General Information

Author/Creator

Winchester, Simon.

Language

English.

Published

New York, NY : Harper, c2008.

Physical Description

xii, 316 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.

Contents/Summary

Summary

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.

Subjects

Subject

Needham, Joseph, 1900-1995.

Needham, Joseph, 1900-1995. Science and civilisation in China.

Scientists > Great Britain > Biography.

Science > China > History.

Bibliographic Information

Responsibility

Simon Winchester.

Content

Prologue -- 1. The Barbarian and the Celestial -- 2. Bringing in Charcoal when it Snows -- 3. The Discovering of China -- 4. The Rewards of Restlessness -- 5. The Making of His Masterpiece -- 6. Persona non Grata: The Certain Fall from Grace -- 7. The Passage to the Gate -- Epilogue -- Appendix I: Chinese Inventions and Discoveries with Dates of First Mention -- Appendix II: The States, Kingdoms and Dynasties of China.

ISBN

9780060884598

0060884592

Holdings

Item Type	Current Location	Collection	Call Number	Volume Info	Shelving Location	Public Note
Book	OSA Archivum Library	General collection	509.2 WIN		General Stacks	Donation of School of Public Policy.

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