I really like this book, especially most of the historical information that contains a bit more detail than other popular travel books. I also appreciate that the author lists some sites that are off the beaten path and are less visited by tourists. That is exactly what I was looking for, so thank you! I could go on and on about the positives of this book, but it also has some considerable problems.
Problems. I have the Kindle version so I have location numbers and not page numbers.
1) Loc 561. This is perhaps the biggest problem in the book. It says that Rose Water is extracted from "the desert rose (Adenium obseum)." I think you might have the wrong rose here. The Adenium obesum has toxic sap that some peoples use as poison for hunting (Google it). I think you might mean the Rosa X Damascena. In fact, here is a regional article about the making of rose water that mentions Rosa Damascena and not Adenium obseum: http://www.thenational.ae/arts-lifestyle/travel/oman-coming-up-roses#full. You should really check this out. You mention the desert rose again at Loc 5804 about Jebel Akhdar "The desert rose is unique to Jebel Akhdar. Traditionally, Omani rose water was made here from the petals picked in April before dawn and distilled in traditional mud ovens by boiling for three to four hours." I think you need to fix references to the desert rose and research which rose is actually used for making rose water. There may be other references to the desert rose in the book as well.
2) Loc 539 "driving over the sand is also illegal" - I think you mean only in that particular area, right?
3) Loc 553 Frankincense tree "is a gnarled and unattractive-looking tree." Well this is a matter of opinion. I personally thought it was beautiful!
4) Loc 1107 "The Arabic spoken here is also one of the purest dialects" and "spoken Arabic here is close to the classical, written Arabic." The first statement is opinion and said not only about Oman. How can this statement be tested? The second quote above is also questionable. Though I am not an expert in Classical Arabic, I do know that there is quite a bit of variation between Modern Standard Arabic and Omani Arabic. In my experience this variation is likely seen in future markers (not sawfa), most of the negators (not laysa, lan, lam), and probably lots of vocabulary.
5) Loc 1118 and 8284 say that there is no future tense. I believe there is a marker "ba" which is used to show future intention. Maybe it is still "imperfect" but it seems to have a connotation of future.
6) Loc 1127 "In order to communicate therefore they have to compromise and speak a form of modern classical Arabic which is understood by educated Arabs everywhere." This may be partially true, but it certainly not always true. I may update this part more later.
7) In Loc 702 you wrote that majan means "copper mountain, but in Loc 4193 you wrote that it means "ship's skeleton or chassis." ???
8) Loc 7415 the note about blowing into a cow's vagina was kind of weird. I'm sure there are lots of old customs that might be recalled but did this one need to be mentioned? And the comment about the women's head being smashed against the rocks was a bit weird.
9) Loc 8255 there is a mistake in the Arabic verb conjugation. It should be yaktubuuna not yatabuuna. No biggie.
10) Loc 8273 "scholars believe that because Arabic evolved in the deserts of Arabia where life was nomadic and the daily struggle to stay alive extremely tough, the people developed a rich vocabulary to describe every conceivable nuance of material life, natural phenomena and individual activity of their lives, almost as if to counterbalance the uniformity of their environment." This sounds to me like the myth that some indigenous people living in cold places have lots of words for snow. Google "Inuit words for snow myth."
11) Loc 8347 and 8511 show examples of Arabic that I really don't think are Omani Arabic. I think "dughri" for "straight on" is used in the Levant primarily (taken from Turkish, I think). There are several examples of verbs in the present tense (imperfect, if I must say it that way) that have the prefix "ba" on them showing present, habitual action. This would be acceptable in Egypt and the Levant but I think that same prefix shows future aspect in Oman. I think "kwayyis" for "good" is primarily Egyptian and surrounding countries. Maybe "zayn" would be a better choice?
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