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3.25 AVERAGE
3.25 AVERAGE
"Travels of Marco Polo" -- a ghostwritten account of Polo's travels around Asia-- was a really difficult book to get into. Many of the descriptions become tedious (countless people are described merely as idolators who eat flesh and drink milk...) The most interesting bits, which are sprinkled throughout the book, focus on Tartar military history -- the conquests of Kublai Khan and his relatives. I also really enjoyed Polo's retelling of various legends (such as the diamond encrusted fish...) Overall, it was worth wading through the long descriptions to get to the good stuff, but it isn't a book I'd ever pick up for a second reading.
Got 2/3 through this but I'm counting it as done as that's probably all I'll ever read of it. It is fascinating, but extremely repetitive, as Polo uses the same format to describe every town he has visited. I would recommend reading an excerpt rather than attempting the whole thing.
Read a 1932 version
Very exotic, adventurer, vibes. Such an interesting read, and a surprisingly accurate documentation despite its reputation for ‘lies’
Very exotic, adventurer, vibes. Such an interesting read, and a surprisingly accurate documentation despite its reputation for ‘lies’
The descriptive part is fairly dry, in short chapters each time about a certain region, usually pure travel information (about drought, food and such) and seldom about local customs or special stories. From p 46 on Djengis Khan and his conquest. No fantastic stories à la Herodotus, and in comparison with him Marco Polo's story is very thin.
informative
relaxing
medium-paced
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
Definitely extremely dated, but I mean... it is from the 13th century. This gave me some very interesting insight into the state of the world during that time, but I don't think that any translation is going to fix the repetitiveness of the writing.
adventurous
informative
slow-paced