The Travels of Ibn Battuta (Travel + Exploration) Paperback – August 4, 2009

Not only is this book historically VERY IMPORTANT, it's also very readable in this edition.

As a writer with a passion for seafarers and wanderers, this is a perfect resource and a speedy getaway read for these trying days of quiet solitude. Battuta is a luxury version of every explorers dream. Love it already and I’m still in the preface!!

I experienced a bit of disappointment when I compared this volume, which covers Ibn Batuta's travels in 243 pages, to the Arabic version I have "Rihla Ibn Batuta" Dar Al Beirut (1997) which describes his travels from page 14 to page 701. A lot of interesting material has been excised. It is not the fault of the translator inasmuch as he translated from an abridged Arabic manuscript. This is made clear from the back cover of the Dover publication of Rev. Lee's translation.Nonetheless, this book is an interesting historical document in itself. Interspersed throughout the translation, Rev. Lee provides valuable notes and, in his preface, provides an insightful historiography. The translation includes, in numerous footnotes, various terms and places in Arabic. The orthography is quite legible. However, some of the places are arcane and there is no attempt to decipher them. This is a minor quibble as such an exercise would require the translator to also be a historical geographer.I would ignore the review of this book that awarded this work only one star. It would appear that that reviewer is merely revealing more of his own limitations than those of the Rev. Lee.Finally, the Dover edition is aesthetically pleasing and printed on high quality paper. I found it to be good value for money. Owing to its incompleteness, however, I can only give it a qualified recommendation.

I found the copious footnotes made the book hard to follow and keep interest in so I gave it away to a friend.

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I know this edition may be outdated, but this book was truly fascinating. What I found very interesting is that it was told from a completely non-European, pre-colonial perspective, yet the similarities between his points of view and observations to those of European societies are striking.

good read

Very good basic travelog. This 14th century traveler was 20 years away from his home in Tangier. He saw Lhasa, Colombo and Sudan. What a wealth of knowledge.

Battuta was one of the worlds greatest travelers. The descriptions of the peoples and places met and visited are superb.This 1829 translation can be difficult in parts (especially the copious notes) but well worth the effort and very rewarding.

There is certainly something to interest the reader in each chapter, and for the researcher. It's worth a read for the dedicated, but it's quite laborious.

Well worth reading for those who enjoy history. I found Ibn Battuta's wrting full of interesting facts, however some of the editors comments and footnotes rather long winded and sometimes got off the point. From other books I believe some of the places reported by Ibn Battuta were based on hearsay as he didn't visit them ( this also applies to the writings of Marco Polo). This was not mentioned in this volume. All the same well worth reading.