Some books about Taiwan
In a recent post I lamented the lack of books in English published about Taiwan. Although there is a lack of books compared to those available in or about some other countries in Asia there are still some good books about Taiwan.
I had the chance to buy two books about Taiwan this morning at the breakfast meeting at Swensen's in Taipei. Both these books were written by Jerome Keating, who very kindly signed them for me. One book was the freshly published Taiwan: The Struggles of a Democracy. I look forward to reading it and will post a review here. Michael Turton has already written a review on his blog.
The other book was Island in the Stream: A Quick Case Study of Taiwan's Complex History. I bought a copy of this book a few years ago, although that copy is now in Australia. The one I bought today was a new edition. Island in the Stream is a very good introduction to Taiwan's history, which as the subtitle of the book suggests is complex. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to better understand Taiwan and begin to explore its history.
Reading about Taiwanese History
Learning to read Chinese
At the book fair
2009 Taipei Book Exhibition
Comics chronicle the history of Formosa
Posted: August 5th, 2006 under Books, Taiwan, Taiwan Studies.
Comments
Comment from David
Time 6 August 2006 at 11:23 am
I don’t think the number of years spent in a country should be considered a qualification to write a book. Being a perceptive observer and good writer are probably more important.
I know people that have been in Taiwan for ten years and remain utterly clueless about the place they live in. Others can have quite deep insights after only a year or two.
Thanks for alerting me to Joshua Samuel Brown’s book. I’ll put details of it on the books page of my website.
Comment from free-blog-site.com/thebigyawn
Time 5 August 2006 at 10:15 pm
A newie is China Post writer’s Joshua Samuel Brown’s Taiwan Vignettes. I’m suspicious of people writing books about Taiwan when they’ve only spent three years here. I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface and I’ve been here longer than that. I have to say it but fellow kiwi ex-pat John Ross’ Forumosan Odyssey is a good read even if a lot of the more informative parts seem to be taken Robert Storey’s Lonely Planet Taiwan. It would be nice to find English fiction novels set in Taiwan. The closest to it are the Eric Lustbader novels which feature the odd Taiwanese gangster.