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Koreans to Remember: Fifty Famous People Who Helped Shape Korea
50 famous people who helped shape Korea. This book will provide you with the basic details of many historical characters of Korea. Use the book as a reference whenever you encounter famous names and wish to quickly become conversant in the basis of their popularity. While there are many tourist guides and history books that detail famous places in Korea, relatively little is written about the people of Korean history. What little material is available in English is scattered and sometimes difficult to obtain. To provide an interested reader with the basic details of many historical characters of Korea, the author conducted a survey to choose famous names which Koreans thought foreigners should study if they wanted to develop a basic knowledge of Korea. There are names from many periods of history. Included are political figures, businessmen, religious figures, philosophers, kings, scholars, military figures and artists. 90 b/w photos.
- GenresNonfiction
242 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1993
26 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 7, 2012
I'm torn about how to review this book. On one hand, it's a very approachable reference for anyone looking to get their feet wet in the Korean history waters. It surely covers fifty memorable Koreans and provides a brief summary of their accomplishments and where you might have heard them from. For that, I applaud that author.
However, there are three major flaws that detract from the book's appeal. First, the author awkwardly introduces the birthdate and birthplace of each subject. He curiously makes such a simple task into something that turns into "So-and-so was placed upon the grounds of Earth on the fourth day in the ninth year of the calendar we use". Clearly I'm exaggerating but it's a consistent flaw. Read the book and you'll see what I'm talking about. It's just weird.
Secondly, the book is poorly marketed. The book's target audience is clearly a English speaking group yet this book is largely only found in Korea. For that matter, it's a bit out of date. Originally published in 1993, the modern presidents mentioned are sorely lacking despite an early 2000s republishing.
Lastly, and most importantly, is the cataloging of the subjects. The author breaks the book into politicians, scholars, freedom fighters, and the like. This wouldn't be an atrocious mistake had the author not listed the people in alphabetical order, too. Why on earth would he do this? The chronological order is completely out of order. A book such as this depends on a reader who can pick up the book read it cover to cover. Organizing in an topic and alphabetical-order instead of chronological order is just clumsy. This book isn't an encyclopedia and thus shouldn't try to emulate this style.
For example, in order to properly understand what made 김대중 fight for democracy and freedom, one must understand the 박정희 and 이승만 presidencies. However, since it's organized by last names, you'll have to just flip chapter to chapter to find the right order of political progression. This is assuming that the reader already has a knowledge of those three former presidents. In which case, they are probably not the target audience of the book.
Flaws aside, I enjoyed the book and it introduced a few new names and some insights that I hadn't considered. I respect the author's work but I question his editing preference. As he has penned a few other books on Korea and lived in Korea for well over a decade, I appreciate his insight and thank him for his contribution to Korean history. Just please, for the love, reorganize this book.
However, there are three major flaws that detract from the book's appeal. First, the author awkwardly introduces the birthdate and birthplace of each subject. He curiously makes such a simple task into something that turns into "So-and-so was placed upon the grounds of Earth on the fourth day in the ninth year of the calendar we use". Clearly I'm exaggerating but it's a consistent flaw. Read the book and you'll see what I'm talking about. It's just weird.
Secondly, the book is poorly marketed. The book's target audience is clearly a English speaking group yet this book is largely only found in Korea. For that matter, it's a bit out of date. Originally published in 1993, the modern presidents mentioned are sorely lacking despite an early 2000s republishing.
Lastly, and most importantly, is the cataloging of the subjects. The author breaks the book into politicians, scholars, freedom fighters, and the like. This wouldn't be an atrocious mistake had the author not listed the people in alphabetical order, too. Why on earth would he do this? The chronological order is completely out of order. A book such as this depends on a reader who can pick up the book read it cover to cover. Organizing in an topic and alphabetical-order instead of chronological order is just clumsy. This book isn't an encyclopedia and thus shouldn't try to emulate this style.
For example, in order to properly understand what made 김대중 fight for democracy and freedom, one must understand the 박정희 and 이승만 presidencies. However, since it's organized by last names, you'll have to just flip chapter to chapter to find the right order of political progression. This is assuming that the reader already has a knowledge of those three former presidents. In which case, they are probably not the target audience of the book.
Flaws aside, I enjoyed the book and it introduced a few new names and some insights that I hadn't considered. I respect the author's work but I question his editing preference. As he has penned a few other books on Korea and lived in Korea for well over a decade, I appreciate his insight and thank him for his contribution to Korean history. Just please, for the love, reorganize this book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review