TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO

Here's a case in which the spoken version holds the listener's attention better than the written one. George Guidall's superb narration takes archaic settings and ideas and infuses them with life. His well-paced voice is full of expression as he moves from one exotic locale to another. Latham's nicely phrased translation contributes to Guidall's success. The book itself is a first-person account of travels from Venice to the East, beginning in 1271; it is a seminal work on the expansion of Western civilization, fundamental in the study of the history, anthropology and ethnology of the various regions. D.W. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT 95]