In sumptuous and illuminating detail, Simon Winchester, the bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman ("Elegant and scrupulous"—New York Times Book Review) and Krakatoa ("A mesmerizing page-turner"—Time) brings to life the extraordinary story of Joseph Needham, the brilliant Cambridge scientist who unlocked the most closely held secrets of China, long the world’s most technologically advanced country.

Both epic and intimate, The Man Who Loved China tells the sweeping history of China through Needham’s remarkable life. Here is an unforgettable tale of what makes men, nations, and, indeed, mankind itself great—by one of the world’s inimitable storytellers.