The Man Who Loved China: Joseph Needham and the Making of a Masterpiece

by Simon Winchester
The Man Who Loved China: Joseph Needham and the Making of a Masterpiece
book data
284 ratings, 3.64 average rating, 109 reviews (more data...)
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published
May 1st 2008 by Harper

binding
Hardcover, 316 pages

isbn
0060884592    (isbn13: 9780060884598)

description

In sumptuous and illuminating detail, Simon Winchester, the bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman ("Elegant and scrupulous"—Ne

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 631)

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Trevor
09/18/08
Trevor rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Yet another fascinating book and story by a master. There is one thing you can say about Simon Winchester, he does like a good polymath and that love of learning and the learned shines through every page.

In a world where the next Vice President of the USA (or President if the Bible’s allotted three score and ten are anything to go by) could be someone who could more accurately be described as a polymoron – someone dangerously ignorant of just about everything except, obviously, ...more
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Leah
01/11/09
Leah rated it: 4 of 5 stars

bookshelves: biography, history, non-fiction
Read in January, 2009
Once again, Simon Winchester lends his excellent research and story-telling skills to history - focusing this time on scientist/historian Joseph Needham and his creation of the expansive "Science and Civilization in China" - an encyclopedia of sorts of Chinese scientific accomplishment.

Though Winchester's writing is strong, I found the subject matter less rich than some of his other works. While "Science and Civilization" is an amazing achievement, Needham is not...more
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J.
07/21/08
J. rated it: 3 of 5 stars

Read in August, 2008
recommends it for: ..China Science & Culture readers...
Slightly rickety account of the remarkable 20th century life of Joseph Needham, Cambridge Master and author of the mega-sized multi-volume Science & Civilisation In China. In a wildly stormy life that veered from being a founding father of UNESCO to meetings with Mao & Zhou EnLai before there was a Peoples Republic, Mr Needham saw quite a lot. Needham was in a pivotal position during the many phases of the origin of Modern China as a British Foreign Office scientific representative, arriving in...more
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Meri
06/18/08
Meri rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Joseph Needham was a top British scholar who traveled to China during World War II, where he conceived his masterpiece, Science and Civilization in China. He spent much of his life trying to make the western world understand that China has a rich history of science and technological development. I enjoyed the descriptions of China during World War II, but the story of Joseph Needham--boldly nudist, essentially polygamist, and so passionate about his studies of China that he drove all over the ...more
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Paul Callister
11/24/08
Paul Callister rated it: 3 of 5 stars

bookshelves: history
Pretty interesting. Joseph Needham's work to set the record straight on China's contributions to science. It raises an interesting question (the Needham question) about why China stopped making significant progress in about the 16th Century.
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Johnny
03/23/09
Johnny rated it: 4 of 5 stars

bookshelves: biography
Read in March, 2009
Early in this fascinating biography of Dr. Joseph Needham, the brilliant scientist who compiled the massive multivolume work on Science and Civilisation in Ancient China, the author quotes former U.S. Secretary of State John Hay’s 1899 statement that China was the “storm center of the world,” and that anyone who took the time and trouble to understand “this mighty empire” would have a key to politics for the next five centuries. (p. 8) Hay was quite prescient, considering that we are a...more
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Agreenhouse
03/22/09
Agreenhouse rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Have you ever read biographies about people and then start to question your own productivity? Even if you are a real go-getter, it is hard not to read the history of Joseph Needham and not feel lazy in comparison. It is also hard not to admire his intellectual passion and devotedness.

Needham also had a passion for women, which was what led this Oxford scholar to China in the first place. Needham and his wife Dorothy had a "open marriage," so when he fell in love with L...more
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Pat
01/28/09
Pat rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in February, 2009
Simon Winchester always writes fascinating books - from the creation of the OED to the explosion of Krakatoa. They are a mix of science and, very often, an in-depth portrait of people who were involved in the event. Joseph Needham was a highly eccentric Cambridge don who ended up producing a masterwork on Chinese history - especially as it related to the inventions that came from the Chinese culture in the past. It surprised me to find out that, until Needham, the prevailing Western view was ...more
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Sharon
01/19/09
Sharon rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in January, 2009
This is the fascinating story of Joseph Needham, a brilliant and eccentric Cambridge biochemist who, in 1937, fell in love with a visiting Chinese student and began a life-long love affair. His love affair was not only with her, but with her country. Needham taught himself Chinese and traveled in China for several years, researching the history of scientific development and invention there.

At a time when western nations considered China a backward country, Needham extensively resear...more
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Patricia_Bjaaland
01/18/09
Patricia_Bjaaland rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in January, 2009
When I was a student at the University of Oslo studying Chinese, Joseph Needham used to come up to our department. As one of the few students with a car, it was my job to pick him up at the airport, ferry him about town, and generally take care of him. I was with him at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo while he studied the construction of the Viking ships, remarking at some of the similarities with ancient Chinese shipbuilding (a subject mentioned in the book). When he left one of his ever-present...more
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Luis
03/22/09
Luis rated it: 3 of 5 stars

I had never heard of Joseph Needham before reading this book. He made an important contribution in presenting a historically accurate picture of China’s contribution to science and technology long before European scientific breakthroughs. The book talks about Needham’s great achievement (writing a number of volumes on China’s discoveries) as well as his vey liberal personal life (including his womanizing).

China was once a great empire and it made amazing discoveries. As it...more
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Hbalikov
12/02/08
Hbalikov rated it: 2 of 5 stars

Read in December, 2008
I may be out of step with other reviewers, but having read a good number of Winchester's books (including The Professor and the Madman and The Map that Changed the World) this one is very disappointing. The author has never had a problem in picking interesting topics. The best parts of the book are its early descriptions of Needham "on the ground" in China and the appendix listing Chinese inventions. In between the narrative is sloppy and unfocused. It is mostly a chronological rec...more
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Bookmarks Magazine
02/05/09
Bookmarks Magazine added it

With The Man Who Loved China, Simon Winchester turns out another compelling, readable, and relevant tale. Any good storyteller will embellish his subject, and Winchester effortlessly keeps readers interested in Needham's adventureseven when they flag a bit. For the most part, though, Needham's life is one that relatively few readers will knowand one that Winchester brings to life with a passel of research and an ever-present sense of wonder for his unique subject. Despite some errors and r

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Sandybanks
05/20/09
Sandybanks rated it: 4 of 5 stars

bookshelves: biography, china
Read in May, 2009
Ever since I picked up the condensed, popular version of Needham's book years ago, I've been curious about the man who wrote it. Now Simon Winchester provides us with the biography of the fascinating man behind the book, an eccentric Cambridge Don of prodigious intellect, an uncritical China lover, a playboy who spent most of his life in a menage a trois with his wife and mistress, as well as a comitted Catholic and socialist. The most interesting part of the book is the section describing Need...more
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Saki
05/28/09
Saki rated it: 4 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0670913782)

Read in December, 2008
This is a biography about a unique Cambridge scholar who recorded all the great inventions by the Chinese - including bombs, books, and compasses. This was revolutionary in a sense that he changed the world's view of China as a backward nation - in fact, it was far more advanced than others in terms of volumes and frequencies of innovation! However, the more intriguing part of this book is how Joseph Needham himself is an eclectic character who becomes intertwined with the politics of the time. ...more
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Jeff
01/14/09
Jeff rated it: 4 of 5 stars

bookshelves: biography, history, non-fiction
Read in July, 2008
A fascinating look at the life of an interesting historical character, as well as what it was like to live in the Cambridge of the '20s and '30s, and the China of the World War (the one that was actually fought worldwide). Of course, I've got some personal interest, since my senior thesis topic actually would not have existed without Needham and, more importantly, the rediscovery of science in China which he prompted.

I wish it had discussed more of the content of Needham's books. Oh ...more
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Vicky
01/04/09
Vicky rated it: 3 of 5 stars

It was not an easy book to read. The amount of factual information was simply overwhelming. To imagine that Joseph Needham, a brilliant biochemist without any background in Asian languages and history, single handedly accumulated and produced the biggest modern encyclopaedia on history of Chinese science and civilization, published 17 volumes of unique research into the ancient China, could speak and write in Chinese without any proper training in this field. For anyone who is interested in the ...more
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Garth
02/07/09
Garth rated it: 4 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0670913790)

bookshelves: history
Read in February, 2009
A well-written biography of Joseph Needham, who traced the history of science in China and found a multitude of "firsts" in that country before scientific endevour seemed to suddenly stop in the 1600's, and much of the knowledge was "lost" until it was again developed (and claimed) in the West.
Needham was a brilliant but deeply flawed man, who found it possible to rationalise the excesses of Mao Zedong's communist party until the 1970's - despite the deaths of tens of m...more
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Jenny
01/05/09
Jenny rated it: 4 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0670913790)

It's definitely an encouraging and proud experience for a Chinese to read this book and it is indeed amazing to recount the effort and achievements that Joseph Needham made on this path. It was a very eventful period of China's contemporary history to read about too.

However I was actually expecting, very curiously, to read the final answer that Joseph Needham, or the author of the book, gave or could give to the ultimate question he raised in the beginning. Though the author did ex...more
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Alan
08/27/08
Alan rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in August, 2008
This is a fascinating book about a person I had never heard of. Joseph Needham was a brilliant British scientist who made significant contributions to biochemistry while still in his early twenties. He was also a boisterous character -- a nudist, progressive Christian, committed socialist, Morris dancer, fluent in several languages and believer in open marriage. Above all, he was full of energy and intellectual curiosity.
The turning point in Needham's life came when he met a young ...more
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The Man Who Loved China CD: Joseph Needham and the Making of a Masterpiece (Audio CD)
Bomb, Book and Compass: Joseph Needham and the Great Secrets of China. by Simon Winchester (Hardcover)
Bomb, Book and Compass: Joseph Needham and the Great Secrets of China (Paperback)
The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom (P.S.)
The Man Who Loved China (8 CD's)








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