The Hall of a Thousand Columns

extraordinary life and times of the greatest traveller of pre-modern times.' -- Pankaj Mishra, author of The Romantics and 20041101 'A rich texture of multiple perception ... Beneath this funny, cultured, humane and highly idiosyncratic travelogue there is a darkly tragic theme. For interwoven with the real-time journey of Mackintosh-Smith through India is an enquiry into the nature of Islam in India' -- Barnaby Rogerson, Literary Review 20050301 'A first-rate travel book, enlivened by the author's erudition, subtle humour, and sheer enthusiasm for his subject' -- Traveller 20050301 'Few writers have the talent to pull off a notable trilogy in any genre ... [Mackintosh-Smith's] talent is not in doubt... The author appears as an enthusiastic researcher, a thirsty drinker, and a traveller who allows little to deter him from his path ... Rich and fascinating' -- Anthony Sattin, Sunday Times 20050320 'With his hallmark combination of irreverence and empathy, Mackintosh-Smith ... has confected a curiously addictive blend of history, travel and jokes. But above all, he engages with ideas, and his aim is that of the novelist - to send a bucket down into the subconscious.' -- Guardian Weekly 20050416 'Wisecracking ... One of the most enjoyable things about Mackintosh-Smith's narrative is the way it intersperses dizzying glimpses of 14th-century Islamic court life with his own comic attempts to navigate modern-day India. A book that travels in time as well as in space' -- Daily Mail 20050408 'Mixing Ibn Battutah's account with his own encounters and journeys, Mackintosh-Smith creates an enchanting text ... This is an engrossing book' -- Ziauddin Sardar, Independent 20050621 'An engaging portrait of modern-day India - the charm, humour, quirkiness and the way in which the country constantly juxtaposes the extraordinary with the mundane' -- Guardian 20050611 'The wellspring of his writing is his profound immersion in a Muslim culture ... the strength of his work derives from his position as both insider and outsider in the Arab world ... Mackintosh-Smith is in that same learned yet good-humoured tradition [as Leigh Fermor]' -- Daily Telegraph 20050312 'An engaging homage to one of travel writing's founding fathers' -- Henry Day. London Review of Books 20051215