The Man Who Loved China

By: Simon Winchester

Narrated by: Simon Winchester

Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

In sumptuous and illuminating detail, Simon Winchester, the best-selling 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, 17 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.

©2008 Simon Winchester (P)2008 HarperCollins Publishers

Fantastic Listen, Story and Author!

Everything about this book was a joy to me. I have loved listening to this author read his works since starting with his newest book.

The Story of China’s Greatest Western Scholar

One of the the most interesting books about China in the 20th century before 1949.

Great for Winchester Fans

This is my third Simon Winchester book and I enjoyed it immensely. However, if you've never read (listened) to a Simon Winchester book, this is not the one to start with. You will appreciate this book far more after listening to "The Professor and The Madman" because it will help you "get" the Winchester perspective on great works of scholarly importance and the characters in Madman are far more endearing than here.

The future is foreshadowed by the past.

This is a terrific book which all educated people should read to correct what they were taught. Teachers and historians need this information to pass on the truth. Government and business people need to know this information in order to deal in China. This is not to elevate China to some lofty level or to fear China. It is to understand China, deal with the Chinese people, understand them personally and how they will proceed in the future.

A Worthwhile Book About China

If you could sum up The Man Who Loved China in three words, what would they be?

A book about a book (though lengthy and multivolume, the Science and Civilisation of China remains a unitary work) about China through the lens of Joseph Needham. Eminently approachable for the western reader. Relatable as well, through the fusion of eros and logos in Needham.

What other book might you compare The Man Who Loved China to and why?

The Age of Wonder, Holmes.

Maybe too long!

Perhaps a bit too much info on this man, who indeed had an interesting relationship over a long period with China. Still, I listened to the whole audio, so it is not too bad as I can be impatient. Good vocal performance. You can always send it back to Audible if you really dislike it. I kept it as I got enough enjoyment that I could not in good conscience return it.

Fantastic

China is the GOAT of inventors!


(Extra words now to reach review word count min)

Splendidly enlightening!

Splendidly enlightening is this novel. I can recommend it to anyone seeking a better understanding of how our modern world truly came to be. A wide retrospective of historical and political changes is the East, as well as in the West, can be found herein. Certainly, this book is a work of high art, and of deep research, that might entertain the hungriest of readers --- and of listeners, since the narration has a flawless and inflective candor to match this carefully chosen reader's alluring voice. I hope you will benefit as I did from hearing this masterpiece. --Mik

Not his best work

Not Mr. Winchester's best work.

Why did I waste my credit on this?

I love all types of books but just couldn't get into this one. The author couldn't decide if he wanted to write a good story or deliver a really boring lecture at a conference. I really wanted to like this because the topic is interesting but the delivery was disjointed and I found myself tuning out the book and thinking about other things. Don't spend your money; if you're curious, get it from the public library, rip it and be disappointed for free.