James Clavell's Tai-Pan.

Now the sun touched the horizon and the man reined in his horse tiredly, glad that the time for prayer had come.

Changi became my university instead of my prison. … Among the inmates there were experts in all walks of life — the high and the low roads. I studied and absorbed everything I could from physics to counterfeiting, but most of all I learned the art of surviving.

God gives us intelligence to uncover the wonders of nature. Without the gift, nothing is possible.