The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World

I read this and enjoyed it pretty well. Very excited to learn some of the material and Dalrymple is a marvelous writer. It might work even better as an audiobook: I listened to a bit of it and his reading is good. Some of this material is also available in his Empire podcast.

So at its best this book is revisionism, highlighting the role India, Hinduism, and Buddhism played in global culture 200BC - 1200AD or so. No major surprises here but most readers will be astonished to learn about the close times between India and Rome, At least, I was. I was less surprised about the connections to China but sure didn't know what any of them were. And having just visited Angkor I knew the Indian influence was there but was glad to hear it in detail.

Where the book falls short is it's a bit too much about famous people and not enough about trade and archaeology and history. I would have liked more analysis of cultural and economic influences and less storytelling about specific people. But Dalrymple is playing to his strengths and he is a formidable expert, so I will welcome what he has to teach me.

One thing missing was a full overview of the reach of India. Indonesia is barely covered, nor much of anything about the eastern coast of Africa. I also kind of wish he hadn't included the last couple of chapters about mathematics. It's important but it's mostly an Arab and Muslim story. Although the details about India's contribution at the start of that was totally new to me and fascinating.

I found the writing clear but a little dull. The audiobook was a lot more captivating even though it's the same text. Dalrymple is a good oral storyteller.