Science in Traditional China. A Comparative Perspective. CLOTHBOUND EDITION. FIRST EDITION.

NEEDHAM, Joseph

ISBN 10: 0674794389 / ISBN 13: 9780674794382

Published by Cambridge: Harvard University Press/ Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1981.

About this Item

x, 134 pp; 21 text figures. Original cloth. Near Fine, in dust jacket. This copy does NOT have any library markings. First Edition. "The lectures which are grouped together in this book were given originally as the Second Series of Chi'en Mu Lectures at New Asia College, The Chinese University (Chung Wen Ta Hsueh) at Shatin, Hong Kong" (Preface). 1. Introduction. 2. The epic of gunpowder and firearms, developing from alchemy. 3. Comparative macrobiotics. 4. The history and rationale of acupuncture and moxibustion. 5. Attitudes toward time and change as compared with Europe. Appendix: Table of Chinese dynasties. ISBN 0674794389.

Seller Inventory # 17722

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Science in Traditional China. A Comparative Perspective. CLOTHBOUND EDITION. FIRST EDITION.
• Publisher: Cambridge: Harvard University Press/ Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1981.
• ISBN 10: 0674794389
• ISBN 13: 9780674794382
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

About this title

Synopsis

The world's preeminent authority on Chinese science explores the philosophy, social structure, arts, crafts, and even military strategies that form our understanding of Chinese science, making instructive comparisons along the way to similar elements of Indian, Hellenistic, and Arabic cultures.

A major portion of the book concentrates on Taoist alchemy that led not only to the invention of gunpowder and firearms, but also, through the search for macrobiotic life-elixirs, to the rise of modern medical chemistry.

Review

It is pleasant to report thatNeedham-now in his eighty-fifth year-has written another magnificent book... absorbing and stimulating. (New York Review of Books)

Freewheeling, amusing, constantly alert and rarely dogmatic ... Needham keeps the reader aware of the place of China within a comparative context of global scientific discovery... [a] stimulating book. (Jonathan Spcnce New York Times Book Review)

A satisfying taste from the kitchen spoon of a great chef as he prepares an august banquet. It is 100 admirable pages, an honest sample of Needham's comparative method that brightens the shadows in our own history with light reflecting from the unexpected Chinese scene ... this little book [makes] a fine day's sail for readers. (Philip Morrison Scientific American)