"Do No Harm" is the story of David, the leg that isn't his, and his lifelong desire to detach the latter from the former — a story that, with all the up-close intimacy of that opening scene, takes the reader along with David and Ananthaswamy into an Asian hospital where a complicit doctor is willing to do the off-the-books deed.
The eschatological inventory as described in the Qurʾān was elaborated by the commentators: the scales on which the books or deeds are weighed (an old Egyptian idea), the book in which the two recording angels have noted down mortal deeds, and the narrow bridge that is said to be sharper than a sword and thinner than a hair and leads over hell (an Iranian idea).
Remember the angels too are witness to all our actions; that the earth is recording our behaviour and that all of it is also noted in our books of deeds – that we are accountable to Allah Ta'ala on the Day of Judgement.
Several works of Middle Persian, such as the Book of Deeds of Ardashir (Kārnāmak), are attributed to this period.
I produced a book, called Deeds Not Words, of 60 images of the community, along with a summary of the court case and the science involved.
The first book, Evil Deeds, was based on the actual kidnapping of our two-and-a-half-year old son, during the time I was stationed with the U.S. Army in Greece.
Only when I quoted this – from the art critic John Ruskin – did she respond: "Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts: the book of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art.
The book's daring deeds, fiendish villainy and comic-book humour may smack of cliché, but it is also the stuff of teenage dreams, here executed with pace and panache.
Ms. Dohrenwend said she also hoped the new online additions would tempt people to see for themselves the wealth that is available at the records center in Elmsford, where thousands of boxes and books hold maps, deeds, immigration records and countless other documents.
"The Koran is the book of good deeds," it said.
