The Man Who Loved China
Joseph Needham was one of those rare persons who are so good at so many things that they astonish and irritate the rest of us. Cambridge-educated in anatomy, physiology and chemistry, Needham became the West’s leading authority on Chinese history. In a new biography, “The Man Who Loved China — Joseph Needham and the Making of a Masterpiece,” Simon Winchester says Needham “succeeded, as few others are ever privileged to do, in making a significant and positive change to mankind’s mutual understanding.”
A simple listing of the British professor’s fascinations would fill pages and would include auto mechanics, irrigation, horticulture, public health, military and political science, and Chinese calligraphy. His stupendous work, “Science and Civilisation in China,” the product of 50 years of research and writing, fills 23 huge volumes. His collaborators are completing five more. (Needham died in 1995, at age 94).
Read an excerpt from The Man Who Loved China here.
Listen to an interview with Simon Winchester here. Also see this video of the author on YouTube:
Read also reviews of the book from:
–USA Today
–Salon.com
And this 1995 obituary of Joseph Needham from The New York Times.
