Author, Simon Winchester, has built a career writing about little-known figures in history and making the lay person aware of their contributions to society. Such is the case of Dr. Joseph Needham, a distinguished professor of biochemistry at Cambridge, who went to China in the 1930's and then proceeded to spend his life writing the definitive work on Chinese civilization and culture. During his time in China he led eleven cultural expeditions and logged 30,000 miles to answer the vexing question: "Why , if the Chinese had been so technologically creative for so very long, and if they invented so much in antiquity-- why did modern science develop not in China but in Europe and the West?"
That is the focus of this very interesting, and fascinating book on the life and work of Dr. Joseph Needham, and how he devoted his life to finding the answer to the question. The book provides great insights into Chinese culture and society from the 1930's to the 1990's and is a great introduction to the impact China continues to have on world events.
