book review _Heavenly clockwork_
HEAVENLY CLOCKWORK the great astronomical clocks of medieval china
by Joseph needham

I read the book because of a statement made in a online discussion group: "the chinese emperor suppressed the knowledge of clockmaking."
This did not fit into my understanding, as i have seen very old water clock diagrams on the walls of bell and drum towers in China, in particular, the drum and bell towers in Beijing had a very complete set of sketches of massive water clocks. Although i could not read the legends i understood that the purpose of the drum and bell towers throughout China was to keep time in a very public way.

Now choosing this particular book was not an accident, i have wanted to get into the massive corpus of Needham's work on China, and this was an opportunity to have a minor need driven learning curve. I was not at all disappointed in the book. It is literally an excellent example of how to do science, how to investigate a historical question, how to marshall facts and prove a difficult point.

But the book is not for the faint of heart, or the mildly interested in horology, it is complete, tedious and not a Sunday afternoon light reading. Nor should it be, it is just as the author intended it, a scientific research book on the origin of clock building in China.

From the introduction: " It is generally allowed that the invention of the mechanical clock was one of the most important turning-points in the history of science and technology. Not only was it the earliest complex device, heralding a whole age of machine-making, but also its regular imitation of the natural motion of the sun and heavens fascinated men and exerted no small influence on their philosophy and theology." The key text which is studied throughout is _New Design for a Mechanised Armillary Sphere and Celestial Globe_ written in 1090AD by Su Sung. The clock was built, a high astronomical clock-tower more than thirty feet high, with sky observation points, moving globes and rings that would be analogous to the same object in the movie "Dark Crystal" with the planets in their various orbits whizzing around the sun.

"To sum up the matter, it is quite clear that one of the reasons why the early Jesuit missionaries were so much welcomed by the Chinese was for their interest in clocks and clock-making, hardly less indeed than for their skill as mathematicians and astronomers. ... In Ricci's time the Jesuit order was capable of attracting for its overseas mssions some of the best minds of Europe. It was a mobilisation of oecumenical idealism something like that which the League or the United Nations have now and then commanded in our own time." pg. 145

It is the 9th chapter: "General History and Transmission of Astronomical Clocks" that i personally found the most fasinating, where Needham takes the details and builds the connections to general thinking and social structures. "Such devices of scientific technology have exercised not a little influnce on the idea that the universe was a great mathematical machine whose workings could be comprehended by exact reasoning. Since astronomy and graphic representation are two of the most ancient of man's arts, it is no wonder that he should want to hold the cosmos in his hand by making a model of it--" pg 179 "This is no accidental feature of mechanical design, but an inherent part of the format of Chinese astronomical theory."pg 180 "The question is also linked closely with the different modes of astronomy in the Hellenistic and Chinese cultures. In the West, a series of happy accidents occurred soon after the arithmetically minded Babylonians had communicated their astronomy to the geometrically strongly-developed Hellenic scientists. These accidents of physical fact and mathematical structure had the effect of directing the best period of genius towards the mathematical analysis of planetary motions rather than to any other part of astronomy." pg 181

I understand that the big question for Needham was why did science develop in the West and not China, given the Chinese invention of all the pieces of what we consider the enabling technology. This book is my first study into the Needham body of writing and i look forward to working through the 12 volume set on Chinese science.

thanks for reading the review, and i hope it inspires you to at least skim the first chapter and chapter 9.

Needham investigates a 11th C Chinese clock

Reviewer: fjord from Portland, OR United States
When I was in China, I read a review on this book, saying
C. T. Hsia was funded by C.I.A when writting this book.
"the book is bias and full of hatry to Communist China" the
reviewer said, "that is why this book is banned in China".
I was so curious that the first book I checked out from a U.S.A
library was this one. I am disappointed since Hsia is really
bias and sometimes paranoia.

He really did not understand the huge difficulty all Chinese
writers faced in the past 100 years. And sometimes I really
doubt whether he is a Chinese at all? When he sat there laughing
at Communist writers, did he realize those were of the same
origin of his parents and himself?

In this sense, this book is just common, not great, since it
is lack of love and forgiveness, the basic elements of all great
works.

When I was in China, I read a review on this book, saying
C. T. Hsia was funded by C.I.A when writting this book.
"the book is bias and full of hatry to Communist China" the
reviewer said, "that is why this book is banned in China".

I was so curious that the first book I checked out from a U.S.A
library was this one. I am disappointed since Hsia is really
bias and sometimes paranoia.

He really did not understand the huge difficulty all Chinese
writers faced in the past 100 years. And sometimes I really
doubt whether he is a Chinese at all? When he sat there laughing
at Communist writers, did he realize those were of the same
origin of his parents and himself?

In this sense, this book is just common, not great, since it
is lack of love and forgiveness, the basic elements of all great
works.

39 of the 111 pages consist of full page printed sketches, wich are beautiful. But the text, which is very rare in this book, is sometimes missing, and throughout this book very superficially. Thomas C. Wang describes one (1) pencil technique, which he is using for his sketchings, other methodes are not discussed or even mentioned. I could not recommend this book to anyone, perhaps for very beginning artist, whom are uncertainly in leading a pencil, but even then there are better books.

I remember the first edition of this book from a few years ago. But this new edition is beautiful in and of itself - I flip through it often. But the real bonus was that it inspired me to sketch again - a skill that I haven't used frequently in the past ten or fifteen years. This one's a keeper because it showed me *how* to do it and then showed examples of how it was done by the expert. I've rediscovered my love of sketching.

The first edition of this book was published in 1994 but 'Techno Vision II' has been fully updated to incorporate the revolution impact of the Internet. The basic hypothesis of the book is the problem of disconnect. In most organisations, there is a fundamental disconnect between 'techies' and the rest of corporate management - a mismatch that is caused by disparities in training and temperament. Disconnect is so ingrained that few recognize it, despite it being one of most profound limitations to achieving improvements in productivity and competitiveness. The book examines in considerable detail the causes of disconnect and possible solutions. Bridging the gap between 'techies' and the rest of the corporate hiearchy is critical to the future of many organisations.

Wang tells of how CIOs and CEOs suffer from a communication disconnect, and ways to connect. He also introduces the reader to several current IT topics. I found parts of the book a thinly-veiled marketing tool for Computer Associates, the author's company. He also mis-formats URLs.

Aching for Beauty is an extensive history of the tradition of footbinding in China. Women were defined by the size of one's feet, a sign of beauty.Wang Ping describes the sexual connotations related to footbinding. I think the book is good,but the contents contains a lot of history and research in order to comprehend the author's intent. The book is more interesting in the second half when Wang Ping desribes female bonding called Tan Chi where women share writing, poetry,and verbal stories. This book would be a great reference in regards to footbinding and Chinese tradition through centuries. It is not an easy read.

If you are an avid supporter of the European Union, this book will not be a fun read. In this polemical essay, Judt argues that the future of Europe cannot be a unified one and that the EU is ultimately doomed to failure. What is his rationale?

He writes, "The years 1945-1989 are thus coming to seem more and more like a parenthesis." Arguing that nationalism is the most powerful and influential force in Europe, Judt paints a picture of a Europe that has been historically divided. Any attempts at unity will founder because of inherent national differences and nationalist feelings.

Although Judt offers several cogent arguments, his book fails to take into account the current state of optimism in Europe and the fact that the EU has been widely accepted. After a tumultuous century of division (from the powerful pre-WWI nation-states to the Cold War's establishment of East v. West), Europe today seems eager to latch onto a system that would provide some sense of community. Judt ignores this fact. Also, Judt's argument about Germany seems to me to be illogical, and some his evidence is a real stretch.

Judt's book on Europe has some value--it offers some very provocative points about Europe--but in the end, its overly pessimistic view lacks clarity and a solid factual base.

Though the book publication is over 10 years old, most of the material presented is still valid for today's UNIX operating systems. Written for the beginner UNIX (csh) user, the author does an adequate job of explaining the most commonly used UNIX commands and tools (VI, mail, etc). Individuals looking for UNIX administration info and intermediate UNIX users should look elsewhere for more updated and advanced texts.

This book is listed in the graphic novels section and I bought it because I am interested in Chinese culture and, having read "All Men are Brothers" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", I was curious to see how their comic book format compared to their novel forms, and the Japanese art style of story telling. Whoops! O, silly me. This is NOT a graphic novel and, although it does appear to be a very nice "coming of age" story for teenage girls, it is definitely NOT what I thought I was buying. Please be warned- this book is listed in the wrong section!

For some of the material, I thought the book was o.k., but for others, it seemed a bit overly simplistic and difficult to find solutions for more complicated tasks. Does not include tips on Publisher, which was disappointing.

A Temple Room with the correct paraphernalia is one of the requisites for most systems of Hermetic Magic, and this book teaches how to make the basic items: the Elemental Weapons, the Banners, the Pillars, the Altar, The Rose-Cross lamen, etc. It also covers a section on how to make a 'concealable' Temple, to be drawn out of a wardrobe when needed and put back in it again in a couple of minutes. I give it 3 stars because the Ciceros' "Secrets of a Golden Dawn Temple" covers the same sujects much more comprehensiveley and profoundly, and goes even further than this book. If you can get the Ciceros' book, get it, otherwise, this one is good enough.