A creative look at the development and use of Chinese characters, by someone who loves the language and its expression. Lindqvist shows how many of the Chinese character were originallyy written and then evolved. She has an uncanny look at Chinese civilization. ( )

I was extremely taken with this book. The author is honest about the sometimes contested or unclear explanation of some of the characters but she mostly comes up with well researched explanations or at least very educated and convincing theses. When you say it's a book about the Chinese symbols for writing - people think it sounds fearfully dull and technical and academic. I know nothing about China but found this an incredibly approachable and fascinating book that really was eye-opening about the different ways of seeing and representing the world. Magical.