THE Shenzhen Reading Month Committee has selected this year’s top 10 books during its 12th annual Reading Month, an annual cultural event to promote reading.

The 10 selected books are all in the humanities and society category, and were chosen by a jury composed of 30 reading experts and scholars, according to a report by the Daily Sunshine.

Voting was preceded by heated debate.

Among the chosen books are “Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World,” which is about the dangers of science and technology developing too fast; and “Country Driving: A Journey Through China From Farm to Factory,” which is about the harsh reality of life in modern China.

“The selected books are all of a much higher standard than in previous years,” said Liu Suli, one of the judges and manager of the Beijing-based Allsages Bookstore.

According to Liu, all of the books are timely and relevant.

Reading Month still advocates the concept of reading for its own sake, according to Liu.

Weibo saw some heated debate about which books to select.

According to an unidentified netizen, it is a little bit strange to see no fiction or foreign books among the top 10.

In response, one of the judges, Chen Dingfang, said the quality of China’s fiction is still some way behind the factual writing. (Li Hao)

1 Country Driving: A Journey Through China From Farm to Factory

Author: Peter Hessler

Few books about modern China are so informative, readable and controversial. The book is the result of its author’s detailed interviews and field investigations. It is about social realities that are evident but often ignored.

(Recommended by Ding Yang)

2 Make No Law: The Sullivan Case and the First Amendment

Author: Anthony Lewis

Translator: He Fan

This is about a lawsuit that took place in the United States half a century ago, but it is aimed at Chinese readers and government officials. It makes us understand that to respect others and their right to express their point of view is ultimately in our own interest.

(Recommended by Liu Yisi)

3 Top 10 Concepts of Shenzhen

Compiled by: Wang Jingsheng

Concepts change history. The book is not only a conceptual history of Shenzhen in the past 30 years, but also a spiritual witness of China’s reform and opening up.

(Recommended by Li Yang)

4 Time of Constitutionalization: Discussion of Abdication Edict in the Qing Dynasty

Author: Gao Quanxi

Using his professional knowledge, Professor Gao Quanxi recounts the history of China’s transition from imperial system to republic. The book is highly informative and shows the marks that this transition still has on today’s society.

(Recommended by Liu Suli)

5 Fictions Light the Future

Author: Yang Zhao

Yang Zhao is a Taiwanese writer who could become increasingly popular on the Chinese mainland. The book is an in-depth expression of common knowledge.

(Recommended by Zhuang Xiangyang)

6 From Eastern Europe to New Europe: Looking Back 20 Years

Author: Jin Yan

An expert on Eastern Europe, the writer has visited the countries of the former Eastern bloc and observed how they have changed, describing in detail its politics, economy, society and culture. The description corrects some common misconceptions of Eastern Europe.

(Recommended by Liu Suli)

7 Safeguarding Memory: Selected Works of Lydia Chukovskaya

Author: Lydia Chukovskaya

Translators: Lan Yingnian, Xu Zhenya

Lydia Chukovskaya was a Soviet writer and poet. Her deeply personal writings reflect the human cost of Soviet totalitarianism, and she devoted much of her career to defending dissidents such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sakharov. The book records the hardships in the fight for truth by Russians.

(Recommended by Zhu Zifen)

8General Interpretation of Chinese Cultural History

Author: Yu Yingshi

In this book, Yu Yingshi discusses Chinese culture from the angles of politics, commerce, religion, literature, science, medicine, folk culture and art. The book is a combination of 12 recent dissertations.

(Recommended by Liu Xiaolei)

9Who Else Except Me: Hu Shi

Author: Jiang Yongzhen

In this book, writer Jiang Yongzhen uses detailed materials to describe the youth and intellectual development of Hu Shi, a well-known Chinese professor of the early to mid 20th century. The book marks what would have been Hu’s 120th birthday.

(Recommended by Shi Jianfeng)

10Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World

Author: Kevin Kelly

Translator: Dongxi Wenku

This book has drawn attention due to its humanistic concern and reflection on science and technology.

(Recommended by Jiang Xiaoyuan)

(Li Hao)