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Tim Mackintosh-Smith

Travels with a Tangerine: From Morocco to Turkey in the Footsteps of Islam's Greatest Traveler Paperback – June 8, 2004

by Tim Mackintosh-Smith (Author), Martin Yeoman (Illustrator)

4.3 40 ratings

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In 1325, the great Arab traveler Ibn Battutah set out from his native Tangier in North Africa on pilgrimage to Mecca. By the time he returned nearly thirty years later, he had seen most of the known world, covering three times the distance allegedly traveled by the great Venetian explorer Marco Polo—some 75,000 miles in all.

Captivated by Ibn Battutah’s account of his journey, the Arabic scholar and award-winning travel writer Tim Mackintosh-Smith set out to follow in the peripatetic Moroccan’s footsteps. Traversing Egyptian deserts and remote islands in the Arabian Sea, visiting castles in Syria and innumerable souks in medieval Islam’s great cities, Mackintosh-Smith sought clues to Ibn Battutah’s life and times, encountering the ghost of “IB” in everything from place names (in Tangier alone, a hotel, street, airport, and ferry bear IB’s name), to dietary staples to an Arabic online dating service— and introducing us to a world of unimaginable wonders.

By necessity, Mackintosh-Smith’s journey may have cut some corners (“I only wish I had the odd thirty years to spare, and Ibn Battutah’s enviable knack of extracting large amounts of cash, robes and slaves from compliant rulers.”) But in this wry, evocative, and uniquely engaging travelogue, he spares no effort in giving readers an unforgettable glimpse into both the present-day and fourteenth-century Islamic worlds.

Print length

368 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Random House Trade Paperbacks
Publication date

June 8, 2004
Dimensions

5.19 x 0.81 x 7.98 inches
ISBN-10

0812971647
ISBN-13

978-0812971644
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A thoughtful work of an intensely curious scholar who can write better than most novelists.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Learned, smartly observant, and very readable . . . An admirable rarity.”
—The New Republic

“Intoxicating, dazzlingly erudite, yet full of gentle wit and informed by its author’s profound knowledge of Muslim society, this book is a breathtaking achievement.”
—Sunday Times (London)

From the Back Cover

In 1325, the great Arab traveler Ibn Battutah set out from his native Tangier in North Africa on pilgrimage to Mecca. By the time he returned nearly thirty years later, he had seen most of the known world, covering three times the distance allegedly traveled by the great Venetian explorer Marco Polo—some 75,000 miles in all.

Captivated by Ibn Battutah’s account of his journey, the Arabic scholar and award-winning travel writer Tim Mackintosh-Smith set out to follow in the peripatetic Moroccan’s footsteps. Traversing Egyptian deserts and remote islands in the Arabian Sea, visiting castles in Syria and innumerable souks in medieval Islam’s great cities, Mackintosh-Smith sought clues to Ibn Battutah’s life and times, encountering the ghost of “IB” in everything from place names (in Tangier alone, a hotel, street, airport, and ferry bear IB’s name), to dietary staples to an Arabic online dating service— and introducing us to a world of unimaginable wonders.

By necessity, Mackintosh-Smith’s journey may have cut some corners (“I only wish I had the odd thirty years to spare, and Ibn Battutah’s enviable knack of extracting large amounts of cash, robes and slaves from compliant rulers.”) But in this wry, evocative, and uniquely engaging travelogue, he spares no effort in giving readers an unforgettable glimpse into both the present-day and fourteenth-century Islamic worlds.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House Trade Paperbacks; NO-VALUE edition (June 8, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0812971647
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0812971644
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.19 x 0.81 x 7.98 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #268,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #42 in General Middle East Travel Guides
- #383 in Travel Writing Reference
- #776 in Travelogues & Travel Essays

Customer Reviews:
4.3 40 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5

40 global ratings

5 star		58%
4 star		23%
3 star		11%
2 star		2%
1 star		5%

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Utah Blaine

Eclectic and erudite, but a tough slog

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 15, 2010

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Tim Mackintosh-Smith's entertaining and informative travelogue recounts his attempt to duplicate the first part of the travels of the great Islamic traveller Ibn Batutta. He starts in Morocco, travels across North Africa to Egypt, then to the Middle East in modern Saudi Arabia and Jordan. He then travel to the coast of the Persian Gulf to modern Oman, and finally back up through Turkey and onto the Crimea peninsula. Overall, I found this to be a very informative read, but not easy and not that entertaining. You'll learn a tremendous amount about the diversity of the people who inhabit the Islamic world: their cultures, their religion, their cuisine. Each region has a tremendous amount of local history, and to sweep this all under the rug as 'Islamic' history is a tremendous disservice. TMS's book will, if nothing else, demonstrate the enormous diversity in the Islamic world - this alone is worth the price of admission for someone like me who has never visited Egypt, Jordan, etc. TMS also meets many friendly and not so friendly people along the way that spice up his travels. However, this book is a tough slog - it is almost too clever for its own good. One can only read about so many Islamic saints and shrines, after a while they all start to blend together. There is so much minutiae in this book that sometimes TMS looses the larger picture for the trees in the forest. He certainly didn't encourage me to repeat this journey, and there is no way that this can be considered an easy read - it definitely took discipline on my part to finish the book. The few times that TMS tries to inject humor into the tale of his travels, it is always in the form of body function humor - a bit scatological for an otherwise clever travelogue. The bottom line is that there is a lot to like about this journey, but it is too wordy and eclectic for its own good, and I'd be wary about recommending it to anyone. I think the glowing 5 star reviews overrate this somewhat, and you should think carefully before taking the plunge.

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

Anonymous

Great read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 4, 2022

Verified Purchase

The author has a great sense of humor and is a wonderful story teller. I think you would appreciate the book better if you have a background in Arabic and some knowledge of the Arab world. I truly enjoyed this book and plan on reading it again.

Helpful

Rahallatun

Of interest mostly to people with a fairly extensive knowledge of the Arab World

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 11, 2020

Verified Purchase

Unless you have a fair amount of knowledge of the Middle East and perhaps have traveled there and maybe understand some Arabic, I think you might be disappointed in this book. It's a bit like listening to a series of 'in jokes.'

In the book, the author follows the path of Ibn Battutah (IB), a 14th century peripatetic jurist from Tangier (hence a Tangerine), through parts of North Africa, the Middle East, Turkey and the Crimea looking for remnants of IB's time. Mackintosh-Smith(M-S) has an odd sense of humor and seems to be always alert for aphrodisiacs, scatalogical references (or scat), and unusual sexual practices (usually having nothing to do with references to IB). One or two such references, okay, but he seems to have an obsession. Also, IB had an intense interest in Muslim Sufis and ascetics so he ends up visiting or trying to visit sites that are best of tertiary interest or which have been abandoned to decay today.

On the other hand, M-S seems to have a deep knowledge of Arabic literature, history and culture and is good at sussing out connections. I'm not much of a poetry fan, but he is very good at relating an appropriate piece of Arabic or Western poetry to a place or situation at hand.

4 people found this helpful

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F. B. Jeffery

Arrived quickly and in good shape

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 6, 2019

Verified Purchase

Interesting description of the life Ibn Battutah, a 14th C Berber/Arab traveler whose journeys took him throughout the Muslim world with side trips to Crimea and Constantinople. Equally interesting are the comments of the author, a long-time resident San'a and whose recently published work "Arabs" is a comprehensive study of the peoples of Arabia as revealed in their language. Adds (both books) greatly to my understanding of this part of the world.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Jon Cotner

Read this book!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 22, 2014

Verified Purchase

Wonderfully written adventure, chocked full of erudite assessments and delicate moments of brilliant insight. A sensitive portrait of Ibn Battuta the man and sweeping look at Arabic the language. Thanks Tim!

One person found this helpful

Helpful

czqsbp

A nice read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 4, 2010

Verified Purchase

A nice book to settle in with, if you have time to think about it's contents.

Helpful

sally tarbox

"Inverse archaeology"

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 19, 2016

This book had been sitting on my 'to read' shelf for a couple of years: I didn't think it would be particularly interesting.
When I determinedly sat down to read it, I realised what I'd been missing as this is travel writing at its absolutely superb best. In it the author - an Arabist and longterm Yemeni resident - seeks to follow the travels of 14th century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battutah, a man who over twenty-nine years visited "over forty countries on the modern map, travelling some 75,000 miles by horse, mule, camel, ox-wagon, junk, dhow, raft and on foot."
With Battutah's 'Travels' ever in hand, the author re-discovers shrines, mosques and churches and finds similarities - and vast differences - in the lifestyle of the people he meets on the way.
This, the first volume, covers Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Oman, Turkey and the Crimea.
Mr Mackintosh-Smith writes wonderful descriptions, both witty and intelligent; he peppers his work with tales taken from Battutah and elsewhere; he draws us in to his one-man archaeological efforts as he seeks to identify places mentioned in the work. And the reader experiences a thrill as he conclusively identifies a location where Battutah himself would have stood so long ago.
This is a wonderful read and I hope to go on and read the other two volumes.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

MS V M BARRETT

Well written

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 19, 2023

Verified Purchase

An Excellent introduction to the great man

Patrick Joseph Kerr

A joy!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 14, 2008

Verified Purchase

This is without a doubt one of the best books I have ever read. Not just in terms of the fact that its very well written. It is funny, I had to put it down in the metro as people were starring at me as I was laughing so much, it's informative and it really does carry you along on the authors journey.

It has rekindled a desire to explore the arabic world described at the start of IBs journey as well.
A brilliant book, buy it!!

3 people found this helpful

Samira Al-Mana

Travel with a Tangerine

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 1, 2014

Verified Purchase

It is a very interesting and amusing. I wish somebody would translate it to Arabic. Tim Mackintosh very observent and understanding.

One person found this helpful

Ms. D. M. Neale

Sweet tangerine

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 17, 2012

Verified Purchase

Although I haven't had chance to read this book yet, my nephew has it and loves it. He rates it as a superb read. I look forward to having my book back!

Angela Mackay

Medieval world travel brought to life: Ibn Battuta lives!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 6, 2015

Verified Purchase

Mackintosh Smith is a writer for travellers or those with a lust for travel. Erudite, clever, funny, intuitive yet occasionally as gullible as the rest of us, he is perfect company, chatting g with strangers, seeking unlikely remains and memorials, switching effortlessly between the medieval travels of IB and his own 're-treading' of those paths. His knowledge of Arabic and texts is intimidating - but enlightening, and add to the reader's understanding of context and the skills and values of the time. IN was a remarkable man, a true traveller, whose enthusiasm for his journeys and those he meets, the adventures of his time are brilliantly portrayed by the author's enthusiasm and talent in describing his own imitative travels. Loved it!

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