that-i-am-an-outsider-a-stranger-in-this-century-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [ \[The Dalai Lama\] told me some years ago, "I've made every concession to China, and I've been as open and tolerant as I could,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pico-iyer/the-dalai-lama-told-me-some-years-ago-i-ve-made-every-concession-to/) [Pico Iyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pico-iyer/) > [Anybody looking for a quiet life has picked the wrong century to born in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/anybody-looking-for-a-quiet-life-has-picked-the-wrong-century-to-born/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hare/the-poetry-from-the-eighteenth-century-was-prose-the-prose-from-the/) [David Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hare/) > [In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-the-nineteenth-century-some-parts-of-the-world-were-unexplored-but/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Talented people can predict with great accuracy what's about to happen just a tiny bit ahead of their competitors. It might be two seconds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-maney/talented-people-can-predict-with-great-accuracy-what-s-about-to/) [Kevin Maney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-maney/) > [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/the-world-s-history-is-a-divine-poem-of-which-the-history-of-every/) [James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/) > [The nineteenth century lynching mob cuts off ears, toes, and fingers, strips off flesh, and distributes portions of the body as souvenirs among the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells/the-nineteenth-century-lynching-mob-cuts-off-ears-toes-and-fingers/) [Ida B. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-b-wells/) > [At no time in the past century has public distrust of the government been so broadly distributed across the political spectrum, as it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-zimmermann/at-no-time-in-the-past-century-has-public-distrust-of-the-government/) [Phil Zimmermann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-zimmermann/) > [While husbands and lovers in the stories are of all kinds, ranging from sympathetic to disgusting, women are invariably deceivers: inconstant, unscrupulous, quarrelsome, querulous,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/while-husbands-and-lovers-in-the-stories-are-of-all-kinds-ranging/) [Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/) > [The young people today are the 21st century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-scorsese/the-young-people-today-are-the-21st-century/) [Martin Scorsese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-scorsese/) > [The wisdom of our actions in the first three years of peace will determine the course of world history for half a century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-a-wallace/the-wisdom-of-our-actions-in-the-first-three-years-of-peace-will/) [Henry A. Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-a-wallace/) > [For me, the melancholy of the late XXth Century is walking late at night by the Mont Blanc pen store and seeing these things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/for-me-the-melancholy-of-the-late-xxth-century-is-walking-late-at/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [In a general way, the literature of the twentieth century is essentially psychological; and psychology consists of describing states of the soul by displaying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/in-a-general-way-the-literature-of-the-twentieth-century-is/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [Consequently, citizen legislators, rotating back to their communities after a short period of public service—considered an indispensable and routine characteristic and design of representative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/consequently-citizen-legislators-rotating-back-to-their-communities/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) Browse all 5,406 Century quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I greatly enjoyed Tom Reiss's The Orientalist, for its mingled scholarship and sleuthing, and for so elegantly solving the puzzle of one of the Twentieth Century's most mysterious writers.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Paul Theroux" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/i-greatly-enjoyed-tom-reiss-s-the-orientalist-for-its-mingled/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Century" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/i-greatly-enjoyed-tom-reiss-s-the-orientalist-for-its-mingled/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cc/paul-theroux-913_century_i-greatly-enjoyed-tom-reiss-s-the-orient_1336764.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cc/paul-theroux-913_century_i-greatly-enjoyed-tom-reiss-s-the-orient_1336764.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cc/paul-theroux-913_century_i-greatly-enjoyed-tom-reiss-s-the-orient_1336764.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I greatly enjoyed Tom Reiss's The Orientalist, for its mingled scholarship and sleuthing, and for so…” — Paul Theroux", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Paul Theroux", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I greatly enjoyed Tom Reiss's The...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/i-greatly-enjoyed-tom-reiss-s-the-orientalist-for-its-mingled/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/i-greatly-enjoyed-tom-reiss-s-the-orientalist-for-its-mingled/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```