Find a copy in the library
Finding libraries that hold this item...
Details
| Genre/Form: | Biography |
|---|---|
| Named Person: | Joseph Needham; Joseph Needham; Joseph Needham; Joseph Needham; Joseph Needham; Joseph Needham |
| Material Type: | Biography, Internet resource |
| Document Type: | Book, Internet Resource |
| All Authors / Contributors: |
Simon Winchester |
| ISBN: | 9780060884598 0060884592 |
| OCLC Number: | 173748716 |
| Description: | xii, 316 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm. |
| Contents: | Prologue -- The barbarian and the celestial -- Bringing fuel in snowy weather -- The discovering of China -- The rewards of restlessness -- The making of his masterpiece -- Persona non grata: the certain fall from grace -- The passage to the gate. |
| Responsibility: | Simon Winchester. |
| More information: |
Abstract:
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.
Table of Contents:
by
cwarden (WorldCat user on 2008-05-13)
Maps and illustrations -- Author's note -- Prologue -- The barbarian and the Celestial -- Bringing fuel in snowy weather -- The discovering of China -- The rewards of restlessness -- The making of his masterpiece -- Persona non grata: the certain fall from grace -- The passage to the gate -- Epilogue -- Appendix I: Chinese inventions and discoveries with dates of first mention -- Appendix II: States, kingdoms, and dynasties of China -- Acknowledgments -- Suggested further reading -- Index.
Reviews
User-contributed reviews
Add a review and share your thoughts with other readers.
Be the first.
Add a review and share your thoughts with other readers.
Be the first.
Tags
Add tags for "The man who loved China : the fantastic story of the eccentric scientist who unlocked the mysteries of the Middle Kingdom".
Be the first.
Similar Items
Related Subjects:(13)
- Needham, Joseph, -- 1900-1995.
- Scientists -- Great Britain -- Biography.
- Needham, Joseph, -- 1900-1995. -- Science and civilisation in China.
- Science -- China -- History.
- China.
- Science -- history -- China -- Biography.
- Science -- history -- Great Britain -- Biography.
- Civilization -- history -- China -- Biography.
- Civilization -- history -- Great Britain -- Biography.
- Needham, Joseph.
- Sinologie.
- Kultursoziologie.
- Geschichtswissenschaft.
User lists with this item (5)
- chinese philosophy(11 items)
by rhodacserafim updated 2012-10-09
- Things to Check Out(25 items)
by reedjl updated 2012-12-20
- Biography & Memoir(157 items)
by debroy updated 2009-08-02
- Needham(30 items)
by mcapdevila
- Things to Check Out(2 items)
by pebuchmann
