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A review by stacialithub
The Travels of Marco Polo by Marco Polo
5.0
I feel like my reading of this book has taken as long as Polo's travels! (Mostly, though, it was because I got sidetracked by the extensive footnotes & subsequent internet research on various topics found in Polo's book.)
Polo's tales are an eclectic mix of geography notes, merchant/business observations, descriptions of plants/animals/governments/cultural customs interspersed with strange & outrageous tales (many true) along with plenty of gossip & hearsay (plenty false). It's almost like a mix of a dry textbook, a National Geographic documentary, a royal edict, Twitter, & the National Enquirer stirred to create his unique story. The complete mish-mash of information & mix of the mundane with the extraordinary reminded me a bit of the structure & jumble of Poe's [b:The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket|766869|The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket |Edgar Allan Poe|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1341387331s/766869.jpg|44915222]. Even though some parts are repetitive or boring recitations of business/trading/government facts, there are a lot of gems & fantastic observations... enough to make me overlook the slower parts in favor of the rest of it. Five stars for Polo's sheer chutzpah in living his life large & telling about it so that, even today, we can still enjoy his amazing travels.
Polo's tales are an eclectic mix of geography notes, merchant/business observations, descriptions of plants/animals/governments/cultural customs interspersed with strange & outrageous tales (many true) along with plenty of gossip & hearsay (plenty false). It's almost like a mix of a dry textbook, a National Geographic documentary, a royal edict, Twitter, & the National Enquirer stirred to create his unique story. The complete mish-mash of information & mix of the mundane with the extraordinary reminded me a bit of the structure & jumble of Poe's [b:The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket|766869|The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket |Edgar Allan Poe|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1341387331s/766869.jpg|44915222]. Even though some parts are repetitive or boring recitations of business/trading/government facts, there are a lot of gems & fantastic observations... enough to make me overlook the slower parts in favor of the rest of it. Five stars for Polo's sheer chutzpah in living his life large & telling about it so that, even today, we can still enjoy his amazing travels.