Lost On Planet China

I received an advanced reader's copy of Lost on Planet China: The Strange and True Story of One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation, or How He Became Comfortable Eating Live Squid the other day at work and I love this book. I really enjoyed his first book The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific where the author and his girlfriend attempted to survive in a tropical "paradise". His second book Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu was enjoyable but lacked the joie de vivre of the first book. Now a "seasoned" adventurer the author travels China to try to "get" it.

I have to say that I am totally horrified at the amount of pollution the Chinese are producing. I did not even know that part of the California air pollution problem stems from China (yes, the smog is blowing across the ocean). Lakes and rivers have been turned toxic and and the author claims that 700,000 people die a year from just breathing the horrid air. It is appalling. Amidst these visions of ecological destruction are the author's wry observations of being a complete outsider in China. How he managed to survive I will never know and why he chose to eat barbecued bullfrog from a street vendor I can't even fathom.

Overall it is a very fun, lighthearted, book that does raise some very serious questions about ecology, economics, politics, and food. The book does provide some insight into the dichotomy that is China and provides an entertaining glimpse into a world that I just can't comprehend. If you want to get a glimpse into China but don't want to be bored reading a dry history book try Lost on Planet China. It is at least worth the laughs you'll get from reading it.

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