Customer Reviews
Masterly and fascinating - By: cousineerie, 01 Nov 2005 
It would be pretty vain for anyone to try & "review" & pass judgement on this book. The level of erudition is staggering & every page is packed full of fascinating anecdote, character & information. Burton was an intellectual giant whose learning & adventurous spirit puts us all to shame.
One of the classics - By: , 11 Sep 2002 This is the first of two volumes documenting Burton's historic & famous journey to the heart of Islam, all the time disguised as an Indian Muslim. Burton's journey, exciting & dangerous, opened up for the Christian west many of the mysteries of Islam for the first time, but altough it is full of fascinating information on the languages, geography, & history of the regions he passes through, this book will be read & enjoyed primarily for his account of the trials & tribulations he suffers on the journey itself, & for the caustic & most unpolitically-correct observations on those around him. His attitude towards others & his beliefin himself typify the Victorian era he was a product of, & this comes throughin every page. The prose can be a little hard-going at times, but overall this is a very enjoyable read, full of insights into the customs of the nineteenth-century arabic world, but above all else a well written tale of a fantastic adventure.
