"Let her sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world," Napoleon once commented about China. Two centuries later, the world has seen both China and India advance to global preeminence and, as you read Parag Khanna's new book "The Future is Asian," an erudite account of stunning economic ascendancy, it soon becomes clear the book is describing the present.

The Future is Asian, by Parag Khanna.448 pagesSIMON & SCHUSTER, Nonfiction.

With in-depth research, Khanna limns the 21st-century pivot toward Asia with data you may have seen elsewhere, if not with such scope and consequence. What sets this book apart is the unabashed swagger with which the author rattles off Asian achievements and rallies pan-Asian pride (think "Crazy Rich Asians" with infographics).