Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet by Armstrong by Doctor38
If you are travelling to the Middle East or any other Muslim country, you might want read some thing about Islam or better yet read some thing about Prophet Muhammed and his life. In the process you'll learn why Muslim love this guy. You'll also learn quite a bit about history of Arabia and the social seen from which Mohammed have emerged from. I think it is important some times to separate the Man from his religion and I think this what Karen Armstrong did in her book
I read this book by accident and I found it to be very fair and very good starting point. This book contains basic information about Prophet Mohammed's life. Of course the book did not have any thing new for me as a Muslim.
I have provided a link to Amazon where you can buy the book and read further reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/Muhammad-Biography-Prophet-Karen-Armstrong/dp/0062508865/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215984803&sr=1-2
