Below is an Autogenerated Transcript

Hello.

This is Ron Kaufman again from my home library and the book I want to recommend to you today was recommended to me by the host of a podcast that specializes in interviewing people about Chinese history. Why Chinese history? 

Well, obviously the world is changing and the role of China is going to be continuing to develop and affect everyone else throughout the planet. 

So I thought, let me listen in, let me study and he recommended this book. Now, the book is called ‘River of Stars’ by Guy Gavriel Kay. It’s a piece of fiction. It’s a beautiful novel. I thought, well, let me dive in. He recommended it highly, I’ll just go ahead and take a read. It turned out that this book taught me something that I really didn’t understand.

I was born in the United States. I’m an English speaking white male. I live in Singapore. 

So I understood something about history in terms of empire, in terms of conquest, in terms of the hegemons in the world today, but I never really understood the phenomenon of dynasty. 

This book, set in China, but in old China, is one that really taught me something I didn’t understand. I adored it. It was one of those that my father says when I got to the end of the book,I read more slowly because I didn’t want it to end.

Now, I don’t think I’m going to be spoiling anything for you by reading to you just the very end of the book and it goes like this:

“Rivers and mountains can be lost, regained, lost once more. Mostly they endure. We are not gods. We make mistakes. We do not live very long. Sometimes someone grinds ink, mixes it with water, arranges paper, takes up a brush to record our time, our days, and we are given another life.”

In those words, the author of this book has done just that. It’s called ‘River of Stars’. I adored it. I recommend you read it, too.