Project Description

Book_Marco_Polo_LargeBy Laurence Bergreen

Title: Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu

Notes: I love history / biographies books, because they helps me to make the connection between different events and how they changed the world. These types of accounts also help me to see what makes people so extraordinary that they are forever remembered in books. Enjoy my notes on Marco Polo.

  • A lot about Genghis Khan
    • Really appreciative of the Khan’s civic duties and traditions
    • He was the Khan’s spokesperson and tax collector for a long time
  • After 17 years with the Khans, he brought back silks, but also things there were new to Europe, like,
    • Coal, which helped the energy-stave Europe
    • Eye glasses, which became the cure for bad eyesight
      • Lead to the telescope
    • Paper money, which revolutionize commerce
    • Gun powered, from the Chinese
  • Marco Polo’s writing was so full of imagination that it called into question it’s accuracy
    • However, his writings may have never been as popular without that level of imagination