In an effort to educate myself and read books other than fiction, I recently finished a book called China Road: A Journey Into the Future of a Rising Power, by NPR correspondent Rob Gifford. I have to admit that nonfiction books take me longer to read, but that can be a good thing - I really did learn something! China Road is about the author's months-long journey along Route 312 (the Chinese version of our Route 66), that took him from boomtown Shanghai to the rural, desert border of Kazakhstan. In addition to refreshing my geographic knowledge of the area (I finally figured out where Kazakhstan and some of the other "stans" are), the author discusses why China is what it is today as he talks to many ordinary Chinese along the way.  Visit Rob Gifford's web site for more info.