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Wonderfully enlightening.November 23, 2008 what a great person to learn about and be remembers for his vision, commitment, and integrity. we need more like him today
"In a nutshell...."November 22, 2008 There is little point in being redundant by parroting all of the complimentary remarks regarding this well-written book. It suffices to say, it is a "must read" work by those interested in China, especially those who are drawn to the history of science. There is only one additional point regarding the sixteenth century watershed that needs to be given some consideration: Agricultural advancements in the introduction of then-new foodstuffs (such as yams) into the diets of peoples throughout the world that better enabled them to survive and, in turn, develop their cultural and physical resources more thoroughly. This advancement certainly fueled the worldwide rise in human population which countered to some degree the effects of recurrent endemic setbacks. Once the yoke of survival had been lightened, people found themselves in more encouraging circumstances in which to better direct their creative energy into constructive pursuits that eventually gave birth to a multitude of revolutionary changes.
Biography of a flawed intellectual, with little about ChinaOctober 31, 2008 4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I bought this book hoping to find out something about China, especially Chinese history. But the book contained very little about China; instead, I found the biography of an egomaniac whose scholarly work belies his inability to have any common sense in his daily life.
We hear of his journeys through China to seek for their historical knowledge, but we never see China itself.
We are told of all the times his car broke down, but except for Needham's annoyance, we don't learn anything else. (Was the terrain flat? Hilly? did it rain? Did they use sleeping bags or cots? Stay with foreigners or local hotels? How do car parts get transported into western China?)
He might as well have been traveling in Timbuktu for all the information about China in this part of the narrative. We never get the feeling of the people he meets,their families, or what they think, except of course for foreigners. Even when discussing his Chinese mistress, we learn more about Needham's ways of seduction than her family or background.
Then we have more unanswered questions on how he gathered his information.
For example, at one point, while stranded, he "interviews" a blacksmith and finds out a lot of information; yet we are not told any of this information on what the blacksmith is making, or how the blacksmith lives, nor of how his job fits into the culture, or even how they communicated (was the blacksmith of Western China fluent in Mandarin, or did he belong to the 50% of Chinese who speak dialects?)
The missing link in the story, as told by this author, is China herself.
We are expected to believe that Needham alone did all the works on his huge studies of China. We are supposed to believe this despite the various Chinese calliography styles over the last 3000 years, and despite his lack of knowledge of basic engineering or technology.
How much of his much acclaimed work was done by his Chinese mistress, or others, without attribution?
Finally, for a man who is praised for his intellectual curiosity, one is amazed that he didn't seem to notice the millions killed or jailed by the purge of intellectuals in the "thousand flower" time, the massacres of the "landlords", and the mass starvation of the great leap forward.
[...]
Which brings us to the "Needham question": Why did a China that had so many techological and scientific breakthroughs fail to follow them up to make them used by their society, and thereby fall behind the West?
Maybe because, like Needham and his snobbish university collegues, they were too busy being "philosopher kings" and superior to ordinary folks that they didn't think applying ideas to lower the burden of their inferiors.
So if you want to read a story of how a brilliant sociopath can be successful in the UK University system, read this book.
IF you want to read about China, wait for the Chinese to tell their own story.
A colorful lifeOctober 24, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The book is quite thorough in going through the highlights of Needham's interesting career and personality. There is too much attention paid to his randiness and not enough to his process of editing the vast amount of material he collected. I doubt he will be remembered for how many women he slept with.
We are told that he assembled a vast library of unique and obscure sources that laid out the scope of early Chinese technology and innovation. How he waded through it seems to be either unimportant or unknown to the author. Even one specific and detailed example would have made the book much better.
Fortunately there is a large bibliography.
a formula bookOctober 1, 2008 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The problem with this book is that Simon Winchester is grinding them out of the "mill" now. When an author produces books beyond a certain rate, they tend to become formulaic and by-the-numbers. Everything that was fresh in "the professor and the madman" has become a stale formula in this book. Its all assembly-line craft and no passion.
If you have never read one of his books, I would recommend it. Its not his best, but its respectable. But otherwise.....We don't need any more formula books about european eccentrics who made some great contribution that nobody has ever heard of.
