In search of a book on Chinese History
November 24, 2019 1:52 PM Subscribe
I'm looking for a nice big coffee table book on Chinese History, with lots of art and architecture.
My uncle has requested a "book about Chinese History" for Christmas this year. I need the best one!
My uncle is not in great health and has very limited mobility and attention span. He is not going to sit and read a super dense book filled with long dry passages. I am looking for a book with as much pictures and as little text as possible. Something that covers Chinese History from ancient to modern times, with plenty of pictures and maps. He was an architect in his much younger days so something that shows some architecture through the ages would be great.
I cant see him looking at the book for more than 5 minutes at a time. What I need is a book that he can leave out and then every now and then, pick up and flip through the pages with his grandkids. Just searching for "chinese history book" online brings up a million books and very little insight into the pages themselves. I'm looking for suggestions of books people own themselves and know to be really great and fun to browse through.
My uncle has requested a "book about Chinese History" for Christmas this year. I need the best one!
My uncle is not in great health and has very limited mobility and attention span. He is not going to sit and read a super dense book filled with long dry passages. I am looking for a book with as much pictures and as little text as possible. Something that covers Chinese History from ancient to modern times, with plenty of pictures and maps. He was an architect in his much younger days so something that shows some architecture through the ages would be great.
I cant see him looking at the book for more than 5 minutes at a time. What I need is a book that he can leave out and then every now and then, pick up and flip through the pages with his grandkids. Just searching for "chinese history book" online brings up a million books and very little insight into the pages themselves. I'm looking for suggestions of books people own themselves and know to be really great and fun to browse through.
Robert temple’s “the genius of China” is an amusing history of technology with pictures. It should stand up to reading in magazine article bites
If you want breadth, fast, Jing Liu’s series “Understanding China through Comics” is surprisingly good.
posted by unknown knowns at 9:40 PM on November 24, 2019
If you want breadth, fast, Jing Liu’s series “Understanding China through Comics” is surprisingly good.
posted by unknown knowns at 9:40 PM on November 24, 2019
Perhaps China: A History in Objects by Jessica Harrison-Hall? I don't own it, but I have read it, and I think it fits the bill -- an overview of some aspects of Chinese history as represented by historical objects. Good photography and clear, well-written text. No maps, though.
posted by Janta at 8:15 PM on November 25, 2019
posted by Janta at 8:15 PM on November 25, 2019
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posted by clew at 5:54 PM on November 24, 2019