What Are You Reading??

I just found, today at our local bookstore, a copy of 1421: The Year China Discovered the World. I have been hearing about the book for the last 3 or so years but have never seen it here. I decided to buy it and I have to say the first 75 or so pages are a compelling narrative of how the author got on the trail of the subject and then on into Chinese history at that time.

Anyone else here read it? Does it hold up?

I really didn't need to buy this because right now I am halfway through Wolf Totem which itself is a very interesting read. I hate to read two books at once, but pearls before swines and all that...I had to pick it up when I had the chance. (And the taxi was stuck in traffic for almost an hour on the way home, so I made the mistake of opening the book to kill the time rather than the intended plan of setting it aside for summer reading after finishing Wolf Totem.)

Any thoughts on any of these three books?

My students here know "The World is Flat' - they will quote it fairly frequently in speeches.

Old34 - I ALWAYS have 4 or 5 books on the go at the same time - different places in my apartment have different books, so no matter where I am I can pick one up.

My students here know "The World is Flat' - they will quote it fairly frequently in speeches.

Old34 - I ALWAYS have 4 or 5 books on the go at the same time - different places in my apartment have different books, so no matter where I am I can pick one up.

My apartment isn't as large. It only has one bathroom.

LE:

Re: The World is Flat. It's good to hear your students use it.

One thing to be aware of, Friedman updated and revised the book in 2006 with a lot more examples especially on the China vs. India issue. All of the Chinese versions I have found here do not have this. Also the bi-lingual edition I have found here contains the English revised edition but the Chinese translation of the original edition. There's a wealth of relevant material in the revised edition so make sure your students are using that version.

Thanks - I'll check - I didn't realise he had revised.

Old34, I read the 1421 book. It was good. However, it has been widely criticized among historians since it was published. There is no doubt that the author knows his stuff but, from what I have read, the general opinion held by many historians is that a lot of the evidence presented in this book does not hold up to intense scrutiny. However, it is a corking good read.

Old34, I read the 1421 book. It was good. However, it has been widely criticized among historians since it was published. There is no doubt that the author knows his stuff but, from what I have read, the general opinion held by many historians is that a lot of the evidence presented in this book does not hold up to intense scrutiny. However, it is a corking good read.

Thanks. I had heard some of that. A full 1/3 of the book is appendices, but not too thorough. Anyway, I'm just looking for a good read, corking or not. The first 75 or so pages are certainly that.

Thanks - I'll check - I didn't realise he had revised.

Not so much revision as addition - which adds heft to your students' arguments (assuming they are on the pro side).

AMERICA by Jon Stewart and his crew.  One of the funniest reads ever- if you get your hands on it, my incontinence moment was on pp. 143,  courtesy of Steven Colbert: "Expressions".

I loved that book. Especially the part where all the Scandinavians look like Dolph Lundgren.

Pashley left me a few books, two of which are from the Baroque Cycle Trilogy by Neal Stephenson.  The more I read of this guy, the more blown away I get.  I recommend finding anything from this guy, taking the book away by gunpoint if necessary, and quitting your job while you stay home and read it twice.  Really.

Vikram Seth's "Three Chinese poets; Wang Wei, Li Bai and Du Fu".  Interesting comparison of styles from poets who were basically peers.

I have a really good book of Du Fu's poetry (only decent poetry translation I've found in China). I bought in Chengdu at the Du Fu museum. One of these days I'll track down some good translations of others.

Started reading the Narnia novels. Been ages since I last read them. I had completely forgotten the first one, "The Wizard's Nephew". Yes, C.S.Lewis did get a wee bit to Christian at times but he still had more imagination in his pinky than most modern authors have in their entire body. Damn good novels. Not just because of the talking squirrels...though they do make the novels very special to me.

I love the CS Lewis books! They were an amazing journey for me. Yes, they are written with a Christian bent, but the stories themselves were worth the effort. To this day, the first and last book in the series are my favorites.