Winchester's absorbing portrait of the mid-twentieth-century scientist and adventurer traces Joseph Needham's British government mission to China, his love affair with visiting student Lu Gwei-Djen -- and his pivotal influence on the Western world's understanding of China's culture and history. Needham was the originator, author and editor of the ongoing, multi-volume Science and Civilization in China, published by Cambridge University Press.  (CHN512, $27.95)

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