I didn't find any of it good besides the introduction which motivated me to look into Chinese history more. The author thinks too much of himself and tries too

I didn't find any of it good besides the introduction which motivated me to look into Chinese history more. The author thinks too much of himself and tries too hard to appear smart. This is tedious. I can draw a sharp contrast between this author and Neal Stephenson, who is brilliant and introduces many new ideas / explains computing in a way that has motivated many people to study it. TBP's characters are comical. Not much else to say - the womanizer slacker obsessing over the quiet girl was too much to keep reading. Well, that, and some of the "brilliant defense strategies."