Customer Reviews

I Ching, the Oracle

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This particular take on the I Ching is rather scaled down, in my opinion. The buyer should be warned that this is book does not contain lengthy explanations or commentary on each line of each hexagram. Instead, only one or two sentences accompanies each line. This may frustrate the user a bit, but the overall use-ability of this book is pretty great.

The book begins with four short, 3-5 page chapters covering general info about the I Ching, the legends behind it, the legacy of Confucius and a bit about the nature of divination in its historical Chinese context. This leads us to chapters 5 & 6 that get into the technical details of casting yarrow sticks (flipping coins) and making your own reading.

In using the text for its intended purpose, it is very easy to use. In the back is a matrix with the six trigrams running horizontally and vertically. You simply follow their intersection to the hexagram they construct and that takes you to your desired hexagram. The page then has a brief bit of information on the hexagram followed by the short verse for each line. For those interested, these pages are printed across from the original Chinese.

Overall, there is really not that much information in this book for the casual reader. If you want to learn about the I Ching, this may not be the place to start, but if you make regular readings, this book acts as a handy reference manual.