actually kept encouraging me all the way through. Without her support, it would
not have been possible at all to write this book. My children Hiba, Shozab, and
Shanib also deserve appreciation for their understanding.
A number of academics and friends who evaluated the original book proposal
and gave valuable suggestions deserve special thanks. I thank Andy Klein, Bashar
Issa, David Hamby, Edward Waller, John Antolak, Nicholas Hangiandreou, Niko-
laj Pavel, Paul Jennesen, Robert LeClair, Steven Biegalski, Sukesh Aghara, and
Timothy DeVol for their support and highly professional suggestions.
Thanks are also due to the academics who evaluated the first draft of the complete
manuscript. Their valuable suggestions helped me modify the contents and reshape
various sections. I am highly indebted to Andrea Kritcher, David Bradley, James
Chu, Leslie Braby, Steven Biegalski, and Todd Allen for sparing time from their
busy schedules to do thorough reviews of approximately 750 pages and providing
me with highly valuable suggestions for improvement.
I would like to thank Susan Rabiner to have faith in me to complete the project
and for taking care of everything else so that I could concentrate on writing the
book. I also thank Jeremy Hayhurst for showing remarkable professionalism from
the beginning till the end of the manuscript production. Thanks are also due to
Derek Coleman, whose highly efficient and professional approach in finalizing the
manuscript has amazed me.
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