THE SHORTER SCIENCE & CIVILIZATION IN CHINA-V. 1 & 2/Needham/HB/DJ/Illu/Like New

Description: AN AUTHORITATIVE ABRIDGEMENT OF THE MONUMENTAL STUDY OF SCIENCE IN CHINATHE SHORTER SCIENCE & CIVILIZATION IN CHINA: V 1 & 2By Joseph Needham, abridged by Colin A. Ronan1978 and 1981 publications hardbound in original dustjackets. Illustrated. Near fine condition. Description: Joseph Needham, abridgement by Colin A. Ronan THE SHORTER SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION IN CHINA-Volumes 1 and 2. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, Each volume 6 x 9 in., Volume 1: published 1978; 326 pp/ Volume 2: published 1981; 459 pp/ Illustrated. Condition: Hardbound in black cloth with gilt titles on spines. Original dustjackets with only the slightest wear and sun fading of spines. Books and interiors are clean, crisp, tightly bound and unmarked throughout--generally like new condition. Information: The magisterial work on China's intellectual history in the sciences by a great scholar. From the book cover descritptions: “Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China is a monumental piece of scholarship which breaks new ground in presenting to the Western reader a detailed and coherent account of the development of science, technology and medicine in China from the earliest times until the advent of the Jesuits and the beginnings of modern science in the late seventeenth century. It is a vast work, necessarily more suited to the scholar and research worker than the general reader. The version now abridged and re-written by Colin Ronan makes this extremely important study accessible to a wider public. The First Volume of the Shorter version covers the material treated in volumes I and II of Dr Needham's original work. The reader is introduced to the country of China, its history, geography and language, and an account is given of how scientific knowledge travelled between China and Europe. The major part of the book is then devoted to the history of scientific thought in China itself. Beginning with ancient times, it describes the milieu in which arose the schools of the Confucians, Taoists, Mohists, Logicians and Legalists. We are thus brought on to the fundamental ideas which dominated scientific thinking in the Chinese middle ages, to the doctrines of the Two Forces (Yin and Yang) and the Five Elements (wu hsing), to the impact of the sceptical tradition and Buddhist and Neo-Confucian thought. In the Second Volume of his abridgement of Joseph Needham's original text, Colin Ronan looks in detail at the early Chinese contributions to various sciences. The first section deals with mathematics, and it is shown that the Chinese works were comparable with the pre-Renaissance achievements of the old world. This account is written with the non-mathematician in mind. The text is next concerned with the sciences of astronomy and meteorology, followed by the Earth sciences: geography, cartography, geology, seismology and mineralogy. Volume 2 closes with a description of some aspects of Chinese physics, including their predilection for the wave theory as opposed to particles, metrology, statics, hydrostatics, heat, light and sound. The Second Volume of the abridgement covers the main material presented in detail in Volume III and one-half of Volume IV/I of Needham's Science and Civilisation in China. Dr Needham has critically read this abridgement and opportunity has been taken to make minor changes where new insight has been gained into some questions.”Biographical Note: Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham ( 1900 –1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, initiating publication of the multivolume Science and Civilisation in China. A focus of his was what has come to be called the Needham Question of why and how China had ceded its leadership in Science and Technology to Western countries. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1941 and a fellow of the British Academy in 1971. In 1992, Queen Elizabeth II conferred on him the Order of the Companions of Honour, and the Royal Society noted he was the only living person to hold these three titles. VISIT MY EBAY STORE FOR OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST(Click This Link)All reasonable offers will be considered. 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