My friend Joel Reese, our local history man at the Iredell County Library in Statesville, recently gave me a Christmas gift that I especially appreciated: “The Travels of Marco Polo,” translated by Henry Yule, and published by Sterling Publishing Company of New York in 2012.

It is illustrated with many maps and color photographs of places mentioned in Polo’s book, making it the edition you would want in your home library. It must be 30 years since I first read Polo’s book; high time I read it again. Everyone claiming to be educated should have read it. The book was written while Polo was in prison in Genoa.