Yong Huang (Author of Learning Spanish Words Through Etymology and Mnemonics)

Yong Huang wrote a new blog post Word order of "the first few items" It's interesting to see that not all languages say "the first few items" in that order. The examples below, which are from Google Translate, show what Read more of this blog post »
Apr 09, 2026 08:06PM · like
Yong Huang rated a book it was amazing The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-term Health by T. Colin Campbell	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dr. Campbell's credentials on the subject of nutrition may be matched but cannot be surpassed by anyone in the world. Combined with his own research and supporting references, which take 36 pages, plus sound logic, his admonition for a whole foods, p ...more
Nov 19, 2025 07:56PM · like · see review
Yong Huang rated a book really liked it A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Of all world history books I've read, this book and James Davis's "The Human Story" are the easiest to follow. Gombrich is one of the best writers. He selects the most relevant facts in history, adapts the style of narrative to young readers as if or ...more
Oct 28, 2025 06:37AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Yong Huang entered a giveaway Red Dawn Over China: How Communism Conquered a Quarter of Humanity by Frank Dikötter	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 22, 2025 10:34AM · like · see giveaway · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Red Dawn Over China by Frank Dikötter. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Red Dawn Over China by Frank Dikötter <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Yong Huang finished reading Gulf Arabic (Teach Yourself) by Jack Smart	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 27, 2025 11:36AM · like
Yong Huang rated a book it was amazing The Myths of Greece and Rome (Anthropology & Folklore S) by Hélène A. Guerber	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Ms. Guerber (1859-1929) left this wonderful story of Greek and Roman myths to us. Her narrative is clear, concise, engaging, and often times, poetic, as many adjacent lines seem to rhyme, as if an itinerant minstrel was reciting an epic saga. We don' ...more
May 18, 2025 07:53PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Myths of Greece and Rome by Hélène A. Guerber. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Myths of Greece and Rome by Hélène A. Guerber <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Yong Huang rated a book it was amazing The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Great book, and great translator's note! There are many editions of Machiavelli's "The Prince". This one is outstanding in that the translator -- I assume mostly Russell Price, the second editor -- did an exceptional job. His copious notes on the his ...more
Feb 05, 2025 06:20PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Yong Huang rated a book really liked it The Masks of God, Volume 2: Oriental Mythology by Joseph Campbell	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dr. Campbell's book may be outdated if you're a specialist in mythology and archaeology. Otherwise, this book is a fascinating read. I'd like to address one common criticism on his work. It's said that Campbell made equivalence of various symbols and ...more
Jan 22, 2025 12:18PM · like · see review
Yong Huang and 4 other people liked Bob Offer-Westort's review of Arabic Course for English-Speaking Students: Originally Devised and Taught at Madinah Islamic University (#1): "I'd like to give this course more stars: I think it's well-thought-out, & I'm sure it helped me immensely in improving my classical Arabic reading. But there are too many flaws to give it the praise I would like. The Arabic Course for English-Speaking" Read more of this review »
Nov 29, 2024 09:58AM · see review
Yong Huang rated a book liked it Short Model Essays by Ann M. Taylor	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The strength of this book is in the selected essays, not in the text written by the editor. Unlike other books of this kind, the selection is not limited to the authors that would later gain their renown. This is particular interesting, or important, ...more
Jun 05, 2024 06:58PM · like · see review

Yong Huang wrote a new blog post

Word order of "the first few items"

It's interesting to see that not all languages say "the first few items" in that order. The examples below, which are from Google Translate, show what Read more of this blog post »

Yong Huang rated a book it was amazing

The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-term Health
by T. Colin Campbell

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Dr. Campbell's credentials on the subject of nutrition may be matched but cannot be surpassed by anyone in the world. Combined with his own research and supporting references, which take 36 pages, plus sound logic, his admonition for a whole foods, p Dr. Campbell's credentials on the subject of nutrition may be matched but cannot be surpassed by anyone in the world. Combined with his own research and supporting references, which take 36 pages, plus sound logic, his admonition for a whole foods, plant-based diet is overwhelmingly convincing and persuasive. There's no need to repeat other readers' laudatory comments.

There are a few points that I wish could be further addressed. The suggestion that we not consume dairy food is based on the unhealthful effect of casein, the primary protein in milk. Numerous research articles have been published since he wrote this book 20 years ago. I checked most references on the Wikipedia page for "casein" related to potential health issues. Those that have found no health risks are now marked with disclaimers as a standard in scientific publication, typically claiming to have no connection with a commercial entity. That used to be a serious problem when Dr. Campbell wrote the book (see the part "Why haven't you heard this before?"). I believe flagrant violation of ethical rules has died down in the past few decades. In short, more research is needed to confirm or disprove the harm done by casein, or dairy foods in general.

Secondly, an unconditional attack on reductionism is not warranted. Science progresses by synthesis for sure, but more by analysis and reduction. Whole food is healthy and we all should embrace it. But it doesn't mean we should stop pursuing the science of finding the reason why any food, whole or not, is good or bad. Just because we can't narrow down to a few manageable ingredients out of a thousand in today's research doesn't mean we should give up in that direction for good, especially considering that food science may benefit from AI just as other branches of biological and medical sciences do. Reductionism is a fundamental principle in modern science, including nutrition studies.

Having said that, personally, I heed Dr. Campbell's advice and have adjusted my diet accordingly. I've long had in my mind a personal healthfulness rank of animal food, i.e. fish > chicken > pork > lamb ≈ beef. Now I completely avoid beef and lamb, have greatly reduced intake of pork, and cut down on chicken. But I still eat fish once in a while, because, well, I'm also a fan of Dr. Andrew Weil, another trustworthy health advocate, and because fish is a big part of Mediterranean and Japanese cuisine. I have changed the cow milk:soy milk ratio of about 3:2 to 2:3, and mostly changed Greek yogurt back to regular yogurt, as Greek yogurt contains more casein, even though I have some doubt about the health issues about casein as I said. Needless to say, I have significantly increased intake of various vegetables and further diversified my choice of vegetables and fruits. In case you missed one point while reading the book: Dr. Campbell has provided us a simple solution to the dilemma that you like to eat a lot of tasty food but don't like to gain weight by eating a lot, and the solution is to eat plant-based food so you can eat it to your heart's content and still maintain your weight. For this as well I do appreciate his wisdom.

Trivia: Some readers complain about the title of the book, because the China Study is only part of the book. According to Dr. Junshi Chen, the counterpart on the China side of this study, the book title was given by the publisher, so it's not that Dr. Campbell is a fan of clickbait. Also, there's one person in the book who is undervalued. Dr. Gopalan and his team published an important paper on aflatoxin in a little known journal in 1968 (Ref.13 of Chpt 2, 16 of Chpt 3). While Dr. Campbell acknowledges the significance of this research, it's worth pointing out that Coluthur Gopalan (1918-2019) is hailed as the Father of Indian Nutrition Science. ...more

Yong Huang rated a book really liked it

A Little History of the World
by E.H. Gombrich

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Of all world history books I've read, this book and James Davis's "The Human Story" are the easiest to follow. Gombrich is one of the best writers. He selects the most relevant facts in history, adapts the style of narrative to young readers as if or Of all world history books I've read, this book and James Davis's "The Human Story" are the easiest to follow. Gombrich is one of the best writers. He selects the most relevant facts in history, adapts the style of narrative to young readers as if orally telling stories, and pays great attention to the flow of language. For example, when talking about the end of Habsburg German Emperor Charles V's life (p.186), he says "he then withdrew … repairing and regulating all the clocks. He wanted them to chime at the same time. When he didn't succeed, he is reported to have said: 'How did I ever presume to try to unite all the peoples of my empire when I cannot, even once, persuade a few clocks to chime together.' … And as for the clocks of his former empire, whenever they struck the hour, their chimes were further and further apart." This is such a beautiful analogy that readers will not forget this passage.

Chapter 23 "Chivalrous Knights" is a must-read. It's not just interesting, but also unique. Not many history books talk about how exactly a young man became a knight, why he had to be trained in literary skills (and read books to ladies, who were most likely illiterate), and ended up looting and pillaging once inside the city of Jerusalem, totally un-chivalrously. Gombrich praises what's praise-worthy and spares no word to chastise when good men have turned evil.

Gombrich may not know the rhetoric device Chekhov's gun (if a gun appears on the wall in the first act, it must go off by the third). But on many occasions, he's doing exactly that: an apparently meaningless little fact is mentioned not quite relevant in its context foreshadows a major event in later narrative. I have no doubt that, had he written novels, he would have been a great novelist.

One problem with the book is its Eurocentric stance, typical of the scholars of his age. The book is relatively weak in the history of Asia especially East Asia, as well as North America, totally lacking coverage of South America, Australia, and Africa. The title of the book may as well be "A Little History of Europe". Lack of an index is another weak point; non-fiction English books with no index are very rare (except for dictionaries of course). He or the translator may consider this a story book, but this is a book of knowledge, not of fictional characters, whose names in the book would rarely be needed once the book is read. Hope a future edition will have an index appended. ...more

Yong Huang entered a giveaway

Red Dawn Over China: How Communism Conquered a Quarter of Humanity
by Frank Dikötter

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Yong Huang finished reading

Gulf Arabic (Teach Yourself)
by Jack Smart

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The Myths of Greece and Rome by Hélène A. Guerber

The Myths of Greece and Rome (Anthropology & Folklore S)
by Hélène A. Guerber

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Ms. Guerber (1859-1929) left this wonderful story of Greek and Roman myths to us. Her narrative is clear, concise, engaging, and often times, poetic, as many adjacent lines seem to rhyme, as if an itinerant minstrel was reciting an epic saga. We don' ...more

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The Prince
by Niccolò Machiavelli

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Great book, and great translator's note! There are many editions of Machiavelli's "The Prince". This one is outstanding in that the translator -- I assume mostly Russell Price, the second editor -- did an exceptional job. His copious notes on the his Great book, and great translator's note! There are many editions of Machiavelli's "The Prince". This one is outstanding in that the translator -- I assume mostly Russell Price, the second editor -- did an exceptional job. His copious notes on the historical background of every event Machiavelli talked about or implied, on other references or mentions of the same or similar events in other parts of this book, and on the connotations of some Italian words and phrases in the context are extremely valuable in helping us understand this book. Without these notes, most of us would fail to fully understand many passages of the book, like many others written a few hundred years ago, and simply ignore them. Particularly interesting to me personally, having studied the Italian language for some time, are the notes about translation, not just the many footnotes on most pages, but also Appendix B, "Notes on the Vocabulary".

Now a brief comment on the book itself. Machiavelli, as we all know, is a shrewd, practical man, talking unabashedly on how a ruler should rule, conquer, or at least survive. Many of his ideas can be compared and contrasted with those of other political thinkers in history. For example, he believed it was difficult to conquer the Turkish Kingdom (Chapter IV, pp.15-6) because the ruler had the highly concentrated power. In contrast, Sima Qian, the Chinese historian who flourished in the 2nd century B.C., said the opposite (see 《史记·秦楚之际月表》). I don't think anybody noticed their differences on this point. If you're a student studying history, you may find that most topics you can think of were already thought of, but most topics that include two unrelated people are unlikely to have been researched.

Occasionally the translator chooses some words I don't understand. For example, in "men forget sooner the killing of a father than the loss of their patrimony", the word "killing" obviously should be "death" because the Italian original is "morte" and the translator himself points this out. So why not "death"?

Overall, this book is excellent, both as a classic book in history and as an excellent example of language translation. ...more

Yong Huang rated a book really liked it

The Masks of God, Volume 2 by Joseph Campbell

The Masks of God, Volume 2: Oriental Mythology
by Joseph Campbell

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Dr. Campbell's book may be outdated if you're a specialist in mythology and archaeology. Otherwise, this book is a fascinating read. I'd like to address one common criticism on his work. It's said that Campbell made equivalence of various symbols and ...more

Yong Huang and 4 other people liked Bob Offer-Westort's review of Arabic Course for English-Speaking Students: Originally Devised and Taught at Madinah Islamic University (#1):

Arabic Course for English-Speaking Students by V. Abdur Rahim

"I'd like to give this course more stars: I think it's well-thought-out, & I'm sure it helped me immensely in improving my classical Arabic reading. But there are too many flaws to give it the praise I would like.

The Arabic Course for English-Speaking" Read more of this review »

Yong Huang rated a book liked it

Short Model Essays
by Ann M. Taylor

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The strength of this book is in the selected essays, not in the text written by the editor. Unlike other books of this kind, the selection is not limited to the authors that would later gain their renown. This is particular interesting, or important, ...more

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