Liu Weiming recommended the book
My Geometric Life: The Autobiography of Yau Chengtong
(United States) Yau Chengtong et al., translated by Xia Muqing, Translation Forest Publishing House, March 2021 edition, 68.00 yuan.
Jiu Mu Qiu Chengtong daimyo, did not expect "My Geometric Life: Yau Chengtong Autobiography" so good-looking. Yau Chengtong tells his life experience, which is completely different from the common autobiography and memoir of the left and right flash, so that the reader has two big surprises, straight to the addiction: First, as the world's top mathematician, Qiu Chengtong, in his bones, is still the number of traditional Chinese literati, fatherly kindness and filial piety, intoxicated with literary endowments, and home and country feelings. Second, Qiu Chengtong's speaking style is extremely dashing. Reading Qiu Chengtong's autobiography is as cheerful as listening to Nie Weiping talk about Go, doing whatever you want, having no scruples, and doing whatever you want, this is the so-called master style.
Aliens
(American) Avi Lobb, Hunan Science and Technology Press, November 2021 edition, 68.00 yuan.
"Aliens" is a popular science work by Professor Avi Loeb, chair of the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University. In 2017, an object (later named "Oumuamua") moving in an unprecedented way crossed the solar system, arousing great interest among astronomers. Avi Loeb believes that Oumuamua is not a comet or an asteroid, but rather a creation of other intelligent beings in the universe. Avi Lob is extremely literate, and this book has fascinated him for popularizing the astronomy he has done to the public. In a context where mainstream astronomers are exploring the multidimensional universe, Avi Loeb's call for humanity to maintain research and investment in extraterrestrial civilizations is even more valuable.
Return to the Pamir
Hou Yangfang, Shanghai Translation Publishing House, June 2021 edition, 98.00 yuan.
Hou Yangfang is a historical geographer and a travel enthusiast, and the combination of the two makes his walking full of imagination and makes history more vivid. He traveled to and from the Pamir Plateau three times, retracing Xuanzang's westward journey on foot, an act that was poetic enough to fascinate people. The biggest impact of "Return to Pamir" to the reader is not his reference and integration of historical materials, but the full use of modern GPS technology to make the current scenery and historical records geographically positioned. Imagination is the source of travel fun, and what a surprising discovery it is to imagine a wonderful echo through time and space with a thousand years of dusty history.
Quotations of Chen Yinke
Hu Wenhui, ed., Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, August 2021 edition, 49.00 yuan.
The Quotations of Chen Yinke is mainly based on selected excerpts of Chen Yinke's own writings and speeches, supplemented by the accounts or memories of others, and is classified and arranged. Ordinary readers who only admire Chen Yinke's great name and have no way of starting with his professional works can get a glimpse of Guan Leopard through the "Quotations of Chen Yinke", which is a popular reading book that understands his people and his studies, and it is beneficial to open the volume; for those who are interested in learning the Tao, "Quotations of Chen Yinke" is a big book that can derive many papers and masterpieces, and the contribution is great. Hu Wenhui studied Lin in the name of "Chen Yinke's Poetry Commentary", and this time he compiled the "Quotations of Chen Yinke", instead of taking advantage of the hot iron to produce a biography of Chen Yinke, it took a lot of effort to make a small book, which can be seen in the depth of his education and diligence, and his sitting in the study hall is not popular, which is even more admirable.
China's Elites and Political Change
(United States) Xiao Bangqi, Jiangsu People's Publishing House, September 2021 edition, 72.00 yuan.
Chopin's "Chinese Elites and Political Change" is a nuanced investigation of the political changes in Zhejiang in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. The book is impressive in two ways: first, Chopin's spatial analysis model broadens the path of regional history research, even in Zhejiang Province, there are huge differences between the "four Zhejiangs", let alone China, local history research is promising; the second is to emphasize the role of China's "social elite". The so-called social elite is actually more of an intellectual, business person, guild member, etc. who has not entered the bureaucracy, and they are often ignored or even stigmatized, but their influence on local politics should not be underestimated.
Huang Qian recommended the book
James Wood Critical Portfolio
(American) James Wood, Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House, August 2021 edition, 352.00 yuan
Harold Bloom says that there is and only one kind of literary criticism, and that is aesthetic criticism. The English literary critic James Wood is Broome's successor in this respect. His critical writing is obsessed with aesthetic interrogation of novels in various dimensions. He was also a truly and rare critic of theoretical originality—a man of great classics, a broad vision, and a refreshing way of talking about literature. His writing is pungent and generous, extreme and upright, and he does both formal criticism and moral criticism. In 2021, Xingsi Culture launched a new edition of James Wood's critical portfolio, which completely presents the whole picture of James Wood's critical thought.
Baudelaire Biography
(French) by Claude Pishua and Jean Ziegler, The Commercial Press November 2021 edition, $198.00.
This is the work of the French Baudelaire expert Pishua Ziegler for 20 years, starting from Baudelaire's family, writing about how he was educated, how he traveled in the Indian Ocean, how he entered the literary world, how he faced the lawsuit of "The Flower of Evil", how he handled the financial situation that was always bad, how he died of illness. Based on first-hand accounts of Baudelaire's relatives and friends, the book reveals a large number of details of the poet's life. It recreates a real Baudelaire, as Proust puts it: "This poet, who was considered impersonal and boring aristocratic, was in fact a gentle, gracious, humane, and populist poet."
Collected Poems of Zhang Zao
Zhang Zao, Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House, March 2021 edition, 218.00 yuan.
In Sichuan in the 1980s, a group of talented poets emerged, and their passion and creation opened up a new dimension for new Chinese poetry. Among them, Zhang Zao is a person with extremely high talent and great personality. Zhang Zao, who died early, is a totem from the 80s. Eleven years after his death, the Collected Poems of Zhang Zao was selected and edited by the scholar Yan Lianjun and published by the Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House. This set of poems includes all the poems of Zhang Zao found so far, including the "Poetry Volume", "Poetry Volume 1 : The Pursuit of Modernity", "Poetry Volume 2 : Lecture Essays", "Letter Interview Volume" and "Translation Volume". From these exhausted texts, one can read the rich sexual spirit of a contemporary poet.
"Sakhalin Island Past"
Bu Jian, Life, Reading, Xinzhi Sanlian Bookstore, October 2021 edition, 78.00 yuan.
"Sakhalin – this is a place of unbearable pain". If you have read Chekhov's Travels of Sakhalin, you will still remember the largest exile and hard labor in Russia. In fact, another name for Sakhalin is Sakhalin Island, which was incorporated into China during the Ming and Qing dynasties. In the 1860s, Tsarist Russia forcibly occupied Sakhalin Island through unequal treaties. The scholar Bu Jian's "Past Events on Sakhalin Island" is the most comprehensive and in-depth monograph on the history of Sakhalin Island at present. Bu Jian spent a lot of energy collecting historical materials, especially Russian and Japanese historical materials. This is a work that has both rigorous academic considerations and strong feelings of home and country.
1937, Yan'an Dialogue
Thomas Arthur Bisson, People's Literature Publishing House, June 2021 edition, $45.00.
In 1937, with the help of Edgar Snow, Thomas Arthur Bisen, an American expert on Asian studies, and his party rushed to Yan'an and interviewed Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and other Red Army leaders in a short visit. Today, more than eighty years later, BiSen's notes on his visit to Yan'an have been translated into the book "1937, Yan'an Dialogue", which is considered to be an important witness to the revolutionary practice and ideological theory of our party in the Yan'an period, a newly discovered "Red Star Shines on China". "1937, Yan'an Dialogue" shows the unpainted, authentic and vibrant Yan'an in the eyes of a foreign scholar.