Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future

Why I'd hand it to you

Dan Wang, a technology analyst who spent years living in China, explains how the country built railways, bridges, cities and factories so fast. His frame is memorable: China as an engineering state that builds, and the United States as a lawyerly society that often blocks. He doesn't let China off the hook, covering the costs of its approach, including surveillance, the one-child policy and zero-Covid. It is a useful lens on the US-China rivalry. Worth knowing: a single big frame explains a lot but not everything, and some American readers will bristle at the comparison. Still a sharp, readable book.

— Matt Jordan