This collection of essays by leading sinologists, historians, and philosophers both challenges and extends the work of David Nivison, whose contributions range across moral philosophy, religious thought, intellectual history, and Chinese language. Nivison himself replies to each essay.
(source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780812693188 20160527

• List of illustrations-- List of tables-- Preface--
• 1. Mathematics--
• 2. The sciences of the heavens: (i) astronomy--
• 3. The sciences of the heavens: (ii) meteorology--
• 4. The sciences of the earth: (i) geography and map-making--
• 5. The sciences of the earth: (ii) geology and related sciences--
• 6. Physics-- Table of Chinese dynastics-- Bibliography-- Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

• List of illustrations-- List of tables-- Preface--
• 1. Introduction--
• 2. The Chinese language--
• 3. The geography of China--
• 4. Chinese history: (i) the pre-Imperial Ages--
• 5. Chinese history: (ii) the empire of all under heaven--
• 6. The travelling of science between China and Europe--
• 7. Confucianism--
• 8. Taoism--
• 9. The Mohists and Logicians--
• 10. The fundamental ideas of Chinese science--
• 11. The pseudo-sciences and the sceptical tradition--
• 12. Chin and Tang Taoists and Sung Neo-Confucians--
• 13. Sung and Ming idealists and the last great figures of Chinese naturalism--
• 14. Buddhist thought--
• 15. The Legalists--
• 16. Human law and the laws of nature-- Bibliography-- Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

• List of illustrations-- List of tables-- Preface--
• 1. Roads--
• 2. Walls, and the Great Wall--
• 3. Building technology--
• 4. Bridges--
• 5. Hydraulic engineering (I), control, construction and maintenance of waterways--
• 6. Hydraulic engineering (II), water-raising machinery and the use of water as a power source-- Bibliography-- Table of Chinese dynasties-- Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

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.
(source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780521235822 20160528
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. This paperback version, abridged and re-written by Colin Ronan, makes this extremely important study accessible to a wider public. The present book 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.
(source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780521218214 20160528
This fifth volume of Colin Ronan's abridgement of Joseph Needham's monumental work is concerned with the staggering civil engineering feats made in early and medieval China. No other country did more, both as to scale and skill, than China. The book opens with an account of the road system, which compared not unfavourably with that of the Roman Empire. Naturally, the Great Wall of China is covered in some detail within the social context of walls, which mark, more than any other structure, the basic features of the Chinese communities. The Chinese genius of town planning and achievements in hydraulic engineering are covered in later chapters. This book concludes with an abridgement of Chinese engineering, and provides many clues as to the influence of Chinese innovation on Western engineering trends.
(source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780521462143 20160528

• v. 1. Introductory orientations
• v. 2. History of scientific thought
• v. 3. Mathematics and the sciences of the heavens and the earth
• v. 4. Physics and physical technology: pt.1. Physics. pt.2. Mechanical engineering. pt.3. Civil enginnering and nautics
• v. 5. Chemistry and chemical technology: pt.1. Paper and printing. pt.2. Spagyrical discovery and invention: magisteries of gold and immortality. pt.3. Spagyrical discovery andinvention: historical survey, from cinnabar elixirs to synthetic insulin. pt.4. Spagyrical discovery and invention: apparatus, theories and gifts. pt.5. Spagyrical discovery and invention: physiological alchemy. pt.6. Military technology: missiles and sieges. pt.7. Military technology: the gunpowder epic. pt.9. Textile technology: spinning and reeling
• pt.
• 12. Ceramic technology
• pt.
• 13. Mining.

• v. 6. Biology and biological technology: pt.1. Botanica. pt.2. Agriculture, by Francesca Bray. pt.3. Agro-industries and forestry; Agro-industries: sugarcane technology; Forestry. Pt. 4, Traditional botany: an ehtnobotanical approach. pt.5. Fermentations and food science, by H.T.Huang. pt.6. Medicine, by Joseph Needham pt.11. Chemistry and chemical technology
• v. 7:pt.1. Language and logic, by Christoph Harbsmeier. pt.2. General conclusions and reflections, by Joseph Needham.