[boreas]

I recently read the IB text and loved it. Someone already mentioned the fact that IB has more historical material than Marco Polo, but there are a bunch of other contrasts as well.

Most importantly to me, Marco Polo follows a sort of ethnographic style which arranges the narrative around the description of all the peoples and regions he encountered. IB describes his journey linearly in chronological order, which makes more sense to the modern reader. Secondly, we get a much greater sense of the personality of IB in his travelogue. He talks about bursting into tears from loneliness, he talks about longing to be able to stay forever on an idyllic tropical islet, etc.

For those who are interested, my favorite medieval travelogues are:

- William of Rubruck [1] Friar who traveled to the court of the Mongols. Very sharp and strong personality. Featuring a three-way debate between Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists.

- Ibn Fadlan [2] Abbasid envoy to the Volga Bulgars. Featuring pre-Islamic Turks, Jewish Khazars, and of course the absolutely insane viking ship burial.

[1] https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/rubruck.html

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_ibn_Fadlan