Friday, August 5, 2011
7PM. Free. Atomic Books.
3620 Falls Rd. Hampden, Baltimore.
TOM SCOCCA (Baltimore City Paper, Slate, New York Observer, Deadspin) will be here to discuss one of Huffington Post's "Most Anticipated Books of the Summer", Beijing Welcomes You.
In 2004, Scocca went to Beijing and discovered the city of the future. His observations and reporting on this city are essential for us, as Americans. Especially if we want to get a leg up on understanding our new overlords.
"Blindingly brilliant insights about China, the United States, and the audacity of empire. Scocca writes with grace, texture, nuance, wisdom and wit. Don't skim this book, savor it." -Gene Weingarten
From the book...
"The first important fact to know about China is that it has a lot of Chinese people in it. I always knew it, sort of, the way everybody in America knows it. The way we know that Antarctica is pretty cold or Germany is unusually efficient. There's a billion of them, the Chinese: 1,000,000,000. Big number.
"The actual figure - I checked - is more like 1.3 billion. That means the rounding error, that stray 0.3 billion is as big as the entire population of the United States.
"But I already knew the numbers, more or less, before I ever got to China. The reality behind the numbers was something else. ..."
Adult refreshments will be served.
An interview with Scocca in this week's City Paper.
It's also First Friday in Hampden!
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