Bomb, Book and Compass:
This book is about Joseph Needham, a legendary biochemist who fell in love with China, learned the language and was sent there on a mission during WW2. He devoted his life to the country and while he was there, wrote Science and Civilisation in China, an exhaustive history of Chinese science and technology by which he was captivated. Part of his motivation was to dispel the Western ignorance of Chinese development and give it the reputation it deserved... indeed as the title suggests, the bomb (gunpowder), the book (printing) and the compass amongst many other advances, were Chinese inventions.
I'm quite enjoying this book so far and it's interesting to consider just how starkly different China is to almost anywhere else.
