Marco PoloThe Travels of Marco Polo

I am very disappointed in the structure of this book. It makes it very difficult to read and figure out which parts are the original book. I am at page 260, and just barely starting the actual content of the book. The first section of the book is a prolonged discussion about the historical significance of the events and details about Marco Polo and his family. There are frequent commentaries in Latin and French.There is only one map so far! This map was probably part of the original book but is very hard to read. Since all the commentary talks about places that no longer exist and how far they are from each other, many detailed and clear maps would really help with the historical discussion.I am enjoying the historical discussion but would have loved to have the actual content of the original book written as a seamless section for clarity and just plan enjoyability.

REVISED REVIEW: I've long owned the paperback version of the Signet Classics edition. It's affordable, contains some basic notes, and, unlike a lot of the lazy scans of public domain editions, is based on more modern scholarship. I originally rated this Kindle edition 1-star because it appeared to be missing the Prologue written by Rustichello (Polo's scribe) that is contained in the paperback version. This would have been a grave omission since the Prologue contains the story of how the Polos came to China and returned. However, I just discovered it does indeed contain the Prologue. It is just not listed in the Kindle table of contents like it is in the paperback. While you cannot navigate to the Prologue from the table of contents, you can still get there by flipping through all the pages of the editor's introduction. It's tucked away at location 517. Issues of navigation aside, I think this is best budget edition of Polo available for students or casual readers. Sure it doesn't contain the voluminous notes of the 1903 Yule-Cordier translation, but it's perfectly adequate.

During the 13th Century the Mongols conquered most of the world from China to the Black Sea, providing a rare window of opportunity for people to travel from Europe to the Far East. A few adventurous Europeans accomplished it. One actually wrote about it: Marco Polo. Many years later, as he lay dying, family members and the attending priest begged Marco Polo to recant all the outrageous lies he had told about his incredible adventures. He refused, insisting that everything he said and wrote had all been absolutely true.The record Marco Polo left of his travels stirred the imaginations of Europeans about the possibilities that existed beyond their own limited horizons. Little more than two hundred years later they had established a trade route around Africa to reach the Far East, and attempts to do the same thing by sailing westward had revealed the existence of two hitherto entirely unknown American continents.The Travels of Marco Polo is one of a handful of books that can truly be said to have changed the world. This is not merely another adventure story, it is THE adventure story of all time! The Polos traveled thousands of miles through unknown and hostile territory in order to reach lands hitherto only vaguely rumored to exist. They accomplished it entirely on their own, and not at the head of a conquering army, but as simple commercial travelers.On the down side, this is not the most convenient of books to get through. A good map is an absolutely necessary accompaniment to the text. Even then, many of the names commonly applied today to many of the people and places alluded to in the text have been changed. In fact, some of the places mentioned in the text don't even exist any more. That is, of course, only to be expected after the lapse of more than 700 years. This edition is provided with copious footnotes which, like the map, are an absolute necessity. However, the editors might have made things a lot easier by altering the names of the people and places to their current spelling, and providing a map with locations plotted on it, without really altering the content of the text.

It has been a pleasure to revisit the travels of Marco Polo. I was transfixed by these stories of travel and adventure when I was a child, and never questioned the veracity of the narrative. I know today that the narrative has been corrupted over the centuries, that "The Travels" can scarcely be used as an historical reference, and that a more tantalizing and complete manuscript has probably been lost to the ages. Still, there are glimpses and insights within the narrative that could only have come from first-hand experience, and these describe an enormous, exotic world that titillates even today, while readers in the 13th and 14th centuries must have been enthralled.I was most keen this time around to Polo's descriptions of the cultures and wildlife he encountered, of the whales and lions and leopards and bears--he even describes a white bear, and the people who hunted it were surely of the group often called Eskimos. He describes dog-sledding in the far north and the cannibalistic practices of the people of Java far to the south, both of which are extant in our current era. There are also the fascinating observations of the Mongol Empire, of that group of nomadic people who somehow rose up, like an event in an Isaac Asimov novel, to conquer much of the known world.Somewhat depressingly, though, are Polo's observations of the tensions that existed between the Islamic and Christian worlds, tensions rooted in the competition for hegemony over trade in the Far East. Seven hundred years later, these tensions are still acting themselves out.This translation by Ronald Latham from 1958 includes an introduction that puts Marco Polo's life in context with events and includes footnotes to help the reader make sense of the myriad manuscripts that make up the travels of Marco Polo. This is a somewhat dry read; even Latham comments on the paucity of skill employed by Polo's chronicler. Once I put my mind in context with the narrative, however, I was able to roll with the repetition and sycophancy and enjoy the text.

Very well set out and easy to read, the language is well put and the descriptions of people and places visited are excellent. Well worth a read i only to understand more about the amazing life of people in the past. Distance was calculated by the number of days travelled - it was well before the use of maps, distance and sat navs!

The travels is a book ive never read in one sitting but jump in and out of.A very inspiring tale of adventure and jounrey across the globe in ancient times and all the wonders seen along the at. You can see why some people in the authors time didnt believe him.

I am surprised at how much I enjoyed this. It’s a good window into past worlds the world of late medieval Europe of Marco Polo and the areas he travelled to

Debated and re-debated constantly. Loved the idea of Prester John. This is an interesting story of racism and prejudiced opinions with the acceptance of different peoples as long as they are a conquoring power. Only the strong survive and the travels have lasted, although their authenticity is constantly questioned

Last read it when I was at School. Still as enjoyable and informative