Synopses & Reviews
The captivating, award-winning look at ancient China's unparalleled achievements now gets a lavish, revised color edition. Undisputed masters of invention and discovery, the ancient Chinese made pioneering strides in engineering, medicine, technology, math, science, warfare, transportation, and music that helped inspire the West's agricultural and industrial revolutions. They were the first to drill for oil, build a suspension bridge, understand how blood circulates through the body, and even isolate sex hormones. Based on research by the late Dr. Joseph Needham, author of the 25-volume epic Science and Civilisation of China and the world's foremost scholar of Chinese science, The Genius of China captures the spirit and excitement of centuries of ingenuity.
Synopsis
It is one of the ironies of history that the Chinese, who had all the ingredients for modern science long before the Renaissance, failed to build on their immense knowledge. Today, very few people are aware of the vast body of Chinese invention. The suspension bridge, the fishing reel, the stirrup, the parachute, paper money, playing cards, the decimal system, the seismograph, negative numbers, brandy, rudders, cranks, movable type, matches, steroids as drugs, propellers, biological pest control--all these and many more were Chinese inventions. This volume traces the stunning achievements of ancient and medieval China.
About the Author
Robert Temple was born in the USA and lives in London. He is a VIP in China where the Chinese government has made
The Genius of China an obligatory study text for tens of millions of Chinese students. Temple is also the author of a series of classic investigations into archaeological mysteries, notably
The Sirius Mystery (Destiny Books),
The Crystal Sun (Arrow),and#160;and
Netherworld (Random House).