Tai-Pan (Asian Saga
"It is the early 19th century, when European traders and adventurers first began to penetrate the forbidding Chinese mainland. And it is in this exciting time and exotic place that a giant of an Englishman, Dirk Straun, sets out to turn the desolate island of Hong Kong into an impregnable fortress of British power, and to make himself supreme ruler-- Tai-Pan!"--P. [4] of cover.
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7recommend
20mentions
9people
2010–2026years
85% recommend15% neutral
Mentions per year
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- One of my favorite series is the Asia Saga, which is basically set in different parts of South and East Asia from circa 1600 to 1980.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Saga
It’s a fictional series of course, but one of the smaller details that I am always aware of is how individuals and corporations seemed to be more geopolitically aware, and deliberately trying to “help” the British Empire, directly or indirectly. And the governmental structures were equally as interested in their local interests succeeding. (Often at ethically horrible things, I should add.)
I feel like in the contemporary era, this dynamic doesn’t really exist. American corporations abroad don’t seem particularly interested in supporting the American empire. They are more disconnected from the state they ostensibly belong to, and are far more international and selfish. So there really isn’t the same kind of singular cohesion that was there in the British empire.
- And an even better book, which is a part of an excellent series spanning centuries and Singapore, Hong Kong, Iran, and many other places.
- It's designed more for kids, but I found it useful for understanding basic accounting concepts: The Accounting Game: Basic Accounting From the Lemonade Stand.
I also found two of the novels in Clavell's Asian Saga to be quite business-focused: Tai-Pan and Noble House. Not so much for the nuts-and-bolts of business, but just a large business organization being founded and growing over the course of multiple centuries.
- i recently re-read the wisdom of crowds, ~15 years now since i first read it. still good, still relevant. there's even a section on how quickly SARS was identified in international collaboration despite no central, coordinating entity.
it's covertly a book about statistical reasoning, but with no dry statistical language, subversive in a way. we need more statistical reasoning in the world, particularly around risk assessment, to subdue fear and panic.
edit: as for fiction,
james clavell's asian saga[0] series is entertaining historical fiction, which i've read twice.
pat conroy's southern portraits, particularly the lords of discipline and the prince of tides, both wrenching, haunting, and beautiful.
also in the historical/cultural fiction realm: anna karenina, crime and punishment, a tale of two cities, les miserables.
- Highly recommend James Clavell's Asian Saga starting with Shogun. Also Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson might be one of my favorites
- you could also read shogun by james clavell, which is a fictional novel based on tokugawa. i read his whole asian saga series because that first book was so good.
