Book Review: The Marco Polo Odyssey
Harry Rutstein spent 10 years retracing Marco Polo’s footsteps, a spectacular voyage that he chronicles in The Marco Polo Odyssey. Rutstein spent four years planning the 13,000 mile overland journey which took him from Venice to Israel, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China, ending in Beijing
This book is especially compelling because it weaves the old and new together, with Rutstein’s words side by side with excerpts from Marco Polo’s The Description of the World. This tale opens with Rutstein and family at a pizza parlor on the first floor of what was once Marco Polo’s house. The pages unfold to chronicle the joys and struggles of travel in times past and present, from the blinding sandstorms of Iran to more modern mechanical hassles. Rustein travels overland in whatever manner he can, from floating on a goatskin raft to climbing a top a camel or hitching a ride on a tractor
A captivating juxtaposition of modern and historic voyages, this book is a great read for a history lover or a traveler.
October 1st, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Thank you very much for the complimentary review. The intent of my Marco Polo project and writing this book was to carry on the work of Marco Polo and introduce the English speaking West to Asia and places rarely seen or heard of in Central Asia. The book will also be available in Spanish next spring (Nowtilus, Madrid). For more details on our project and a clip from the DVD documentary included with the book please visit our we site: http://www.MarcoPoloFound.org.