Get it on! On October 18 I’ll be in Los Angeles to sit in on the Adam Carolla Show, parrying with the Ace Man and praising Bald Bryan for his moving memoir of living with a brain tumor. (The great T.C. Boyle blurbed the book, and his praise is not wrong.) I hope Adam can explain how general contractors come up with their price estimates. I also hope he lets me see his cars, and asks me about Matt Lauer. “Matt is Matt.”

On November 6, I’ll speak at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club, showing slides across twenty years of coming to know China from living in places most correspondents and tourists miss. Tickets are available here.

On October 12 I’ll show slides from the Chinese hinterlands across twenty years at the Asia Society NY (tickets here), in conversation with the New Yorker‘s  Jiayang Fan. This is a talk starting from naivete, discussing how we think of and approach China based on our own starting points and eras. I began at zero! If a schmuck like me can figure this place out . . .

 

September 15: The University of California-Berkeley, Doe Library, 4pm

September 24: The Berlin Marathon, Germany 9:30am

October 10: The University of Pittsburgh’s William Pitt Union, 1pm

October 10: Penguin Bookshop, Sewickley, Pennsylvania, 7pm

October 12: The Asia Society, New York City (with the New Yorker‘s Jiayang Fan), 6:30pm

October 17: USC, US-China Institute, 4pm

October 18: The Adam Carolla Show, Los Angeles

November 6: The Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, 6pm

November 15: Columbia University, 4pm

November 15: The China Institute, New York City, 6:30pm

November 16: National Committee on US-China Relations, breakfast

The reviews-before-the-reviews are coming in, and I’m relieved the readers got the humor, and the tone of “humility gained through immersion.” Here’s Library Journal, Booklist, and Kirkus. “Many delightful and appalling adventures” would have made a great cover quote.

The book comes out on October 10 and is available for advance purchase here.

Its cover blurbs include a trio of nonfiction writers whose work spans China, Africa, Siberia and more:

“The Road to Sleeping Dragon is an invaluable resource for anybody determined to engage with today’s China.  Rather than telling readers what to think about China, Michael Meyer’s lively memoir shows them how to think – how to embrace new experiences, new perspectives, and the ever-changing new incarnations of this incredible country.”—Peter Hessler, author of Oracle Bones and River Town

China has never had an explicator and enthusiast like Michael Meyer. His story of how he got to know the country is exciting, sometimes hair-raising, and always fascinating. This is a terrific book and I recommend it highly.  –Ian Frazier, author of Travels in Siberia

“I’ve been an admirer of Michael Meyer since his first book, and this, his third, only makes me more so. It’s hard for me to think of anyone who can dive into another culture with such infectious zest and curiosity, and who gets in so deep, so fast.”—Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold’s Ghost