The man who loved China : the fantastic story of the eccentric scientist who unlocked the mysteries of the Middle Kingdom / Simon Winchester.

  • Winchester, Simon.
Date:
[2008], ©2008
  • Books

About this work

Also known as

Bomb, book and compass. 2008

Description

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.

Publication/Creation

New York, NY : Harper, [2008], ©2008.

Physical description

xii, 316 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Contributors

Edition

1st ed.

Notes

Published in Australia as: Bomb, book and compass: Joseph Needham and the great secrets of China. Camberwell, Victoria : Viking, 2008.

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.
The Barbarian and the Celestial -- Brining 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.

Bibliographic information

Includes bibliographical references (p. [285]-294) and index.

Type/Technique

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatus
    History of Medicine
    BZP (Needham)
    Open shelves

Permanent link

Identifiers

ISBN

  • 9780060884598
  • 0060884592