Book excerpt: Brand new edition of this fascinating look at the numerous inventions - today taken for granted - which all originated in China but have long since been adopted by the West. Covering three millennia of invention in science and technology from agriculture to astronomy, medicine to mathematics, exploration to engineering, The Genius of China is an accessible and fascinating look at the origins of many of the key technologies of the modern world. Hundreds of these, including the compass, gunpowder, the spinning wheel, paper money, the fishing reel, the stirrup, the parachute, playing cards, the decimal system, the blast furnace, were pioneered and first put to use in ancient and medieval China before being brought to the West. Without these crucial inventions the world would simply not be as it is today. Fully illustrated with striking photographs, rare archive pictures and diagrams.