Peter Hessler
Why is this writer at his best when he doesn’t try to be a journalist?
Richard Wilhelm
Is this an effort in soul searching or rather a classic work about China?
Matsuo Basho
Does true poetry only flourish in the depths of the wilderness?
Odoric of Pordenone
Was this a 14th-century fact finding mission or just another medieval mystery tale?
Sun Shuyun
Is this book more about contemplation or more about adventure?
Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff
Is this guy a missionary or is he really a spy?
Reinhold Messner
Did the best mountaineer ever write the best book about mountaineering ever?
Jean de Mandeville
Why is it so much fun to read Medieval travel stories that are at least partly untrue?
Andreas Altmann
How was an otherwise good travel book spoiled by too much preaching?
Sven Hedin
Are we looking at a career-obsessed explorer or at a blueprint for Indiana Jones?
Rob Gifford
Are the errors in this book due to poor editing or is this an expert who doesn’t know his craft?
Ji Xianlin
Are these travel memoirs worth reading, or has censorship ruined them?
Stanley Stewart
Is China really that quirky, or do we sometimes just want things to be a certain way?
Ibn Battuta
Did conservative ethics turn this great adventure story into such a slow read?