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1.The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom by: Simon Winchester May 06, 2008
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $27.95 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $18.45 You Save: $9.50 (34%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $13.50
what a great person to learn about and be remembers for his vision, commitment, and integrity. we need more like him today

2.The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary (P.S.) by: Simon Winchester July 05, 2005
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $13.95 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $11.16 You Save: $2.79 (20%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $2.25
It is an interesting book, explaining how the Oxford English Dictionary was put together by volunteers supplying definitions and quotes for every word in the English language. In the back of the book is a call for additional volunteers to work on keeping the dictionary current! The man who made the largest number of contributions was Captain William Chester Minor, late of the United States Army, whose residence at the time he was making contributions was Broadmoor Asylum for the criminally Insane, Crowthorne, Berkshire. He was committed to Broadmoor for the murder of George Merrett in February 1872. Captain Minor suffered from what today would be diagnosed as Schizophrenia - although his problem was not diagnosed until 18 November 1918 after the British government formally returned the aged Civil ... Read More

3.A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 by: Simon Winchester October 04, 2005
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $27.95 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $6.99 You Save: $20.96 (75%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $3.00
This book is thoroughly researched and keeps as its primary focus a fascinating subject: the earthquake that leveled San Francisco in 1906. However, it may almost be TOO researched, as it shoots off on endless tangents about the process of seismography and the tectonic mechanics of earthquakes themselves. While this formula worked for the author's previous books, this one is bogged down by the tangential stuff and not enough focus is placed on the central subject - keeping the reader from really engaging the material. As a resident of SF, I should have loved this. In the end, however, I just merely found it interesting.

4.Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 (P.S.) by: Simon Winchester July 05, 2005
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $13.95 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $11.16 You Save: $2.79 (20%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $0.97
In "Krakatoa" author Simon Winchester examines the great explosion of August 27, 1883 from all angles, including historical, scientific, social, political and religious. He starts by explaining the social structure in the Dutch East Indies at the time. He then goes on to explain the scientific explanations for what happened and why. A fascinating portion is the story of the scientific studies which recorded the effects of the blast including water waves thousands of miles away and the air wave which circled the globe seven times during the first fifteen days. As the book progresses he impact the blast had on the natives and Europeans living in the area. He eventually suggests that the rise in Muslim devotion in the Dutch East Indies may have been the result of a fundamentalist turn to Allah after the catastrophe. The ... Read More

5.The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology by: Simon Winchester July 30, 2002
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $13.95 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $11.16 You Save: $2.79 (20%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $0.48
I am not an expert on geology and although I had just learned about rocks and minerals in school, this book seemed very edious at tmes. I remember cute little details from the book and the main ideas but when they talked about canals, coal, strata, dips etc, my mind went blank. I really tried to read it and absorb it all but I found it difficult. I still think you should give it a try but I found it very "unstable"

6.The River at the Center of the World, Revised: A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time by: Simon Winchester April 01, 2004
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $16.00 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $10.88 You Save: $5.12 (32%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $5.92
I can think of few experiences better than traveling up the Yangtse (Changjiang) after reading Simon Winchester's terrific book. Knowing when to look for a brief glimpse of the Pilutan monument (to one of the few Englishmen to have created something good in China--he charted the river) That was in 1999, a year later my son and I hiked Tiger Leaping Gorge, further inspired by this amazing book Like so many of his books, Winchester shares a delightful passion through his writing. If anything his writing, especially this book, is contagious. River at the Center of World is wonderful book. How many other travel writings still glow after traveling the same path?

7.The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary by: Simon Winchester October 14, 2004
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $19.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $13.59 You Save: $6.40 (32%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $2.67
I like everything by Simon Winchester..except this book just didn't grab my interest like his others have. It is still well written and informative...but it just wasn't as appealing to me as his others.

8.The Best Travelers' Tales 2004: True Stories from Around the World (Best Travel Writing) from: Travelers' Tales February 05, 2004
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: $16.95 Prices subject to change. Used Price: $0.01
This annual collection of great stories from the road comes from various award-winning writers - including Solas Awards winners - and represents the best in travel literature writing, making it a powerful pick for any library strong in travel writing. THE BEST TRAVEL WRITING 2008: TRUE STORIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD presents accounts of encounters from villages to mountains, cruisers to African cities, and is simply outstanding, involving reading for any armchair enthusiast. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

9.The Man Who Loved China LP: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom by: Simon Winchester June 03, 2008
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $27.95 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $18.45 You Save: $9.50 (34%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $17.32
This well researched and very readable book describes Joseph Needham's quest to show the inventiveness of the Chinese people by documenting in detail their early inventions, many made centuries before their reinvention by Europeans. The number and breadth is nothing short of astonishing. It puts to rest the ridiculous claim by some western politicians that invention can only occur in a free society. One of the themes is the big question still not satisfactorily answered. How, after centuries of extraordinary inventiveness, did it all suddenly stop sometime in the middle of the 15th century? Maybe the question now should be; How quickly will China resume its well documented capacity to invent? He describes a large sign at the Jiuquan space center that says in large letters "Without Haste. Without Fear. We Conquer the World" This book ... Read More

10.A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (Oxford Language Classics Series) by: Henry Fowler April 03, 2003
Average Rating: >>More Details		Used Price: $5.99
This is a wonderful book, and will still be a wonderful book a hundred years from now. By then the English language obviously will have changed even more than it has since the book was written, so the details of the guidance Fowler gives will be less reliable. But the wit and sensibility of the book will still live on and make it a treasure for people who love words, in sort of the same way that Johnson's dictionary is still great reading now. (This can't be said for Burchfield's revision, or Garner's usage book, or most other books on language, which all are tied to their times.) Not the most practically useful language book to own anymore, but still one of the best anyway.

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