Book Review: The Riddle and the Knight by Giles Milton - a podcast by ApocD

The subtitle of this book isIn Search of Sir John Mandeville, the World's Greatest Traveller. I thought I was the world's greatest traveler, so I had issues with this book from the cover. Way to go, Giles.

I'm a Giles Milton fan; I believe I've read all of his non-fiction books. He has a fiction book that I didn't even buy in the bargain bin; sorry, man, but you're a non-fiction writer for me. I got started withSamurai William, which I borrowed from an English bloke I know, and then moved on to the other books, which I purchased with my own currency.

Enough about currency, let's talk about this book. There was this guy names Sir John Mandeville who lived way back in the 1300's. Now, we have a problem already, since back then people didn't care one about bit how one went about spelling words, so Mandeville's one version, but you might also find Mandevil, Man Devil, Man check out that devil, and Mandamandamanda. See, we're already confused. It wasn't until the onset of the Internet and video games that spelling started conforming to rules, although it hasn't conformed too well as I've already writtentravelerwith two different spellings. That's what happens when Yanks review British books.

This guy Mandeville, see, claimed to have traveled for over thirty years. He wrote a book about it once he'd returned to Old England, or as it was known back then, England. The first half of the book is believable enough; he went to Jerusalem, he went to Istanbul, he checked out some cathedrals and drank a lot of wine. Although some of the places he claimed to have visited weren't all that safe for travellers (woops), it's believable enough. The problem comes in the second half of the book, in which he claims to go to the far East, as far as the Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara, and he claims that he saw all kinds of monsters. The story just gets crazier and crazier, making many people believe that it's all a bit of rubbish.

Giles Milton set out to follow Sir John's path and to find out if the first part of his book was true. What did he find out? What did he discover on this journey? You'll have to read to find out.

I have to warn you, if you dislike 1) history or 2) travel, this book is not for you. If you'd like to read about a modern day writer investigating the claims of a guy who's been dead for 600 years, then check it out.

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