Brush Talks from Dream Brook

This is the first complete English language version of Shen Kuo's seminal Brush Talks From Dream Brook published outside of China. Highly valued by scholars for its scientific and technological coverage, this encyclopaedic book is probably the most important source text for technological advances and the organization of knowledge in China's golden age, the Song dynasty (960-1279). It is one of the texts that can be categorized as miscellaneous notes (biji), which contains short entries on all kinds of musings and observations by Chinese literati scholars. Author Shen Kuo is the most famous writer in China's scientific history. Perhaps the most famous entry contains the first mention of woodblock typeset printing in Song China, one of the era's greatest inventions comparable to the Gutenberg printing press. The significance of Brush Talks From Dream Brook been thoroughly researched by scholars such as Fu Daiwie but it has not yet gained the recognition it deserves in Western studies on