A Best China Book of 2008

Access Asia has named The China Price one of its best books of 2008. "Perfectly timed to deal with the rising costs of production, the moves inland, the recession and factory closures and the stupidity of companies who claimed they were effectively auditing their suppliers," the research group noted. "Harney gets it all down in a readable fashion and nails her subject." The nomination prompted a fiery debate on Danwei.org, which is interesting in itself. Read the review and the debate here.

China Price picked as a top read

Paul French, the respected China watcher, author and The Ethical Corporation's China Editor, has selected The China Price as one of his five top reads. "In light of the recent scandals over toys and milk as well as the impact of the global recession on China’s export-oriented manufacturing base," he writes on the Ethical Corporation blog, "this book is even more pertinent." Read his comments and suggestions for other good books on sustainability here.

China Price featured in Apple Daily

The Apple Daily, Hong Kong's leading daily newspaper, has run a profile of me and the book pegged to the launch of the Chinese edition. I'm in Tokyo to promote the Japanese edition, coming out this week, but if you are reading this in Hong Kong, the December 2 edition of the paper has a piece about me. The Apple Daily's website is here.

China Price named a Best Business Book of 2008

Strategy + Business, the magazine published by consultancy Booz & Company, has named The China Price one of the Best Business Books of 2008 in the category of globalization. "The China Price is a work of reporting," writes Marc Levinson, "and the reporting is extremely good." Noting that the book "carefully destroys many foreign fantasies about doing business in China," he continues, "Even as she vividly reveals the human damage done by China’s double-time march to capitalism, Harney also describes a rapidly changing society in which the abuses of early industrialization are no longer tolerated." All in all, a great review, and an honor to be included on the list. Read the discussion here.

The Weekly Standard Review

The Weekly Standard, the conservative American magazine, has run a review of my book, along with two others about China. Definitely worth checking out, though I can't because I don't have a subscription. The review is here.

Occup. health blogs and Indian reviews

Just back from Tokyo and tending to my favorite nezumi, I noticed a mention of The China Price in a blog about occupational health in emerging countries written by Jonathan Zuk out of San Francisco. The blog is filled with really interesting tidbits and superb links - I'm saving it for those alone. Read the mention of the book, only in passing, here. Jonathan appears to have found a review of my book that I had never seen (thank you, Jonathan!) in India's Newindpress on Sunday. I think that makes four reviews or articles about The China Price in India in about a week. Read that review, which is very positive, here.

Three times lucky

In the third article on The China Price in India in a week, The Business Standard ran a review of my book last Friday, calling it an "absorbing read" with "meticulous reporting" and noting "this book is a contrarian offering from the dewy-eyed literature on the China phenomenon." The piece starts: "Nothing has altered global business models quite so dramatically as the Middle Kingdom’s extraordinary skills in manufacturing a vast number of goods at ever-lower prices — the phenomenon that is simply referred to as the China Price. This ability to leverage an enormous population into a competitive advantage has, in turn, created one of the fastest and most revolutionary social transformations in modern history." Read the positive review here.

Isabel Hilton likes The China Price

Isabel Hilton, the highly respected writer and radio journalist, recently recommended The China Price as one of her top three books to read on China in the Observer. She says: "If you want to know where your stuff comes from (luggage, shoes, socks, iPod) this will tell you - and what China"s industrial revolution has done to the environment and the lives and health of the people who make our stuff." Read her recommendation here.

Evansville Courier & Press

The China Price has come to Evansville, Illinois. The book gets a write-up in a longer piece about books about China by Pam Locker, manager of Oaklyn Branch Library. She makes the point that "most of us have a very dated and incomplete picture of contemporary China" but that my book and others pull back the curtain on what's really happening in China. Read her article here.

Thoughts on sloppy reviewers

I had dinner last night with a well-known author who made the excellent point that people who review your book don't always read it. It's been something that's bothered me for a while, ever since The Economist ran a mini-review of my book back in January, apparently WITHOUT EVER HAVING READ THE BOOK. If they had a copy of the book, they had to have stolen it, because neither I nor my publisher, Penguin, gave anyone at The Economist a pre-publication copy. Another pet peeve this author mentioned is that people who review your book sometimes SKIM it. This unfortunately seems to have been the problem with Le-Min Lim over at Bloomberg, who notes that I have neglected to mention the "hub effect" in Guangdong province. It's a shame she failed to read my discussion of the "hub effect", also known as the "cluster effect" on pages 9-10, 251, 280-81, and 282. Read these sloppy reviews and other more thorough ones in the Reviews section on the right.

Boston Globe reviews The China Price

The China Price is "journalism at its highest level", David Shribman writes in the Boston Globe. In a very positive review, the executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette calls The China Price "thoughtful and provocative". He reviewed the book in combination with Fareed Zakaria's The Post-American World. Read the review here.

TimeOut Hong Kong on The China Price

"Harney has delivered the most important book on the mainland economy of the year." That's what TimeOut Hong Kong reviewer Nick Walker had to say about The China Price in the fabulous first edition of TimeOut Hong Kong (which is awesome, a major improvement to the Hong Kong cultural scene). He gives the book five stars out of six - and the only other book to merit that high a rating in the section is one by Kurt Vonnegut. Check out the review online here.

The China Price is recommended reading

ThomasNet, an online resource for industrial companies, has recommended The China Price to its readers. Check out their recommendation here.

The China Price a must read for consumers

The China Price "should reside on a bookshelf in every household where the words “Made in China” appear." That's from a great review of the book in Cairns Media Magazine. Cairns says the book is the exception to the rule that business books are "as fascinating as dog droppings." High praise indeed. Read the review here.

Ethical Corporation reviews The China Price

"'The China Price' is a must-read for anyone sourcing or operating in China as well as those engaged in corporate social responsibility initiatives in the country. It’s also a book anyone who considers themselves an ethical or concerned consumer should read." So says Paul French in The Ethical Corporation magazine in a very positive review. Read the review here.

Good review in the Financial Times

"Anyone running a company that outsources manufacturing to China, or is thinking of doing so, needs to read this book."

So says Morgen Witzel in this morning's FT of The China Price. Calling the book "well-written", Witzel concludes that "Harney provides a valuable insight into the worst problems of outsourcing and how they occur. Change is needed, and change will come; we must begin to prepare for it."

Read the review here.

Review in the Ethical Corporation Magazine

Paul French of Access Asia, the market research consultancy in Shanghai, has written a review of The China Price in the next issue of Ethical Corporation magazine. More on that to come once the magazine is published ...

Bloomberg and China Labour Bulletin reviews

Bloomberg has reviewed The China Price, and their review is available online here. And China Labour Bulletin, the Hong Kong-based research and advocacy group, has written up the book on their website.

Great review!

Wow! CSR Asia just gave The China Price an amazing review! So exciting! Stephen Frost's review is here.