“Moses Maimonides, the foremost Jewish scholar of all time and one of the greatest minds in the Western world, was born circa 1138.” In his biography, Maimonides (Doubleday, $35), Joel Kraemer, emeritus professor of Social Thought at the University of Chicago, recreates the times in which the physician-philosopher lived, as well as what can be found about his life. Kraemer depends heavily on Maimonides’s own extraordinary writings. While still in his thirties, Maimonides compiled his compendium of Jewish law, called the Mishneh Torah. He also wrote letters that are themselves considered basic texts in Judaism.  His masterpiece, the Guide to the Perplexed, was completed near the end of the twelfth century, when Maimonides was in his early fifties. I recommend this book to all those interested in Islamic life in the Middle Ages as well as to Jews interested in learning more about Judaism’s most important philosopher.