Customer Reviews

The I Ching Handbook: Decision-Making with and without Divination

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The I Ching is one of the deepest as well as one of the oldest works composed by man, a subject of endless fascination, contemplation and study. And, until Robert Legge first presented his translation into English in 150s years ago, westerners had scarcely heard of it, much less become involved with its use and multiple layers of meaning. Since then, especially since the German Richard Wilhelm's work in the 1920s, there has been increasing interest and a building avalanche of books on the subject.

For the student new to the subject, Secter's Handbook must be considered an excellent choice. It is short, easy to read, and gets the reader into the concepts presented, and into using the I Ching, very quickly and clearly. Secter has also presented his own graphical interpretations of the eight trigrams, has developed user aids to take one through the line changes to new hexagrams, and takes the convoluted, vague and frustratingly difficult to interpret translations from the Chinese found in Legge and in translations of Confucius' commentaries, and turned them into clearer, though not less deep and thoughtful, hexagram interpretations and additional line comments. This is of inestimable value to those new to the I Ching.

Secter also explores a number of ways the I Ching is used, and touches on further layers of meaning, but is clear that this is not meant to be an exhaustive exploration. Rather, it is an accessible guide meant to be used and reused, to be lived with, and as such it succeeds.

Very useful book. It provides clear and brief explanations of all the hexagrams. It also has the originality of presenting the concepts of the evolutionary and the contrary hexagrams which help a lot with the understanding and the interpretation of the hexagram received.
Recommended to all those who want a brief interpretation of the i-ching oracle.