Book Review: Life Learned Abroad: Lessons on Humanity from China by Brandon Ferdig
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free from the author in the expectation that I would write a review. No other compensation is involved.
The traveler’s tale is one of the oldest forms of narrative; going to a faraway place and telling those at home what was seen and learned there. The rise of low-cost independent publishing has made such memoirs easy to make available to the public, even if it is still just as hard to convince them to read it.
Mr. Ferdig is a Minnesota resident who spent a year in China, primarily to teach English. He spent most of the year in Zhuhai, a modern city in southern China, and close to both Hong Kong and Macau. Towards the end of the year he also managed to travel to Beijing, a village in rural China, and a mountain where he spent two weeks learning Tai Chi.
This book is heavily illustrated with photos (in black and white) taken on the journey; this makes it easier in many places to understand what Mr. Ferdig is saying in the narrative. While the vocabulary is suitable for junior high students on up, some discussion of intercultural romantic relationships and China’s sex industry may convince parents it’s best for senior high students and up.
As the subtitle indicates, the main theme of the book is the lessons learned on this voyage; about humanity, about China and also about himself. Mr. Ferdig tried to be open to any lessons that could be learned from his experiences; some he sought out, and others were thrust upon him. And like all of us, the author sometimes had to learn from his mistakes.
I would recommend this book as an introduction to modern China from an outsider’s perspective, as it gently brings in various topics of interest. (A book about modern China from the perspective of a resident would be a good counterpart.) The paperback is a bit bulky, about the size of a college textbook, so the space-conscious person may be more comfortable with the Kindle edition.
Come to think of it, with a little revision to tighten up the narrative, and appropriate study materials, this might make a good text for a community education class on China.
Sounds like an interesting book. I enjoy reading about people’s travels and experiences in other countries.
It has many good qualities.
I generally like these kind of first-person accounts of immersion experiences and I think I’ll check this one out. Last year I read a couple of them about Japan, and perhaps this year I’ll scope out a couple on China.
I don’t have a list of such books, but I’m sure there’s at least one more on the market in a similar vein.