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The Stability Trap: Why China Invented So Much Except Modern Science
Paperback
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Oct 4 2026
Pages: 138
Weight: 0.43
Height: 0.30 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
China invented paper, printing, the compass, and gunpowder - centuries before Europe. So why did modern science begin somewhere else?
In The Stability Trap, Ronald Lucas - a chemist who grew up inside the Chinese system and has spent his working life inside Western science - offers a father's answer to his sons' question: for two thousand years, China perfected the most successful stability machine in human history. And stability, pursued as the supreme KPI, does not make invention impossible. It makes invention unrewarded and unscalable.
From the paper money of Sichuan to the treasure fleets of Zheng He, from the examination halls to the literary inquisitions, this is the story of why fragmentation breeds surprise - and what order costs.
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