My Favourite Books About the Silk Roads

Earlier this month, I was asked by Ben Fox of Bookdna to create a post for his website discussing my favourite books about the Silk Roads.

This is a subject very close to my heart because – as I have been reducing my work commitments over the past few years as I count down to retirement – I have been devoting my time to researching more about the Maritime Silk Route and its connections to my own country Sri Lanka. I have been doing a lot of reading as well as visiting places, listening, and talking with other experts.

My passion for this topic was ignited when I was a member of UNESCO’s Maritime Silk Route Expedition, sailing on a voyage retracing the ancient Silk Road of the Sea, with a team of scholars—historians, archaeologists, writers, film-makers—each an expert on some aspect of the Silk Routes. After retiring from medical practice, Having acquired much knowledge about the subject, I wrote Sri Lanka, Serendib, and the Silk Road of the Sea

Sri Lanka, Serendib and the Silk Road of the Sea

By Sanjiva Wijesinha

What is my book about?

There is currently very little information available about Sri Lanka’s role as a major hub in Indian Ocean trade since ancient times—and my book more than adequately fills the gap. 

It presents new and important information in an engaging and entertaining style, discussing not only how goods but also recipes, religions, and ideas travelled along the maritime trade routes to and from this island. Although my book is the result of extensive research, it is not a boring book written for professors and academics but a book written for a general audience—the amateur history buff, the reader interested in travel, as well as the intellectually curious. It would also be of interest to Sri Lankans both at home and in the far-flung diaspora.

Having done an extensive anamount of research in order to publish my books, it was not easy to select the five best books! Anyway, here is my list – selected not only for the information contained therein, but also for the engaging nature of the writing – by authors ranging from 20th century Jewish professor Shlomo Dov Goitein to contemporary Scottish historian William Dalrymple, authors as diverse as British explorer Tim Severin, Sri Lankan sociologist Ameena Hussein, and that encycloapaedic authority on Sri Lankan Burgher life and customs, Deloraine Brohier.

You can read my article – with excerpts of the books themselves – in full on the Bookdna website.

Perhaps it will whet your appetite and encourage you to browse these fascinationg books yourself!