In Xanadu

Book is good, narration of places also good but sometimes you have to look out for images of places on google. It is not the book for a regular reader as it mentions some historical incidents so who is interested in travel+history, a treat for them. Personally , I found language little bit hard in understanding in some chapters.

The book seems 2nd hand as thw cover is dirty and looks old...

Good Recycled paper. Not best book by Dalrymple

Loved it

I became a Dalrymple fan after reading his other books and I decided to buy this one instantly. Wonderful, trippy, it seizes you onto his journey on the silk-route. Must have.

It is always good to see the world through William Dalrymple's eyes... He makes Middle East and it's situation so vivid.This is a great journey through one of the greatest travel routes. PERIOD

Ordered this book after reading Dalrymple's The Last Mughals and his articles about india and travel in international dailies. I'm drawn towards his intricate narrative with attention to historical details, and relating it to present scenarios as far as possible. It makes you see the world around you from a different perspective, which is priceless. Can u take the journey Marco Polo did centuries ago and then what the author replicated it on this book? Probably not. But, this is the next best thing really. He'd be a role model for many.The Delivery time was swift. it reached me(From Jaipur to Guwahati) within 4 days which was impressive. However, the packaging of the book was nothing out of the ordinary, and the condition of the book itself was unsatisfactory. I found the last few pages, along with the back cover folded at the top end. that kind of left a permanent scar on the book. The print quality itself on the cover seems a little sub-standard but it's undoubtedly an original. Can't blame anyone here. The pages inside and photographs are top quality and pleasure to read (not to mention the narrative). The first leaf and the back cover's pics i've shared..Overall, a good deal and i'm still a fan of amazon! Thanks guys..

Great book. Paints a visual picture in front of your eyes. A very good travelogue. Awesomely funny at times.

Historical context and research evident in every scene. A wonderful mixture of fact and matter-of-fact opinion. Inspires healthy curiosity about the history of many forgotten places.

This is quite simply an enchanting book and for two interconnected reasons. The first and most striking reason is that Dalrymple manages to capture and convey the shear sense of wonder and excitement that comes from traveling across the world when young. So young, in fact, that I kept having to remind myself that he was only 22 when he wrote it.If that were its only noteworthy aspect the book would be just one of many other worthy works of travel and exploration. What makes Dalrymple's book so compelling is his extensive grasp of the history and culture of the lands through which he traveled. I like to think that I have read a little of the literature relevant to the countries he passed through but time and again I was brought up short by some tale of a character, event or place of which I had never heard but that had caught Dalrymple's imagination and whose story he wished to share. He proved to be a teller of tales every bit as adept and entrancing as Scheherazade.The premise of the book is that after graduating Dalrymple wanted to re-trace the footsteps of Marco Polo from Jerusalem across Asia Minor and deep into the heart of Asia in search of the legendary Xanadu. To do this he had to pass through Israel, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and China, visiting some of the most important and memorable sites of antiquity on the way. He made his journey in the late 80s meaning that his journey, although maybe not as perilous or difficult, was a worthy successor to Marco Polo's epic voyage.Since reading In Xanadu I have gone on to read several other books by Dalrymple and while his mature style is a little more settled and refined I look back on this first journey I shared with him with a special fondness for its marvelous exuberance and sense of the infinite possibility of youth.

Maybe he has come to his senses now, after all he was only 22 when he embarked on this historical journey following the footsteps of Marco Polo. This journey was crazy, with literally no budget, not much planning, not knowing where they will even spend the night or how they will get to their next stop. He was accompanied by two female companions Laura (from Jerusalem to Lahore) and Louisa (from Lahore to Xanadu) who were also equally crazy. However, thanks to them we get a highly entertaining and informative book about the regions and countries they traveled through. They mostly slept in run down cheap hotels with appalling conditions, hitch-hiked for the most part and ate street food. The only two stops where they encountered some luxury was a week-long stay at Dalrymple's friend's mansion in Lahore, where he switched companions and a State Guest House near the Indus River along Karakorum Highway Pakistan where they twisted the truth to get in. Other than those two locations, you mostly feel sorry for these poor travelers and are thoroughly entertained during the whole process. I think they should do an encore journey (from 1986 to present day), that book would probably be less entertaining but still informative.

Funny, and a good read, WD certainly chose his travel companions well. Makes you feel as if you are there with them.

I quite enjoyed this, the second of Dalymple's books I've read. It suffered a bit from comparison with From the Holy Mountain, the work of a more mature, observant, but no less intrepid writer. I also found myself shocked by a passage that seemed to embody the attitude of a 19th century British missionary: "The village was poorer than any we had seen in Persia, but to European eyes it was infintely preferable. The faces of the men were craggy and rugged, and had none of the effeminacy of the Persians. There was a restrained dignity in their bearing. They regarded us with only casual curiosity and with none of the self-demeaning humility of most Indians." Ugh...