Oracle Bones

Ok. Back to the books. Oracle Bones are found in China and are the bones of animals that are cracked open and "inscriptions on shell and bone" are added. In addition to being used for divination these are considered to be the earliest know writing in this part of the world. The quest to discover more about these bones weaves in and out of the stories about the recent past and modern day China. The dramatic events that happened during the time that author, Peter Hessler, lived in China are explored but Hessler's true gift is his ability to get to the human stories and make us care. This is an outstanding non-fiction book, highly readable and informative.