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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
I love this book! I have read it 3 times already. Anytime I get stressed I give it a read and it's an amazing help. The author lays out his ideas in a great way that makes Taoism easy to understand. The drawings are cute and help the book a long. I tend to recommend this to anyone I can!
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Surprisingly wordy given the topic. Cute drawings though and I like the idea of it more than the book. Maybe reading the originals with the same light might be more interesting.
3 of 9 people found the following review helpful
First, the good points: Hoff did a good job illustrating the basics of Taoism (at least, as far as I've learned about it; I'm not a scholar of Eastern religions - I only took a couple of college courses on the topic and read some books) and made a strong case that Winnie the Pooh is a Taoist sage.
The text comes apart at several key points, however, and at times getting almost unbearably preachy:
First and foremost, he oversimplified and overgeneralized science and academia. Yes, I am aware of the attitude that many important figures in Taoism's history held towards scholars, particularly those arrogant and conceited enough to mock its philosophy. That does not mean, however, that scientists and scholars fall neatly into the popular stereotype of the shortsighted egghead living in an ivory tower and studying nothing of practical value.
Second, it's one thing to outright dismiss an entire mode of thinking with nothing but a straw man, but the bitter and mocking tone he used was certainly uncalled for. Perhaps he was aiming to mimick the playful tone many sages have used. In my opinion, Hoff failed, especially where he arbitrarily capitalizes adjectives and nouns, as if he's trying to convey an air of pomp and arrogance that franly, I haven't ever seen and cannot relate to.
Third, I also happen to take issue with his assertions that knowledge precludes easy solutions to simple problems. It ties back into the first point. I'd argue that the opposite is true, if only people would practice applying knowledge intuitively. I'm reminded of his description of Pooh opening a jar of pickles. Paraphrasing, Pooh twists as hard as he can, lets out a breath, and twists harder until the lid pops open. But, it cannot be too hard, as Tigger does, or else the pickles spill all over the floor. Case in point, if Hoff would stop and learn a even a little bit about the science he criticizes so scathingly, he'd know it'd be far easier to just stick the tip of a butter knife or a can opener up the side of the lid, give it a firm but careful twist (lest you bend the lid), and let the air pressure equalize. To point out another example, even Li Ching-Yun - the man that allegedly (emphasis on allegedly) lived for over 200 years - first needed to learn from the herbalists he followed about living off the land and using herbs.
Now, those points are forgivable, if annoying, but where the book really loses steam is at the final chapter, an awkwardly inserted blurb of generalized and sweeping apocalyptic proclamations. Personally, I found it to be essentially the same as fire & brimstone Bible thumpers telling you to submit to Jesus or suffer in hellfire, and certainly contrary to the essence of Taoism (and not to mention the current scientific consensus - even the most dire, liberal estimates only suggest that we'd succeed in wiping ourselves out - nature would carry on as it always does after a catastrophe).
Long-winded and harsh as this review might be, I do think the book is worth reading at least once, as a primer on the subject of Taoism. Though, it certainly could stand to be revised with a more diplomatic attitude - you're not likely to convince anybody of anything without first being sensitive to their values.
The text comes apart at several key points, however, and at times getting almost unbearably preachy:
First and foremost, he oversimplified and overgeneralized science and academia. Yes, I am aware of the attitude that many important figures in Taoism's history held towards scholars, particularly those arrogant and conceited enough to mock its philosophy. That does not mean, however, that scientists and scholars fall neatly into the popular stereotype of the shortsighted egghead living in an ivory tower and studying nothing of practical value.
Second, it's one thing to outright dismiss an entire mode of thinking with nothing but a straw man, but the bitter and mocking tone he used was certainly uncalled for. Perhaps he was aiming to mimick the playful tone many sages have used. In my opinion, Hoff failed, especially where he arbitrarily capitalizes adjectives and nouns, as if he's trying to convey an air of pomp and arrogance that franly, I haven't ever seen and cannot relate to.
Third, I also happen to take issue with his assertions that knowledge precludes easy solutions to simple problems. It ties back into the first point. I'd argue that the opposite is true, if only people would practice applying knowledge intuitively. I'm reminded of his description of Pooh opening a jar of pickles. Paraphrasing, Pooh twists as hard as he can, lets out a breath, and twists harder until the lid pops open. But, it cannot be too hard, as Tigger does, or else the pickles spill all over the floor. Case in point, if Hoff would stop and learn a even a little bit about the science he criticizes so scathingly, he'd know it'd be far easier to just stick the tip of a butter knife or a can opener up the side of the lid, give it a firm but careful twist (lest you bend the lid), and let the air pressure equalize. To point out another example, even Li Ching-Yun - the man that allegedly (emphasis on allegedly) lived for over 200 years - first needed to learn from the herbalists he followed about living off the land and using herbs.
Now, those points are forgivable, if annoying, but where the book really loses steam is at the final chapter, an awkwardly inserted blurb of generalized and sweeping apocalyptic proclamations. Personally, I found it to be essentially the same as fire & brimstone Bible thumpers telling you to submit to Jesus or suffer in hellfire, and certainly contrary to the essence of Taoism (and not to mention the current scientific consensus - even the most dire, liberal estimates only suggest that we'd succeed in wiping ourselves out - nature would carry on as it always does after a catastrophe).
Long-winded and harsh as this review might be, I do think the book is worth reading at least once, as a primer on the subject of Taoism. Though, it certainly could stand to be revised with a more diplomatic attitude - you're not likely to convince anybody of anything without first being sensitive to their values.
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