I loved Peter Hessler's first book, "River Town," and his second book does not disappoint. Mr. Hessler studied writing both undergrad and grad, and has settled nicely into writing "narrative non-fiction," what I would, probably stupidly, simply call darn good journalistic writing. Following graduate school he volunteered for the Peace Corps and was assigned to the central China city of Fuling, the "River Town" of the that book's title. "River Town" is his chronicle of living in Fuling and teaching English at a local teachers' college, and also the story of his growing interest in China, its people, history, and languages. He now speaks reasonably fluently (I assume Mandarin - I likely missed him specifying this; it's been awhile since I read "River Town") and apparently also knows his way fairly well around Chinese characters. Following his Peace Corps stint he remained in China, excepting some intervals back in the USA, and he now lives and works in Peking but with lots and lots of traveling around China.

"Oracle Bones" generally covers the period from 2000 to about 2002 or 2003. However, this is no mere memoire or autobiography - while some details of his life emerge, the real purpose is his many, many stories of both modern China, written from, literally, all over the country, as well as various details from Chinese history that bear upon modern times. Mr. Hessler has written at least one "National Geographic" article that I've seen (regarding the excavation of the terracotta soldiers) and I believe has written other "National Geographic" articles as well - he is perfectly suited to this type of writing. Ditto his writing for "The New Yorker." Several of the chapters in this book have appeared as published magazine articles in various magazines, sometimes leading to him repeating the same noted facts in two or more chapters in the book given the sometime lack of continuity, but who cares - the guy is brilliant.

Mr. Hessler is an excellent writer and clearly knows his craft, and while he's a present "character" in the book, he writes in a way that he does not take center stage - this is not an ego driven book. To the contrary, what jumps out at the reader is his endless fascination with and respect for China and its people. I highly recommend this book, in particular to anyone with any interest in China and the Far East.