The Travels of Ibn Battutah (2003)

In his Great Voyages Lecture "Traveler's Tips from the 14th Century: The Detours of Ibn Battutah" (December 4th, 2013), Professor Paul Cobb offers his audience these five tips to travel: Keep an Open Mind, Go to School, Bring Snacks, Plan on Changing Plans and Make Friends. 

Despite of their ordinariness, we must also do these tips justice by recognizing their source of inspiration, that is Ibn Battutah (1304~1368 or 1369), a medieval traveler from the 14th century and a voice from the less-known Arabic world, to compared with his Venetian contemporary, Marco Polo (1254~1324). 

1688: A Global History (2001)

Professor John E. Wills, recently deceased in January 2017 at the age of 80, is a wonderful writer and a great source of early modern world history. 

Like the Canadian historian Timothy Brook (1951-), they go far and wide, portraying for readers a world from bygone days, yet filled with so much life and even more vivid details. Under their pen, the world of the 17th century is as lively as the one we are living in now. 

The year of 1688 is Wills's focal point. He travels back and forth in time, journeying from continent to continent, from port cities to courts, from trade to religion, from material goods to metaphysical letters to bring us how the world looked like around that particular year...