Richard Humble

Since this is a children's book, and seems to be made for learning or education of some sort, I think care could have been made to point out that much of Marco Polo's account has been disputed. There is one line about the controversy at the very back, but it's treated as a throwaway and a product of jealous readers in the past. According to this book, every inhabitant of Sumatra during those times was a cannibal. I was particularly annoyed with the section titled "The Buddha's Tooth". According to Marco Polo, he just whisked into Ceylon (now modern-day Sri Lanka) and easily bought the region's most prized possession with no problem at all. From Buddhist monks, no less! Somebody should tell this story to the Sri Lankans and the countless empires they fought wars with over the sacred tooth. They would probably be very interested in it. I actually went to the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, Sri Lanka. I sat in line with thousands of pilgrims to make merit to a tooth Polo claims to have bought for Kublai Khan. The temple's walls were adorned with intricate paintings depicting the bloody history behind the tooth's acquisition. It was not something to be traded for gold. I'll give it one star because the stories are otherwise entertaining.… (mer)