Marco Polo Didn T Go There

Author : Rolf Potts
Publisher : Travelers' Tales
Page : 344 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2009-04-01
Category : Travel
ISBN : 9781932361711

Get Book

Marco Polo Didn't Go There by Rolf Potts Pdf

Marco Polo Didn’t Go There is a collection of rollicking travel tales from a young writer USA Today has called “Jack Kerouac for the Internet Age.” For the past ten years, Rolf Potts has taken his keen postmodern travel sensibility into the far fringes of five continents for such prestigious publications as National Geographic Traveler, Salon.com, and The New York Times Magazine. This book documents his boldest, funniest, and most revealing journeys—from getting stranded without water in the Libyan desert, to crashing the set of a Leonardo DiCaprio movie in Thailand, to learning the secrets of Tantric sex in a dubious Indian ashram. Marco Polo Didn’t Go There is more than just an entertaining journey into fascinating corners of the world. The book is a unique window into travel writing, with each chapter containing a “commentary track”—endnotes that reveal the ragged edges behind the experience and creation of each tale. Offbeat and insightful, this book is an engrossing read for students of travel writing as well as armchair wanderers.

Author : Frances Wood
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 198 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2018-06-19
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780429980626

Get Book

Did Marco Polo Go To China? by Frances Wood Pdf

We all ?know? that Marco Polo went to China, served Ghengis Khan for many years, and returned to Italy with the recipes for pasta and ice cream. But Frances Wood, head of the Chinese Department at the British Library, argues that Marco Polo not only never went to China, he probably never even made it past the Black Sea, where his family conducted business as merchants.Marco Polo's travels from Venice to the exotic and distant East, and his epic book describing his extraordinary adventures, A Description of the World, ranks among the most famous and influential books ever published. In this fascinating piece of historical detection, marking the 700th anniversary of Polo's journey, Frances Wood questions whether Marco Polo ever reached the country he so vividly described. Why, in his romantic and seemingly detailed account, is there no mention of such fundamentals of Chinese life as tea, foot-binding, or even the Great Wall? Did he really bring back pasta and ice cream to Italy? And why, given China's extensive and even obsessive record-keeping, is there no mention of Marco Polo anywhere in the archives?Sure to spark controversy, Did Marco Polo Go to China? tries to solve these and other inconsistencies by carefully examining the Polo family history, Marco Polo's activities as a merchant, the preparation of his book, and the imperial Chinese records. The result is a lucid and readable look at medieval European and Chinese history, and the characters and events that shaped this extraordinary and enduring myth.

Author : Hans Ulrich Vogel
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 676 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2012-11-21
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9789004231931

Get Book

Marco Polo Was in China by Hans Ulrich Vogel Pdf

In Marco Polo was in China Hans Ulrich Vogel undertakes a thorough study of Yuan currencies, salts and revenues, by comparing Marco Polo manuscripts with Chinese sources and thus offering new evidence for the Venetian’s stay in Khubilai Khan’s empire.

Author : Denis Belliveau,Francis O'Donnell
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Page : 289 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2008-10-07
Category : History
ISBN : 9780742557376

Get Book

In the Footsteps of Marco Polo by Denis Belliveau,Francis O'Donnell Pdf

Did Marco Polo reach China? This richly illustrated companion volume to the public television film chronicles the remarkable two-year expedition of explorers Denis Belliveau and Francis O'Donnell as they sought the answer to this controversial 700-year-old question. With Polo's book, The Travels of Marco Polo, as their guide, they journeyed over 25,000 miles becoming the first to retrace his entire path by land and sea without resorting to helicopters or airplanes. Surviving deadly skirmishes and capture in Afghanistan, they were the first Westerners in a generation to cross its ancient forgotten passageway to China, the Wakhan Corridor. Their camel caravan on the southern Silk Road encountered the deadly singing sands of the Taklamakan and Gobi deserts. In Sumatra, where Polo was stranded waiting for trade winds, they lived with the Mentawai tribes, whose culture has remained unchanged since the Bronze Age. They became among the first Americans granted visas to enter Iran, where Polo fulfilled an important mission for Kublai Khan. Accompanied by 200 stunning full-color photographs, the text provides a fascinating account of the lands and peoples the two hardy adventurers encountered during their perilous journey. The authors' experiences are remarkably similar to descriptions from Polo's account of his own travels and life. Laden with adventure, humor, diplomacy, history, and art, this book is compelling proof that travel is the enemy of bigotry—a truth that resonates from Marco Polo's time to our own.

Author : Marco Polo
Publisher : Penguin UK
Page : 80 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2015-02-26
Category : Travel
ISBN : 9780141398365

Get Book

Travels in the Land of Serpents and Pearls by Marco Polo Pdf

'You will hear it for yourselves, and it will surely fill you with wonder...' In this selection from Marco Polo's famous travel book, the intrepid Venetian describes the customs of India, recounts the story of the king who died eighty-four times and explains how to retrieve diamonds from snake-infested caves... Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Marco Polo (1254-1324). Polo's Travels are available in Penguin Classics.

Author : Alan W. Armstrong
Publisher : Yearling
Page : 306 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Juvenile Fiction
ISBN : 9780375833229

Get Book

Looking for Marco Polo by Alan W. Armstrong Pdf

When Mark and his mother lose touch with his father's Gobi Desert expedition, they travel to Venice, Italy, and there, while waiting for news of his father, Mark learns about Marco Polo and his adventures in the Far East.

Author : Marco Polo
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 644 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 1871
Category : Asia
ISBN : YALE:39002005005815

Get Book

The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian by Marco Polo Pdf

Author : Italo Calvino
Publisher : HarperCollins
Page : 179 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2013-08-12
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780544133204

Get Book

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino Pdf

Italo Calvino's beloved, intricately crafted novel about an Emperor's travels—a brilliant journey across far-off places and distant memory. “Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.” In a garden sit the aged Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo—Mongol emperor and Venetian traveler. Kublai Khan has sensed the end of his empire coming soon. Marco Polo diverts his host with stories of the cities he has seen in his travels around the empire: cities and memory, cities and desire, cities and designs, cities and the dead, cities and the sky, trading cities, hidden cities. As Marco Polo unspools his tales, the emperor detects these fantastic places are more than they appear.

Author : Gary Jennings
Publisher : Forge Books
Page : 1024 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2010-03-02
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 1429999942

Get Book

The Journeyer by Gary Jennings Pdf

Marco Polo was nicknamed "Marco of the millions" because his Venetian countrymen took the grandiose stories of his travels to be exaggerated, if not outright lies. As he lay dying, his priest, family, and friends offered him a last chance to confess his mendacity, and Marco, it is said, replied "I have not told the half of what I saw and did." Now, in his new novel The Journeyer, Gary Jennings has imagined the half that Marco left unsaid as even more elaborate and adventurous than the tall tales thought to be lies. From the palazzi and back streets of medieval Venice to the sumptuous court of Kublai Khan, from the perfumed sexuality of the Levant to the dangers and rigors of travel along the Silk Road, Marco meets all manner of people, survives all manner of danger, and, insatiably curious, becomes an almost compulsive collector of customs, languages and women. In more than two decades of travel, Marco was variously a merchant, a warrior, a lover, a spy, even a tax collector - but always a journeyer, unflagging in his appetite for new experiences, regretting only what he missed. Here - recreated and reimagined with all the splendor, the love of adventure, the zest for the rare and curious that are Jennings's hallmarks - is the epic account, at once magnificent and delightful, of the greatest real-life adventurer in human history. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Author : Paul Strathern
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : Venice (Italy)
ISBN : 1845951921

Get Book

The Spirit of Venice by Paul Strathern Pdf

This is a new history of Venice, which looks at the lives of the famous individuals of the Republic to try and define its character.

Author : Rolf Potts
Publisher : Ballantine Books
Page : 242 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2002-12-24
Category : Travel
ISBN : 9780812992182

Get Book

Vagabonding by Rolf Potts Pdf

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • With a new foreword by Tim Ferriss • “Vagabonding easily remains in my top-10 list of life-changing books. Why? Because one incredible trip, especially a long-term trip, can change your life forever. And Vagabonding teaches you how to travel (and think), not just for one trip, but for the rest of your life.”—Tim Ferriss, from the foreword There’s nothing like vagabonding: taking time off from your normal life—from six weeks to four months to two years—to discover and experience the world on your own terms. In this one-of-a-kind handbook, veteran travel writer Rolf Potts explains how anyone armed with an independent spirit can achieve the dream of extended overseas travel. Now completely revised and updated, Vagabonding is an accessible and inspiring guide to • financing your travel time • determining your destination • adjusting to life on the road • working and volunteering overseas • handling travel adversity • re-assimilating back into ordinary life Updated for our ever-changing world, Vagabonding is an indispensable guide for the modern traveler.

Author : Kate Harris
Publisher : Knopf Canada
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2018-01-30
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780345816795

Get Book

Lands of Lost Borders by Kate Harris Pdf

NATIONAL BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE RBC TAYLOR PRIZE WINNER OF THE EDNA STAEBLER AWARD FOR CREATIVE NON-FICTION "Every day on a bike trip is like the one before--but it is also completely different, or perhaps you are different, woken up in new ways by the mile." As a teenager, Kate Harris realized that the career she most craved--that of a generalist explorer, equal parts swashbuckler and philosopher--had gone extinct. From her small-town home in Ontario, it seemed as if Marco Polo, Magellan and their like had long ago mapped the whole earth. So she vowed to become a scientist and go to Mars. To pass the time before she could launch into outer space, Kate set off by bicycle down a short section of the fabled Silk Road with her childhood friend Mel Yule, then settled down to study at Oxford and MIT. Eventually the truth dawned on her: an explorer, in any day and age, is by definition the kind of person who refuses to live between the lines. And Harris had soared most fully out of bounds right here on Earth, travelling a bygone trading route on her bicycle. So she quit the laboratory and hit the Silk Road again with Mel, this time determined to bike it from the beginning to end. Like Rebecca Solnit and Pico Iyer before her, Kate Harris offers a travel narrative at once exuberant and meditative, wry and rapturous. Weaving adventure and deep reflection with the history of science and exploration, Lands of Lost Borders explores the nature of limits and the wildness of a world that, like the self and like the stars, can never be fully mapped.

Author : Alexander Zelenyj
Publisher : Crabtree Publishing Company
Page : 36 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 0778724174

Get Book

Marco Polo by Alexander Zelenyj Pdf

Separates fact from myth using excerpts from Polo's actual journals and illustrations and photos to portray Polo himself and his impressions of the unique traditions and customs of the Mongols.

Author : Gao Hua
Publisher : The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press
Page : 840 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2018-11-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9789629968229

Get Book

How the Red Sun Rose by Gao Hua Pdf

This work offers the most comprehensive account of the origin and consequences of the Yan'an Rectification Movement from 1942 to 1945. The author argues that this campaign emancipated the Chinese Communist Party from Sovietinfluenced dogmatism and unified the Party, preparing it for the final victory against the Nationalist Party in 1949. More importantly, this monograph shows in great detail how Mao Zedong established his leadership through this partywide political movement by means of aggressive intraparty purges, thought control, coercive cadre examinations, and total reorganizations of the Party's upper structure. The result of this movement not only set up the foundation for Mao's new China, but also deeply influenced the Chinese political structure today. The Chinese version of How the Red Sun Rose was published in 2000, and has had nineteen printings since then.

Author : Valerie Hansen
Publisher : W. W. Norton
Page : 458 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : History
ISBN : 0393973743

Get Book

The Open Empire by Valerie Hansen Pdf

The Open Empire presents a fresh approach to Chinese history in the premodern period, drawing on stunning evidence from recent archaeological finds and exciting currents in scholarship.