Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: Chapters Three, Four, and Five of the Huainanzi (Suny Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture) [Paperback]

John S. Major (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (June 30, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791415864
• ISBN-13: 978-0791415863
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #877,568 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How to read the unreadable, April 4, 2000

By 

Selah Chamberlain (Taos, NM) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: Chapters Three, Four, and Five of the Huainanzi (Suny Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture) (Paperback)

John S. Major takes the impenetrable Huainan Zi and penetrates it. The book is very academic and crawls with footnotes, but then I don't think there's any other way to deal with a 2,000 year old encyclopedia from a culture we know almost nothing about. If you're after cool, cosmic Dao, this ain't the book. But if you want to know how and what the inventors of Daoism were really thinking, it definitely is.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Illustrations and Explanations!, January 30, 2004

By 

cb "cb" (encino, ca US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: Chapters Three, Four, and Five of the Huainanzi (Suny Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture) (Paperback)

My copy of this book is well-loved, annotated, and flagged in many places. It is not a perfect book (see commentary in "Early China" on certain issues, such as Major's portrayal of the Xing-de text from Mawangdui) but overall it is far more information than has been available in English to a wide audience.
Contrary to the other reviewer's comments, I relished the footnotes for their explanations and areas of further study. If you are looking for one book to understand Daoism, especially the Daoist adepts at the court of Liu An, this is the book. It blows away the pop-Daoism you find in the typical feng-shui book, and sheds light on some of that practice as well.