or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
Sorry!
X
More Buying Choices
32 used & new from $3.72
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Science in Traditional China
 
See larger image 
See all product images
See 1 customer image
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

Science in Traditional China (Paperback)

~ (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
Price: $20.50 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

13 new from $19.18 19 used from $3.72

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Hardcover -- $23.92 $23.75
  Paperback $20.50 $19.18 $3.72
  Unknown Binding -- -- --

Frequently Bought Together

Science in Traditional China + The Genius of China: 3,000 Years of Science, Discovery, and Invention + The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom (P.S.)
Price For All Three: $51.14

Show availability and shipping details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom (P.S.)

The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom (P.S.)

by Simon Winchester
4.0 out of 5 stars (69)  $10.87
The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China and the West

The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China and the West

by Toby E. Huff
4.8 out of 5 stars (4)  $24.01
The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5

The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5

by Colin A. Ronan
$46.71
When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433

When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433

by Louise Levathes
3.8 out of 5 stars (30)  $13.57
The River at the Center of the World, Revised: A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time

The River at the Center of the World, Revised: A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time

by Simon Winchester
3.8 out of 5 stars (40)  $10.88
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

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" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


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 )
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Paperback: 144 pages
  • Publisher: Harvard University Press (September 1, 1982)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0674794397
  • ISBN-13: 978-0674794399
  • Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #577,768 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Joseph Needham
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Joseph Needham Page

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(2)
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more
 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
5.0 out of 5 stars How come only the west developed science? Why not China?, November 5, 2009
This short book, with its many charming and fascinating illustrations from ancient China, will interest many. Needham gives the history of gunpowder and firearms and comparative macrobiotics.

What really interested me, however, is the concluding essay, in which Needham wonders why science never developed in China. And it is a mystery. China's civilization is well over 2,000 years old, with a tradition that venerated scholars. China also had a history of many interesting inventions and engineers.

Yet science, not just mere technology, real science, with its organized effort to explain and understand nature, with its interest in abstract subjects and its testing of theories, only developed in the west. Why?

Needham suggests it was the way the Chinese viewed time. Across the entire of the western ancient world, as well as India and China, time was viewed as a great wheel, with one golden age with great technologies succeeded by a fallen era, when idea would be lost. Then the golden age would reappear, with all the same technologies.

What the west had was Christianity, which posited a time which was not a wheel, but which progressed. Christ, after all, came in historical time.

Alfred North Whitehead placed the reason the west developed science on Christian theology. This is what he stated: "There seems but one source...It must come from the medieval insistence on the rationality of God...Every detail was supervised and ordered; the search in to nature could only result in the vindication of the faith in rationality".

From the very start, as shown in such Christian theologians as Tertullian and Augustine, Christians argued that there was a truth. Truth was God. And the truth could be discovered by rationality.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Science in Traditional China, October 27, 2008
This book consisted of speeches made by Prof. Joseph Needham, the contents of which were available for free. In that sense the book is over-priced.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   

So You'd Like to...


Create a guide

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:













i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.