The New York Times Book Review From Peter Hessler, the New York Times bestselling author of Oracle Bones and River Town, comes Country Driving, the third and final book in his award-winning China trilogy. I emailed Hessler and spoke with him by phone at his home in Ridgway, Colorado. Hessler has a marvelous sense of the intonations and gestures that give life to the moment. The trips he took resulted in his new book, Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory, a triptych of pieces about his travels.

The test featured questions such as, “If another motorist stops you to ask directions, you should: a) not tell him b) reply patiently and accurately c) tell him the wrong way,” and, “If you give somebody a ride and realize that he left something in your car, you should: a) keep it for yourself b) return it to the person or his place of work as quickly as possible c) call him and offer to return it for a ransom.” Of course, Hessler passed, and his license was, in some ways, a passport into a China he’d never seen-a China that is changing so fast it may never be seen again. He investigates a historically important. Since he had at least three good fingers on each hand (as well as both thumbs), he was eligible for his Chinese driver’s license, and he went in to take his test. Country Driving begins with Hessler's 7,000-mile trip across northern China, following the Great Wall, from the East China Sea to the Tibetan plateau. But now he wanted to go farther into the country. He’d been living in China since 1996, when he began teaching English in a school in Fuling, an experience he recounted in his book, River Town. Peter Bodine was a leading merchant at Raritan Landing, one of the nations earliest river-ports, located in the large 1666 land grant called 'Piscataway.

Back in 2001, Peter Hessler looked at his hands.

Country driving by peter hessler