In the guise of a book about translation this is a richly original cultural history, a journey from the days when the Greeks simply ignored other languages and the Romans forced all subject peoples to learn Latin, to Google Translate.
And then there is the imaginative inspiration that the stories have given children - although, as Mr Irwin points out, many of the most famous characters like Ali Baba are not to be found in the original, but in Galland's translation.