Full of unforgettable figures and an unrelenting spirit of adventure, Strange Stones is a far-ranging, thought-provoking collection of Peter Hessler’s best reportage—a dazzling display of the powerful storytelling, shrewd cultural insight, and warm sense of humor that are the trademarks of his work. Over the last decade, as a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of three books, Peter Hessler has lived in Asia and the United States, writing as both native and knowledgeable outsider in these two very different regions. This unusual perspective distinguishes Strange Stones , which showcases Hessler’s unmatched range as a storyteller. “Wild Flavor” invites readers along on a taste test between two rat restaurants in South China. One story profiles Yao Ming, basketball star and China’s most beloved export, another David Spindler, an obsessive and passionate historian of the Great Wall. In “Dr. Don,” Hessler writes movingly about a small-town pharmacist and his relationship with the people he serves. While Hessler’s subjects and locations vary, subtle but deeply important thematic links bind these pieces—the strength of local traditions, the surprising overlap between apparently opposing cultures, and the powerful lessons drawn from individuals who straddle different worlds. Hessler started out wanting to be a novelist, then drifted into journalism, taking with him a deep appreciation for storytelling and a love for the details of life. As Beijing correspondent for the New Yorker for seven years, he got a firsthand look at the travails of its modernization. In this collection of stories from China, Japan, Nepal, and the U.S., he offers an engaged outsider’s perspective, as absorbed with meeting people—including migrants and transplants—as with detailing geography and politics. The collection rambles, with no chronological order, as Hessler relays visits to competing restaurants in Guangdong Province famous for their rat dishes; the closing of the Three Gorges Dam; how the Olympics brought even more radical change to Beijing, a city already grappling with sudden modernity; hiking the Great Wall of China with an American expatriate; the peaceful transition of Chinese leadership; and visiting a Peace Corps enthusiast in Nepal pushing for a higher profile for the overseas service agency. Hessler also profiles basketball player Yao Ming, the pride of China. --Vanessa Bush While the pivots can seem jarring, these articles, which originally appeared in The New Yorker between 2002 and 2012, hang together like tracks on a well-done mixtape. Strange Stones refers to Chinese rocks, some natural, some carved, that look like other things—a head of cabbage, a rhinoceros. Hessler's subjects share that quality: Look once, and the rise of the Yangtze is an ecological and humanitatian disaster. Look again, and it doesn't seem so bad compared with the political and economic tragedies many adults across China have lived through. —Christopher Beam “Affable, humane and perceptive pieces. . . . This isn’t one of those take-your-medicine books about geopolitics and the world economy. Strange Stones also happens to be great fun to read, at once breezily written and deeply informative.” - The Minneapolis Star Tribune “Read this book. . . . This is long-form journalism at its finest.” - Fareed Zakaria “Revelatory. . . . A wonderful collection. . . . The book continually showcases Hessler’s gift for telling tales of cultural difference and mutual misunderstanding in a way that is both humorous and deeply empathetic. . . . Hessler is a deeply humane teller of true tales, a keen observer, a graceful stylist.” - The Atlantic “Hessler’s signature is an unobtrusive and humorous first-person narrator breezily guiding the reader through places at once exotic and ordinary, a sort of Tracy Kidder in Asia. . . . Hessler has an acute and far-ranging talent for drawing characters.” - The Wall Street Journal “Revelatory. . . . Wonderful . . . . Continually showcases Hessler’s gift for telling tales of cultural difference and mutual misunderstanding in a way that is both humorous and deeply empathetic. . . . Hessler is a deeply humane teller of true tales, a keen observer, a graceful stylist.” - The Atlantic An absorbing, original, and ambitious work of reportage from the acclaimed New Yorker correspondent During the past decade, Peter Hessler has persistently illuminated worlds both foreign and familiar—ranging from China, where he served as The New Yorker 's correspondent from 2000 to 2007, to southwestern Colorado, where he lived for four years. Strange Stones is an engaging, thought-provoking collection of Hessler's best pieces, showcasing his range as a storyteller and his gift for writing as both native and knowledgeable outsider. From a taste test between two rat restaurants in South China to a profile of Yao Ming to the moving story of a small-town pharmacist, these pieces are bound by subtle but meaningful ideas: