No comments about The Travels of Marco Polo - Complete.

1 comments about Darwin's Origin of Species: Books That Changed the World.

1. I got the gist of Darwin's theories in a non-technical manner, while the story of his life made it seem a very personal, and interesting story. I also enjoyed the historical context. This was an easy and facinating read!

1 comments about Falling Leaves: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter.

1. This was a story of triumph of a young chinese girl, Adeline Yen Mah, swallowed whole by the fate that left her with the cruelest face of humankind...her stepmother, Niang Yen. As a rose cannot grow without sun, light, and earth, nor could this girl have survived life w/out the endearing love from her Aunt Baba who encouraged and nurtured her despite inflictions from the Adeline's stepmother and father in doing so.
   
   After reading this book I feel compelled to hug Adeline Yan Mah and tell her what a wonderful person she is.

5 comments about Gang of One: Memoirs of a Red Guard (American Lives).

1. This is quite simply the best memoir I have ever read, and as a professional writer myself, I've read a lot of them. It deserves to be considered in a class with America's greatest storytelling.
   
   Fan Shen writes in an understated, no-holds-barred, external style that is in some ways reminiscent of his literary heroes: London and Stendhal, to name two. Like Martin Eden and The Red and the Black, this is a story of the struggle of the individual against the system. And what a struggle! No slow internal musing over small questions here - this is a pedal-to-the-metal ride through China's bloodiest and most oppressive modern period, told in one shocking life event after another, and emotions bend all the more powerfully by racing to keep up.
   
   With increasing personal, moral, and ethical risks as Fan struggles to develop an individual identity and freedom from oppression in a country where individualism is anti-revolutionary and a capital offense, this is a page-turner that you may never forget - with a beautiful love story at its heart.



2. I think this is perhaps the best memoir I've read by someone who survived the infamous Chinese Cultural Revolution. Many other authors have tried to capture the chaos and pain it has caused them, but Fan Shen outdoes them all. I'm glad he told his story, or other people would never know how horrible things really were at that time. Each chapter in this book is captivating, and its hard to put it down. It is also extremely sad, and at the end of the book you wish you knew Fan Shen so you could at least talk with him and give him a hug. :(



3. A fascinating look inside the chinese mindset. A must read for anyone who wants to know about the crazy history of the Red Guard, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. Also provides a great insight into how the chinese operate today. Fan Shen tells a story that will stick with you as you purchase your next "made in China" item.



4. I spent about 8 months reading Dr. Shen's book -- not because it bored me, and not because it was overly long. This is just one of those books that needs to be savored in order to be properly enjoyed. It's also one of those books that you really don't want to finish.
   
   Savor it. :)



5. This is the story of a boy who, from a revolutionary family, eagerly joins the Red Guards at the outset of the Cultural Revolution. As Fan Shen comes of age, he realizes that the Cultural Revolution is a disaster and this book is the story of his attempt to find a way to achieve an acceptable life.
   
   It is readily apparent that Fan is a very clever fellow as well as an intellectually gifted individual. The tales that he recounts are alternatively horrifying, sad, depressing and humorous. As he tells of his experiences, the reader can only imagine the horrors of the Cultural Revolution when you multiply his experiences by the 800 million or so others who lived through the same era.
   
   Fan is a wonderful author and can tell a story exceedingly well. At times, however, the reader is left wondering whether we are actually getting an accurate recounting of Fan's earlier years. The stories he tells are truly beyond belief and, at times, seem to be a bit self-serving. Whether or not this is the case, the book deserves a read by anyone interested in China today or in recent Chinese history.

3 comments about On Gold Mountain: The 100-Year Odyssey of a Chinese-American Family.

1. I wish I had read this book first. I read Lisa's Flower Net and enjoyed it so much that I looked to see what else she had written. Finding On Gold Mountain (thanks, Amazon) I became immersed in the life of the author and her family. I have read so many stories of Chinese families in Mainland China and Taiwan, but this is the first I have read of the Chinese American experience. It is doubly interesting because of the marriages between Chinese and Caucasians, and how they resolved their cultural differences during a time when China itself was undergoing so many cultural changes. I highly recomend the book for its content and for its excellent narrative style.



2. Lisa See, in describing the journey of her family over one hundred years, also takes the reader on a literary journey. I have read many auto-biographical and semi-auto-biographical accounts of the Chinese diaspora and Lisa's book is amongst the best. We can read her book as an adventure and also as a history. A history about which she must be proud. This book has inspired me to write about my own family, who made a similar journey, over a hundred years ago, but in Australia



3. Lisa See's path to discover where and how she fits in in this gifted, and far from ordinary immigrant American family is as much your story as it is hers. Her writing is fresh and alive enough to hold your interest and make you want to hear more from and about this author. Her mother is Carolyn See, who has written a little about Lisa's history in her own book, Dreaming: Good Luck and Hard Times in America. Look over both books and be prepared to hunker down for a while.

5 comments about Midnight at the Dragon Cafe: A Novel (Alex Awards (Awards)).

1. I have mixed feelings about _Midnight athte Dragon Cafe_. I absolutely loved Bates' command of language and her languid, conversational tone as her character, Su-Jen narrates. The moods and emotions were so clearly expressed, I really felt I was with Su-Jen as she wrestled with the challenges and secrets she discovered through the course of the book.
   
   While I appreciated the gradual maturation of Su-Jen, her growing awareness of the wider world around her, and the secrets her family held, I really felt that the story didn't hit its stride until the final quarter of the book. Even when the book did hit its stride and plot points began to come together, the resolution to the myriad of conflicts were ultimately unstisfying. I had anticipated a stronger finish, given the repeated references to Su-Jen's fate and the constant tension between family members. I also think the underlying message Bates was suggesting - is it possible to forgive ourselves - could have been much more developed. I enjoyed the writing, but the story itself warrants only 3 stars.



2. I am a fourth generation Chinese American living in California. I loved this well written, lyrical and engaging book, and recommend it to all. I have not read much about the Chinese-Canadian immigrant experience, and this book was very rewarding in terms of telling the story of the Chinese in Canada in the background of the main story line. The characters are extremely vivid in the book, and one really cares about Su-Jen (aka Annie) right away. The author does a very good job of sketching the lonely life of this isolated Chinese family in this small Canadian town. I particularly felt she handled incidents of racial discrimination experienced by the sensitive Annie during elementary school very poignantly. You really feel for this little Chinese girl, stuck between this lovely unhappy mother, a frustrated and good looking half brother, a traditional but kindly father, and her Canadian white classmates. It is a great read.



3. I recently finished this book and loved the way it was written, the use of language, the lessons of enduring truths of humanity, etc. It was very touching and I loved it. I read it aloud to my 16-year-old son. We have read a lot of books but now I'm stuck and need a recommendation on what to read next.



4. What can I say, this book lacked all the details I wanted to read, and was pretty darn predictable to boot. I could tell that it was written by a foreigner because it never contained any "advanced" vocabulary. Always just kept mentioning the same food and the same feelings and the same blah blah blah...Enough. I'm done with this thing!



5. With a quiet, unassuming elegance, Canadian-Chinese author Judy Fong-Bates sets the scene for her highly applauded debut novel, 'Midnight at the Dragon Cafe'.
   
   Perhaps this story touched me more acutely than most of its readers, as it called to mind what my father and his parents must have experienced during and after their immigration from Hong Kong to a little town in Canada in the mid-1950s. Every word to me was genuine, haunting, compelling...
   
   Little Su-Jen Chou (at the tender age of six), along with her beautiful yet bitter mother, immigrates to Canada from Communist China, to meet the father she has never known. A father who is the proprietor of the local Canadian-Chinese "greasy spoon". With Su-Jen mother constantly haunted with yearnings for her homeland, unpleasant family secrets uncovered, and the trials and challenges they face in a new and often-times unwelcoming land, Fong-Bates weaves a story full of heartbreak, tribulation and acceptance.
   
   Poignant in its simplicity and yet weighty in its inner complexities, 'Midnight at the Dragon Cafe' explores many social issues of the time, along with the disappointments, the pride, the sacrifices, and the triumphs of those who immigrated to Canada in search of something "better". Compelling and well written, Fong-Bates stunning first novel deserves a heaping spoonful of praise.

5 comments about Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors: The Reign-By-Reign Record of the Rulers of Imperial China (Chronicle).

1. Given the dearth of good English language books on Chinese history that are meant for the general public, it is refreshing to find a book tackling this area.
   
   However, it is all but impossible to cover all of the emperors of China in her 3,000 years of history in just over 200 pages, so this book is really only suitable as an introduction.
   
   As the title indicates, this is a chronicle of the emperors of China, rather than a history of China. Each emperor is given about a paragraph of text, with the exception of the more important rulers. As a result, some of the more important events and people that had profound effect on Chinese history were not included.
   
   On the positive side, this book is very well illustrated, and interspaced throughout the book, the author introduces various concepts on Chinese religion, culture, and arts.
   
   Also, I find the absence of the Shang and Zhou dynasties from this book to be an important oversight. Although they are normally considered part of imperial China, the kings of these dynasties certainly were part of Chinese history. Another oversight is the non-inclusion of the emperors of the Liao and Jin Dynasties.



2. All of these Chronicle history series books are great. This is the 4th one I have purchased. My kid is doing some big history project on a era of Chinese History that is hardly covered in traditonal Chinese history books. And to top it off the teacher is not allowing web references for the first draft. This book covered that era of history (the Three Kingdoms/Wei Dynastry) so that even I who don't know anything about Chinese history ( I am an Egyptian/Greek/Roman buff) could figure out where the 3 Kingdomsfit into the big picture. They give dates and the little plaques at the front of each reign with who their father was, who was the wife, big accomplishments is very helpful in school projects. The pictures are a big plus in making the material more interesting and real. I recommend these books to desperate parents everywhere.



3. I purchased this book in Shanghai hoping to learn more about early Chinese history. I had just visited Huang Shan meaning Yellow Mountain named after Huang Di, the Yellow Emperor. In this book there are only a few sentences on him. The material the book does cover is presented in an interesting but brief manner. Covering the material in great detail would take require a volume much larger. I recommend this as an introduction and starting point for those not familiar with Chinese history.



4. The author states that the first Tang Emperor, Li Yuan, designated his second son, Li Shimin, a crown prince. In fact, the crown prince was not Li Shimin but his first son, killed by Li Shimin in the 926 coup.



5. A blooper on page 10 says it all: the Sui Dynasty is inexplicably represented by the character 'Qi'. Paludan's book is well-intentioned and nicely-illustrated, but her grasp of the Chinese language and experience in historical research are clearly not up to the daunting task of presenting a comprehensive account of imperial Chinese history. As her bibliography shows, she has had to rely on several dated works in English, as well as more recent and authoritative ones like the massive Cambridge History of China. However, she flounders badly in the second section ("Confusion, Reunification and Golden Age", AD 220-907) and never makes it out of the confusion. The text in this section is peppered with factual inaccuracies and errors in translation that can only be blamed on general ignorance. While struggling with the emperors of the Southern Dynasties, she ignores those of the concurrent Northern Dynasties, sparing only two pages to comment on socio-economic developments in the North. The rulers of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms receive equally sparse attention. The superficial quotations that she has selected from estern sources betray the same lack of depth in examining the historical record.

   It would be unfair to single out Ann Paludan for lack of scholarship, however, because the ages of fragmentation from AD 189-589 and 907-979 suffer from a miserable dearth of research among Western historians of China. Paludan apparently had only three sources in English to go upon, none published within the last 20 years. Sadly, one of them is the famous but thoroughly mythologised "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the author of which she characteristically names as Zhong Luo Guan rather than Luo Guanzhong. She parrots that novel's popular perception of the Three Kingdoms as "the golden age of chivalry and romance", without any attempt to compare this with historical reality.

   From here, everything goes downhill, because the Cambridge History volume on the 220-589 period has yet to be published. Paludan, probably referring to the primary sources, fails completely to get her facts and names right, translating "Prince of Yingyang" as "Sun King of Ying", for example, and referring to his replacement by an "older" half-brother when that brother was in fact younger. For that matter, Paludan bothers to give us the Chinese characters for the temple names and reign titles of the various emperors, but not their actual names (not even in hanyu pinyin, in many cases). One would think the reader is just as much interested to know the name an emperor was born with.

   The later chapters from Tang to Qing are rather more credible, but readers would do better to read the (still incomplete) Cambridge History and F.W. Mote's "Imperial China 900-1800" for the same information in greater detail and accuracy. Sadly, a proper history of the chaotic period from AD 189 to 589, imperial China's longest-ever period of inter-regional war, has yet to be written for English-speaking readers. Beyond brief excursions into the then-rising religions of Buddhism and Daoism, Ann Paludan does not even begin to do justice to its fascinating complexities.

5 comments about History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1).

1. The professional historians faint as prominent mathematician Doctor Fomenko et al research the known historical data and come to fairly controversial conclusions.
   
   For example, the English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. As the sign of recognition of the special role of the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.
   
   The Russian historians brand it as pseudoscience because Dr Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by over two centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called `Tartars and Mongols' were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a trilingual state and aspiring Global Empire with Arabic and Turkic spoken as freely as Russian.
   
   The ancient proto-Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities and the hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called `blood tax'). Their `invasions' were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion.
   
   Fomenko proves for a fact that official Russian history is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scholars brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs. Their ascension to the throne was the result of conspiracy, so they charged these German historians-imports with the noble mission of making Romanov's reign look legitimate.
   
   Dr Fomenko et al prove Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. These rulers represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate Godounovs and the ambitious Romanov upstarts.
   
   The European historians fume not only because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History but for asserting that all medieval European Kings and Princes were but breakaway vice-regents and vassals of the Global Empire who badly needed glorious and very `ancient' past in order to legitimize their new independence from the Empire.
   
   Dr Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one: the Ancient Rome: the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the 14th century A. D., the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, the Ancient Egypt: the pyramids of Giza become dated to the 11th to 14th century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global Empire, no less.
   
   The civilization of the `ancient'' Egypt is irrefutably dated to the 11th to 15th century A. D. following the breakthrough in decoding of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone and painted on the temple walls.
   
   Arabic historians may find some consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire as a part of the Global empire in the 15th - 17th century. The trouble is that this Empire was initially a proto-Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, but built in 1550-1557 A.D. by Sultan Suleiman according to Fomenko and Islam with all its key figures is datable to 15th 16th century A. D.!
   
   The Chinese historians are also an unhappy lot because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such history. Period. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the 17th 18th century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation.
   
   The Divinity excommunicates Dr Fomenko because the history of religions according to Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the 11th century and Jesus Christ ), Bacchic Christianity (11th to 12th century, before and after Jesus Christ), Jesus Christ Christianity (12th to 14th century) and its subsequent mutations (15th to 17th cy) into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on..; and The Old Testament written after the New Testament in xiv-xvi cy A.D., if you please! Everybody served? Saint Augustine was quite prescient when he said: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."



2. Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RAZQNMXM4M9CL Has history been tampered with? Yes, it has! Did events and eras such as the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Roman Empire , the Dark Ages, and the Renaissance, actually occur within a very different chronology from what we've been told? Yes, they certainly did!
   
   The history of humankind is both drastically shorter and dramatically different than generally presumed.
   
   Why is it so? On one hand, it was usual custom to justify the claims to title and land by age and ancestry, and on the other the court historians knew only too well how to please their masters. The so called universal classic world history is a pack of intricate lies for all events prior to the 16th century. World history as we learn it today was entirely fabricated in the 16th-18th centuries. It's likely that nobody told you before, but
   
   there is not a single piece of firm written evidence or artefact that is reliably and independently dated prior to the 11th century.
   
   Naturally, after what you've learned in school and university, you will not easily believe that the classical history of ancient Rome, Greece, Asia, Egypt, China, Japan, India, etc., is manifestly false.
   
   You will point accusing finger to the pyramids in Egypt, to the Coliseum in Rome and Great Wall of China etc., and claim, aren't they really ancient, thousands of years ancient? Well, there is no valid scientific proof that they are older than 1000 years!
   
   The oldest original written document that can be reliably dated belongs to the 11th century!
   
   New research asserts that Homo sapiens invented writing (including hieroglyphics) only 1000 years ago. Once invented, writing skills were immediately and irreversibly put to the use of ruling powers and science.
   
   The consensual chronology we live with was essentially crafted in the 16th century by the Jesuits.
   
   The world history was compiled from contradictory mix of innumerable copies of ancient Latin and Greek manuscripts and other irrefutable proofs delivered by late mediaeval astronomers that were cemented by the authority of writings of the Church Fathers.
   
   Early in life, we learn about ancient history. Children love the magical lessons of history - they are like fairy tales. Teachers recite breathtaking stories; very soon We learn by heart the names and deeds of brave warriors, wise philosophers, fabulous pharaohs, cunning high priests and greedy scribes.
   
   We learn of gigantic pyramids and sinister castles, kings and queens, dukes and barons, powerful heroes and beautiful ladies, emaciated saints and low-life traitors.
   
   Ancient history is based documents, manuscripts, printed books, paintings, monuments and artefacts - called primary sources.
   
   The problem is that neither these ancient documents, nor events described therein can be irrefutably dated, moreover they contradict each other for the most part.
   
   When a school textbook tells us that Genghis Khan in year X or Alexander in year Y, have each conquered half of the world, it means only that it is so said in some of the written sources.
   
   There are no answers to simple questions:
   
   When were these primary sources written?
   
   Where and by whom were these sources found?
   
   It is wrongly presumed that ancient and medieval chronicles, written by Genghis Khan's or Alexander the Great contemporaries and eyewitnesses, are readily available. Actually, only sources written hundreds or even thousands of years after the events are there, compiled mostly in the 16th 18th centuries, or even later.
   
   As a rule, these sources suffered considerable multiple manipulations, falsifications and distortions by editing. At the same time,
   
   innumerable originals of ancient documents under various pretexts were destroyed in Europe under various pretexts.
   
   The names of persons and geographical sites often changed meaning and location during the course of the centuries.
   
   Geographical locations became clearly defined on maps only with the advent of printing.
   
   This made possible the circulation of identical copies of the same map for purposes of the military, navigation, education and governance tasks.
   
   Historians from Oxford say: "hey, everybody knows that Julius Caesar lived in the first century B.C.
   
   `Julius Caesar' statement is only a point of view as
   
   there is simply no irrefutable documentary proof that Julius Caesar or any other great name of antiquity ever existed.
   
   Better than that - extremely rare sources that can be reliably dated back to the 10th-14th centuries A D, do not show the polished picture of classical history.
   
   They show a picture both contradictory and confusing.
   
   All methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts are erroneous:
   
   Radio-carbon C14 method produces dating with exactitude of plus minus 1500 years, therefore it is too crude for dating of events in historical timeframe!
   
   The Almagest tractate, which lies as corner stone contemporary chronology, compiled in the 2nd century A D by Ptolemy, the founding father of astronomy, contains astronomical data of 9th to 16th century!
   
   The Bronze Age,that has supposedly began 5000 years ago. Bronze is made of 90% copper and 10% tin, but the technology for tin extraction dates back to 14th century A D!.
   
   All eclipses contained in manuscripts, like Thucydides one, relating 'ancient' events have exclusively medieval dating. All horoscopes cut in stone or painted in Egyptian temples, like Dendera have exclusively early medieval dating solutions.
   
   Not quite what you have learned in school? Open your eyes, and, you will find sufficient proof to reach step by step the inevitable conclusion that the classical chronology is false and therefore, that the history of ancient and medieval world universally accepted today, is also false. Have a fresh outlook on everything said or printed about "ancient" and "enigmatic" Roman, Greek and Egyptian, medieval as well as all other "lost and found" civilizations.
   
   Antiquity and Dark Ages are phantoms invented in the 16th 18th and polished in 19th 20thcenturies. Human civilization is in fact barely 1000 years old!
   
   This book will change your perception of History forever!
   What if Ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt were invented during Renaissance?
   What if The Old Testament was a rendition of events of the Middle Ages?
   What if Jesus Christ was born in 1053 and crucified in 1086 AD?
   Sounds Unbelievable?
   Not after you've read "History: Fiction or Science?" by Anatoly Fomenko, the genius mathematician.
   Armed with astronomy and computers Anatoly Fomenko turns History into a rocket science.



3. Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun (ie. closer), different tilt on its axis (ie. less than 23.5 degrees), different orbit (ie. more circular), different rotation (ie. in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different relative positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently from how we would today? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history or geography is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.



4. Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.



5. There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
   
   For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

3 comments about Wu: The Chinese Empress Who Schemed, Seduced and Murdered Her Way to Become a Living God.

1. Brilliant, academic work w notations, just what I was looking for. Very well written and engaging, at all time critical towards sources. Recommended!



2. Jonathan Clements has managed to take the story of the controversial Empress Wu and make it extremely entertaining, while still maintaining historical accuracy. He keeps the narrative going at a quick pace, but provides enough details to keep the reader from becoming lost or confused.
   
   Empress Wu is a really difficult historical figure. She is neither a good guy or a bad guy. She is a woman who did some amazing things, and some really terrible things. So many biographies of Wu have an agenda, either to make her look like a martyr or a villain, and the truth is far more complicated than that.
   
   Clements provides both what is known about Empress Wu, and various opinions and constructs of her made by those who came later. He shows how the image of Empress Wu is often twisted to meet the needs of political fads, and that all of these perspectives should be taken with a grain of salt.
   
   Even if you know nothing about Chinese history, you will find this book a fascinating and lively read.



3. This is a wonderful biography. I was somehow worried it would be boring. However, the author manages to narrate Wu's life and times in such a way that I could not put it down, and read it in less than a week's time.
   
   Starting as a 13-year-old concubine favorite in the harem of Emperor Taizong, Wu seduced his son by whom she later became pregnant and murdered her rivals - including the empress - to become empress herself. Possibly guilty of infanticide, and of murdering her own sister, once she became the 'power behind the curtain Wu schemed and cheated her way to the throne and ruled personally under the name Emperor Shengshen from 690 to 705 (the first woman ever to use the title emperor which had been created 900 years before by the first emperor of China Qin Shi Huang). After surviving two revolts against her, in her early 80s ailing Empress Wu was unable to thwart a coup. While considering her frequent portrayal as a despot, one must bear in mind the traditional Confucian idea widely held in her day that women in general, and especially influential women, caused trouble and were not to be trusted.
   
   For a better understanding of China, I would recommend reading: 1 and 2) two books by S.A.M Adshead: "China in World History" and "T'ang China: The Rise of the East in World History"; and 3) "Fools Are Everywhere: The Court Jester Around the World" by Beatrice K Otto, which is full of information on witty Chinese jesters.
   
   Additionally, another excellent biography of a much maligned queen worth reading is "Marie Antoinette: The Portrait of an Average Woman" by Stephen Zweig.

3 comments about Chasing Hepburn: A Memoir of Shanghai, Hollywood, and a Chinese Family's Fight for Freedom.

1. Get ready to give up your weekend because once you pick up this book you won't be able to put it down. Lee's dramatic descriptions cover the conflicts between historical Eastern and Western traditions woven into poignant family events. While his relatives and their antics seem quirky and particular, in fact they resonate with all families facing abrupt changes and adaptation --be they generational or cultural. For those who have read and loved China Boy and Honor and Duty, Chasing Hepburn gives us the pre-story we've all been wondering about.



2. Get ready to give up your weekend because once you pick up this book you won't be able to put it down. Lee's dramatic descriptions cover the conflicts between historical Eastern and Western traditions woven into poignant family events. While his relatives and their antics seem quirky and particular, in fact they resonate with all families facing abrupt changes and adaptation --be they generational or cultural. For those who have read and loved China Boy and Honor and Duty, Chasing Hepburn gives us the pre-story we've all been wondering about.



3. In this remarkable memoir, Gus Lee presents a clear and compassionate picture of his parents, grandparents and their 'clans' set in turbulent times. He brings alive the social, historical, religious and cultural context which informs their actions and reactions making them comprehensible to a reader with a totally different cultural viewpoint. It reads like a multi-generational adventure novel where the characters play parts in or are impacted by major events, from the Taiping rebellion through the British opium trade to the civil wars that raged from the early twentieth century through the brutal Japanese occupation in WWII. It is a wild ride and a great read. Gus presents his forbears and related characters warts and all, but always with great compassion and subtlety. There are no cardboard characters. Readers of his novels, which have a strong autobiographical base, particularly 'China Boy', will know what a hard childhood he endured with a stern and distant father, a mother prone to 'magical' beliefs who died when he was five, and a rigid, vindictive step mother. In this memoir, Gus reveals to us what he subsequently discovered about his parents and he honors them both. Gus's own life has been a testament to using adversity to build strength. He has wasted no time blaming, or scoring points off his parents or using his experiences to excuse failings in his own life. There is no 'poor me' here. His story helped me understand a completely different belief system and cultural perspective. And it was at times moving, at other times funny, but always interesting.