Bomb, book and compass: Joseph Needham and the great secrets of China

✍ Scribed by Simon Winchester

• Book ID: 100278424
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Year: 2008;2009
• Tongue: en-GB
• Weight: 502 KB
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN: 0141889896

✦ Synopsis

Before fate intervened, Joseph Needham was a distinguished biochemist at Cambridge University, married to a fellow scientist. In 1937 he was asked to supervise a young Chinese student named Lu Gwei-Djen, and in that moment began the two greatest love affairs of his life -- Miss Lu, and China.Miss Lu inspired Needham to travel to China where he initially spent three dangerous years as a wartime diplomat. He established himself as the pre-eminent China scholar of all time, firm in his belief that China would one day achieve world prominence. By the end of his life, Needham had become a truly global figure, travelling endlessly and honoured by all - though banned from America because of his politics. And in 1989, after a fifty-two year affair, he finally married the woman who had first inspired his passion.The Magnificent Barbarian is Simon Winchester at his best - at once a magnificent portrait of one man's remarkable life and a riveting exploration of the country that so...