Product Description

'A gripping and accomplished travel book ...[it] stands out for its integrity and intelligence.' - Anthony Sattin, "Sunday Times". Ibn Battutah was the greatest traveller of the pre-mechanical age, journeying for twenty nine years and covering three times the ground Marco Polo covered. Tim Mackintosh-Smith follows the first stage of Ibn Battutah's journey, from Tangier to Constantinople. Destinations include an Islamic Butlin's in the Egyptian desert, Assassin castles in Syria, the Kuria Maria Islands in the Arabian Sea and some of the greatest cities of Medeival Islam. He also cleverly compares the contemporary Muslim world with the past. 'Mackintosh-Smith slips effortlessly between our world and that of the fourteenth century. In doing so, he has created a gripping and accomplished travel book...We will be lucky if there is a better one published this year' - "Sunday Times". 'An immensely engaging book...Subversive good humour without relentless jokiness; and a descriptive eye capable of sketching complext details in a few telling lines.' - "Daily Telegraph".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51717 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Thomas Cook/Daily Telegraph Travel Book Award is not handed out lightly, and is almost invariably given to travel writing of a rare order. Tim Mackintosh-Smith is a very worthy recipient, and Travels with a Tangerine will no doubt inspire (as did his earlier Yemen) comparisons to the giants of writing about the Arabic world, from Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom to Wilfred Thesiger.

Travels with a Tangerine is subtitled A Journey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah, and finds Mackintosh-Smith utilising his impressive knowledge of Arabic studies in a fascinating journey to find the real Arabia. For the past 17 years (when not travelling), he has lived in the Yemeni capital San'a, and this invaluable background has made him the perfect guide to the exotic landscapes of Arabia. Here, the author travels in the footsteps of a ghost. Ibn Battutah was the greatest traveller of the pre-mechanical age, setting out in 1325 from his native Tangier on a pilgrimage to Mecca. His journey took 29 years, and he visited most of the known world, travelling three times the distance that Marco Polo covered. Mackintosh-Smith set out to write a "trailer" or continuation of the original writings, and this utterly fascinating book covers the first stage in the Moroccan's bizarre and dangerous journey (brigands were only one of the dangers he faced). The destinations include a quaint Islamic Butlin's in the Egyptian desert, the shores of the Cimmerian Bosphoros and some of the most impressive cities of medieval Islam. All the details of his journey are conjured up with maximum vividness, from buffalo milk puddings and fishbone houses to the legendary dancing dervishes. The writing, always spare and elegant, makes this a highly compelling read for either the adventurer or the armchair traveller. --Barry Forshaw

About the Author
Tim Mackintosh-Smith studied Classical Arabic at Oxford. At the age of 21, he headed east for the real Arabia. For the past 17 years, he has lived in the Yemeni capital, San'a - a place which has missed out on many of the more awful aspects of the post medieval period. His first book, Yemen: Travels in Dictionary Land, won the 1998 Thomas Cook/Daily Telegraph Travel Book Award and his next book Travels with a Tangerine was critically acclaimed.

Customer Reviews

Great book, but ...
This is indeed a wonderful book, as others have written. However, I think it weakens towards the end, when the author leaves the Arabic-speaking world and travels to Turkey and the Crimea. Here Tim Mackintosh-Smith, as he himself admits, is on less familiar cultural and linguistic grounds. As a result there are fewer of the conversations, arguments and jokes with local people that give the 'Arabic' section of his travels such a feeling of immediacy and intimacy. I look forward to future travels with a Tangerine, but I also hope that Mackintosh-Smith will give us more about Arabs and their world.

BUY IT!!!
An excellent and timely exploration of Islamic culture, heritage and humanity. This is a beautifully written book whose learning and erudition is lightly worn. I found its humorous and loving accounts of people, places and history very reminiscent of Patrick Leigh-Fermor's 'A Time of Gifts' and 'Between the Woods and the Water' - it shared that same wistfulness and yet is an exploration of a vibrant modern world embedded in a deep historical and religious context. A marvellous antidote to all those over-earnest journalistic pieces on Islamic fundamentalism.

Riveting, scholarly and hugely entertaining
This was a pleasure to read, from cover to cover. Tim Mackintosh-Smith packs every page with scholarly analysis, pithy observations on human nature and a clear sense of deep enjoyment of his journey (even in adversity). His Sana'a home must contain an extraordinary library; the entire book is peppered with insights from across the centuries. Perhaps the most vivid memory - TM-S sighing with contentment as he relaxes to await his next transport with all the true\desert-dweller needs for a happy life: shade, tobacco and cool water. A sage indeed. I can't recommend this too highly.