Details
Synopsis
In 1937 eccentric Cambridge biochemist Joseph Needham fell in love with a Chinese student, and then shortly later with China itself, a country and culture that was still mostly unfamiliar to The West. He soon began a series of long, and dangerous, journeys through China, discovering the marvels of the ancient civilization responsible for paper, fireworks, wheelbarrows, toothbrushes. The results of his endless curiosity and exploration was the 16-volume SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION IN CHINA, a three million word masterpiece, that is unparalleled as a nearly exhaustive encyclopedia of Chinese history and innovation. Simon Winchester (THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN) has a wonderful ability to capture both the glory of great books and the quixotic obsessiveness of the men who made them., The extraordinary story of Joseph Needham, the brilliant Cambridge scientist who unlocked the most closely held secrets of China--long the world's most technologically advanced country. This married Englishman, a freethinking intellectual, while working at Cambridge University in 1937, fell in love with a visiting Chinese student, with whom he began a lifelong affair. He became fascinated with China, and embarked on a series of extraordinary expeditions to the farthest frontiers of this ancient empire. He searched everywhere for evidence to bolster his conviction that the Chinese were responsible for hundreds of mankind's most familiar innovations--including printing, the compass, explosives, suspension bridges, even toilet paper--often centuries before the rest of the world. His dangerous journeys took him across war-torn China to far-flung outposts, consolidating his deep admiration for the Chinese people. After the war, Needham began writing what became a seventeen-volume encyclopedia, Science and Civilisation in China.--From publisher description.
| Size | | Length: | 316 pages | | Height: | 9.5 in | | Width: | 6.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 22.4 oz |
Industry Reviews
"[T]here is much to learn from THE MAN WHO LOVED CHINA, an enjoyable, breezy read, well suited for reading on the chaise longue, gin-and-tonic in hand."
(05/19/2008)
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