Confucius

And the World He Created

By: Michael Schuman

Narrated by: Steven Menache

Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Confucius is perhaps the most important philosopher in history. Today his teachings shape the daily lives of more than 1.6 billion people. Throughout East Asia, Confucius' influence can be seen in everything from business practices and family relationships to educational standards and government policies. Even as Western ideas from Christianity to Communism have bombarded the region, Confucius' doctrine has endured as the foundation of East Asian culture. It is impossible to understand East Asia, journalist Michael Schuman demonstrates, without first engaging with Confucius and his vast legacy.

Confucius created a worldview that is in many respects distinct from and in conflict with Western culture. As Schuman shows, the way that East Asian companies are managed, how family members interact with each other, and how governments see their roles in society all differ from the norm in the West due to Confucius' lasting impact. Confucius has been credited with giving East Asia an advantage in today's world by instilling its people with a devotion to learning and propelling the region's economic progress. Still, the sage has also been highly controversial.

For the past 100 years, East Asians have questioned if the region can become truly modern while Confucius remains so entrenched in society. He has been criticized for causing the inequality of women, promoting authoritarian regimes, and suppressing human rights. Despite these debates East Asians today are turning to Confucius to help them solve the ills of modern life more than they have in a century. As a wealthy and increasingly powerful Asia rises on the world stage, Confucius, too, will command a more prominent place in global culture.

Touching on philosophy, history, and current affairs, Confucius tells the vivid, dramatic story of the enigmatic philosopher whose ideas remain at the heart of East Asian civilization.

©2015 Michael Schuman (P)2015 Gildan Media LLC

Critic reviews

"Part biography, part history, and part analysis of Chinese current affairs, this remarkable book...traces the lasting influence of Confucianism in China, despite enormous political and social changes in Chinese society." ( Publishers Weekly)

A great look at a historic figure

This book did a fantastic job of introducing the listener to the greater historic sage is a way the worked for even people who only knew his name but never the philosophy behind it.

all you need to know about the Chinese

I think this is a definitive audio book on how and why the Chinese are the way they are. well written and equally well read.

To understand Asia/China.

I purchased this book to understand China. The Confucius thread accounts for the study focus of many Asian Families. He established the Meritocracy philosophy. Study hard to be prepared for government. Pass the exams and get placed according to your scores. If you want to get a top level look at Confucius this is a good read. I enjoyed it.

Reader Was Badly Chosen

The book is not bad for a popular introduction to Confucius and Confucianism from a modern liberal western viewpoint. It has some inaccuracies but they don’t ruin the book.

But the narrator was very badly chosen for this book. He has a nice casual voice but it would be better for lighter subjects, especially light fiction, or commercials. Although this is a popular-level book, his voice is too casual for a serious subject.

He also doesn’t have the necessary background knowledge to read the book correctly, and there are many mispronunciations. Kant becomes Can’t, Max Weber is Webber, like the grills, and a fiefdom (a feudal term) is called a fifedom many times—would that be rule by the Pied Piper?

a great summary and current-day assessment

a great summary and current-day assessment of Confucianism in its various morphs, up to today

profoundly meh

The narrator can't pronounce Chinese names, and the author writes a superficial account utterly devoid of intellectual or historical analysis. He is a business journalist writing about history and philosophy, and is clearly out of his depth. The author exudes a vague distaste toward Confucius and Confucianism, and the overall tone is "look, I don't enjoy or even understand any of this, and you shouldn't either, but here is some rote information that you should probably plow through to help you interact with Asian businesspeople". Do you want a nuanced discussion of how the Confucian doctrine of Rectification of Names erodes the distinction between epistemology and ethics, or how it was used to construct an ethic of edges as opposed to nodes? You won't find that here. Meh, meh, meh.