4. Seven Pillars of Wisdom by TE Lawrence

In Proverbs 9:1 we read: 'Wisdom hath builded her house: she hath hewn out her seven pillars.' T.E. Lawrence adapted the verse for the title of a book he wrote in 1913 about a series of adventures in seven middle-eastern cities. Finding it wanting, he burned it, but in commemoration transferred the title to his famous work on the Arab Revolt. Lawrence lost most of the manuscript of the Seven Pillars while changing trains at Reading in 1919, and, having failed to save to disk, had to re-write painstakingly from memory. The seven pillars of wisdom seemingly have no relation to a book about guerrilla warfare, but the title echoes the idea of the Seven Pillars of Islam. While most Muslims in the world recognize Five Pillars, the Isma'ilis and some others recognize seven.

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