Author shows little insight into the lives of the people he meets on his journey. ( )

Reading this book taught me a travel writing lesson -- if you're going to write about buildings, you need to describe how seeing them made you feel, not what they looked like. I found myself skimming through a lot of long descriptions of obscure historical buildings with architectural terms I couldn't understand. I often felt frustrated with the pace of the book. This is not the story of a long, careful expedition down the route of Marco Polo; it's a whirlwind trip that doesn't give the author long enough to really explore the areas he's writing about. Local people with poor English are mostly a source of amusement and we don't get much sense of every day life in the places he describes. That said, the few places where he stopped to linger are vivid and well-done. Near-extinct tribal cultures and ancient Silk Road cities come alive, and so do his fascinating British travel partners. ( )

All you'd expect from a good travel book: history, geography, anthropology, humor, human interest. Thoroughly recommended. ( )

My review here: http://www24.brinkster.com/srineet/re... ( )

One of those rare travel books so evocative and atmospheric that the reader can smell the markets and the dusty streets of which the author writes. Note that said author was only 22 when he wrote this - many far older would consider a book of this calibre the pinnacle of their writing career - but for Dalrymple, it was his entry onto the scene. Sigh... ( )