When Asia Was the World
Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks Who Created the “Riches of the East”

Anytime Avicenna is mentioned (the Persian polymath was one of the greatest and most influential physicians, philosophers and thinkers ever in all the world but is virtually unknown in the West) it is a good thing. Otherwise, a splendid romp along a particular geographical and cultural history.......more

How could this book not be entertaining with chapters entitled "Monasteries and Monarchs", "Ingots and Artefacts", "Treasure and Treaty" etc.? The first tells the story of the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang (618-632) and his travels to India in search of original Buddhist sutras. "Ingots and Artefac......more

If you are interested in the history of central & South Asia during the Middle Ages (and who isn’t?!), then I think you’ll enjoy this book. It includes the accounts of several travelers & traders across the Middle East, Central Asia, India & China. The short accounts include those of Ibn Battuta, Ib......more

Overall, a very interesting book that explores aspects of Asian (Generally the Middle East to India to China, with some venturing geographically nearby) culture and civilization between ~600 and 1550 CE. Most chapters focus on a particular person--a Buddhist monk from China at first, later a Jewish......more

Merchants, scholars, warriors, and monks traveled great distances through Asia between the 7th and 16th centuries, visiting many lands and leaving us fascinating tales to read in their memoirs. It would be difficult to write a dull book about them, but the author has succeeded. He subscribes to "soc......more