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A review by naico
Kingdom of Characters: A Tale of Language, Obsession, and Genius in Modern China by Jing Tsu
informative
slow-paced
3.0
I think that especially in the final chapter about encodings this book fails to explain the solutions properly. Maybe because of that the fight between the two participants of the IRC meeting feels confusing: it's 2018 and they're fighting about a concept of variants that existed since the 1970s.
The chapter about typewriters could benefit from more illustrations to highlight the differences between the machines.
The passage about 'critical thinking' in the introduction feels off. It reads as if the author is mocking the concept, and yet she doesn't expand upon the alternatives, thus leaving one wondering "what's so wrong for you in the way I think?"
Overall, an educational read
The chapter about typewriters could benefit from more illustrations to highlight the differences between the machines.
The passage about 'critical thinking' in the introduction feels off. It reads as if the author is mocking the concept, and yet she doesn't expand upon the alternatives, thus leaving one wondering "what's so wrong for you in the way I think?"
Overall, an educational read