The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom
by: Simon Winchester
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Product Description:
In sumptuous and illuminating detail, Simon Winchester, the bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman ("Elegant and scrupulous"—New York Times Book Review) and Krakatoa ("A mesmerizing page-turner"—Time) brings to life 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.
No cloistered don, this tall, married Englishman was a freethinking intellectual, who practiced nudism and was devoted to a quirky brand of folk dancing. In 1937, while working as a biochemist at Cambridge University, he instantly fell in love with a visiting Chinese student, with whom he began a lifelong affair.
He soon became fascinated with China, and his mistress swiftly persuaded the ever-enthusiastic Needham to travel to her home country, where he 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 thrilling and dangerous journeys, vividly recreated by Winchester, took him across war-torn China to far-flung outposts, consolidating his deep admiration for the Chinese people.
After the war, Needham was determined to tell the world what he had discovered, and began writing his majestic Science and Civilisation in China, describing the country's long and astonishing history of invention and technology. By the time he died, he had produced, essentially single-handedly, seventeen immense volumes, marking him as the greatest one-man encyclopedist ever.
Both epic and intimate, The Man Who Loved China tells the sweeping story of China through Needham's remarkable life. Here is an unforgettable tale of what makes men, nations, and, indeed, mankind itself great—related by one of the world's inimitable storytellers.
In sumptuous and illuminating detail, Simon Winchester, the bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman ("Elegant and scrupulous"—New York Times Book Review) and Krakatoa ("A mesmerizing page-turner"—Time) brings to life 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.
No cloistered don, this tall, married Englishman was a freethinking intellectual, who practiced nudism and was devoted to a quirky brand of folk dancing. In 1937, while working as a biochemist at Cambridge University, he instantly fell in love with a visiting Chinese student, with whom he began a lifelong affair.
He soon became fascinated with China, and his mistress swiftly persuaded the ever-enthusiastic Needham to travel to her home country, where he 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 thrilling and dangerous journeys, vividly recreated by Winchester, took him across war-torn China to far-flung outposts, consolidating his deep admiration for the Chinese people.
After the war, Needham was determined to tell the world what he had discovered, and began writing his majestic Science and Civilisation in China, describing the country's long and astonishing history of invention and technology. By the time he died, he had produced, essentially single-handedly, seventeen immense volumes, marking him as the greatest one-man encyclopedist ever.
Both epic and intimate, The Man Who Loved China tells the sweeping story of China through Needham's remarkable life. Here is an unforgettable tale of what makes men, nations, and, indeed, mankind itself great—related by one of the world's inimitable storytellers.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- China
I'm always amazed after I've finished a Simon Winchester book that I read something I normally wouldn't be interested in, like his Krakatoa, and completely enjoyed it.I found his writings on the life of Joseph Needham well thought out and told in an interesting way.And, I learned much about China.
Rating: - What prevented the rise of modern science in China?
The answer to the question was right in front of Dr. Needham as he travelled around China in American products, such as a C-47 transport airplane by Douglas, an American jeep from Willys, and a Chevrolet truck. Dr. Needham never figured out that freedom is essentail to scientific development. Of course, Dr. Needham was a socialist and socialists never invented anything.
Rating: 
- Not up to expectations
"The Man Who Loved China" failed to live up to my expectations and the various glowing reviews I read of the book.The book was slow to pick up steam and then wrapped up about 50 years of his life in the last 50 pages.I am sure a full historical biography of Joseph Needham would be very interesting, but the story as presented here felt more like a pumped up magazine article with very little detail or in depth research.
Rating: - terrific biography
This is a fascinating biography of Cambridge University biochemist Joseph Needham.Although married to a scientific peer Dorothy, he fell in love with a student Lu Gwei-djen in the 1930s.She taught him her language and her love for her culture.Needham began exploring the country even as the war with Japan in the late 1930s and 1940s made it unsafe for anyone especially a British professor.Still he continued his travels and soon began to uncover the incredible historical intellect of China, ... Read More
Rating: - Interesting, but not really worth your time
Simon Winchester has apparently tried to repeat the success of his Professor and the Madman, but has unfortunately failed. This appears to be for two primary reasons:
1. While the Madman (W.C. Minor) was obviously unsympathetic, our Professor Needham starts out all bright and downy, and becomes less so in the course of the telling. Young, obviously gifted, and with the outsize enthusiasms that accompany genius, he is a pleasant protagonist. His eccentricities (morris dancing, nudism, ... Read More
- ChinaI'm always amazed after I've finished a Simon Winchester book that I read something I normally wouldn't be interested in, like his Krakatoa, and completely enjoyed it.I found his writings on the life of Joseph Needham well thought out and told in an interesting way.And, I learned much about China.
- What prevented the rise of modern science in China?The answer to the question was right in front of Dr. Needham as he travelled around China in American products, such as a C-47 transport airplane by Douglas, an American jeep from Willys, and a Chevrolet truck. Dr. Needham never figured out that freedom is essentail to scientific development. Of course, Dr. Needham was a socialist and socialists never invented anything.
- Not up to expectations"The Man Who Loved China" failed to live up to my expectations and the various glowing reviews I read of the book.The book was slow to pick up steam and then wrapped up about 50 years of his life in the last 50 pages.I am sure a full historical biography of Joseph Needham would be very interesting, but the story as presented here felt more like a pumped up magazine article with very little detail or in depth research.
- terrific biographyThis is a fascinating biography of Cambridge University biochemist Joseph Needham.Although married to a scientific peer Dorothy, he fell in love with a student Lu Gwei-djen in the 1930s.She taught him her language and her love for her culture.Needham began exploring the country even as the war with Japan in the late 1930s and 1940s made it unsafe for anyone especially a British professor.Still he continued his travels and soon began to uncover the incredible historical intellect of China, ... Read More
- Interesting, but not really worth your timeSimon Winchester has apparently tried to repeat the success of his Professor and the Madman, but has unfortunately failed. This appears to be for two primary reasons:
1. While the Madman (W.C. Minor) was obviously unsympathetic, our Professor Needham starts out all bright and downy, and becomes less so in the course of the telling. Young, obviously gifted, and with the outsize enthusiasms that accompany genius, he is a pleasant protagonist. His eccentricities (morris dancing, nudism, ... Read More
