Customer Reviews

I Ching for a New Age: The Book of Answers for Changing Times (Square One Classics)

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The author has not provided a new translation of the Chinese text. Instead he provides his personal interpretation of the meaning of the text that others have done the work to translate. He also provides a sneering introduction that is dismissive of the translators (from which his work is derived) and of other good-faith efforts to interpret the I Ching for an English-speaking audience. The result of his approach and his arrogance is a mess.

The best modern English version of the I Ching is that by Alfred Huang, and Huang's version is substantively in agreement with the older and commonly available Wilhelm translation. Other I Ching interpretations (not original translations) such as Brian Walker's also substantively agree with Huang and Wilhelm (although they often simplify on some points to provide a more clear, definitive interpretation). This Benson interpretation, however, tends to only tangentially relate to the scholarly translations or other interpretations. Sometimes it's similar but often it shoots off on a tangent. It is a wholly unreliable source for information about what the Chinese I Ching text is saying. Avoid it if your interested in the I Ching.