As salaamu alai kum wa rahmatullahi wa barakth,

Of the few pages and paragraphs (about 30 pages) that I read of the book, Ibn Battuta by L. P. Harvey, I felt like being in the company of a bitching wife (sorry for the strong word), who is deeply pessimistic and doubts if you really had work in the office when you said you’d be coming home late. 

Which is why I feel the book should have been titled: ‘Ibn Battuta: A Perspective’ – this is what it really is, the British author, L. P. Harvey’s perspective on Ibn Battuta’s life and travels. 

Truth be told, the book is very good as it contains many anecdotes and  provides a summary of his travels, in-fact this particular copy was a gift for someone else, so I could not complete its reading, but we’ve ordered two copies of it already, so for someone  who is averse to reading thick fat autobiographical books on Ibn Battuta, like the one more I have on him: ‘The Adventures of Ibn Battuta – A Muslims Traveler of the Fourteenth Century’ by Ross E. Dunn which runs into about 400 pages, this book by L. P. Harvey at just about 120 pages is a welcome change.

You may ask why I’m recommending such a book in that case, but rest assured, to anyone who is familiar with British honesty, this book won’t do any damage, inshaAllah.

UPDATE ON 19th Aug 2013: Its not worth reading.

Title: Ibn Battuta 

Binding: Paperback

Author: L. P. Harvey

Language: English

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Pages: 127

Price: $ 4

Purchased from: Infibeam

Wa alai kum as salaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakath.