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Oct. 8th, 2007 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coraaFor a Sekrit Project, I'm looking for books about Chinese history and culture. Non-fiction, please, and I know embarrassingly little -- pretty much nothing, really, so I'm going to need to start with overviews.
I realize that this is sort of like saying: "Recommend me books about Science!" in terms of scope -- China is huge and diverse and has a long recorded history, and I feel like I'm trying to scale a glacier -- but I need to start somewhere, and right now I don't know enough to know how to narrow down yet, if you understand my meaning. The books don't have to all be General Overview; since I'm generally mildly suspicious of survey books, I'd actually rather read a diverse spread of reasonably accessible books on specific topics. (By 'accessible' I mean 'don't assume a ton of prior knowledge of the subject;' I'm willing and able to wade through academic-speak. I'm also not embarrassed to read children's books, as long as they're reasonably accurate.)
Doesn't have to be all history, either. Books about modern society and culture are also welcome.
I know so little about China, it's embarrassing, but I'm trying to correct that!
I realize that this is sort of like saying: "Recommend me books about Science!" in terms of scope -- China is huge and diverse and has a long recorded history, and I feel like I'm trying to scale a glacier -- but I need to start somewhere, and right now I don't know enough to know how to narrow down yet, if you understand my meaning. The books don't have to all be General Overview; since I'm generally mildly suspicious of survey books, I'd actually rather read a diverse spread of reasonably accessible books on specific topics. (By 'accessible' I mean 'don't assume a ton of prior knowledge of the subject;' I'm willing and able to wade through academic-speak. I'm also not embarrassed to read children's books, as long as they're reasonably accurate.)
Doesn't have to be all history, either. Books about modern society and culture are also welcome.
I know so little about China, it's embarrassing, but I'm trying to correct that!