Science in Traditional China : a comparative perspective

The worlds preeminent authority on Chinese science explores the philosophy social structure arts crafts and even military strategies that form our understanding of Chinese science making instructive comparisons along the way to similar elements of Indian Hellenistic and Arabic cultures. A major portion of the book concentrates on Taoist alchemy that led not only to the invention of gunpowder and firearms but also through the search for macrobiotic life-elixirs to the rise of modern medical chemistry.