In the hands of Jonathan Star, the eighty-one verses of the Tao Te Ching resound with the elegant, simple images and all-penetrating ideas that have made this ancient work a cornerstone of the world's wisdom literature.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
53 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Beware - This is NOT the Definitive Edition,
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This review is from: Tao Te Ching: The New Translation from Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition (Tarcher Cornerstone Editions) (Mass Market Paperback)
I just bought Jonathan's Star's 2003 Edition of "Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition" (ISBN-13: 978-1585422692) and was checking Amazon to see what other people had thought about this book, so you can imagine that I was a little worried when I saw this newer edition that I might have bought an outdated version. On closer inspection though I realized that the 2008 edition only has 128 pages compared with 368 pages of the 2003 edition.
On reading the table of contents for both editions I discovered that what Star's publishers appear to have done is to reissue the translation section of his original 2003 book without all the extra and very helpful information he had provided in the early edition. My advice is to go and check out the 2003 edition before you commit to this later, less definitive, work. Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition (2003)
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful book,
By diggy (NYC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tao Te Ching: The New Translation from Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition (Tarcher Cornerstone Editions) (Mass Market Paperback)
As someone who is new to Eastern philosophy, this book is an accessible, and poetic take on the TTC. I've compared to other editions and the translations vary tremendously not just in style but in use of metaphor, word choice, and cadence. With an ancient text written in a non-wetern tongue, it's difficult for a neophyte to know if you're getting the straight dope.
That being said, it's a beautiful work, and I've found tremendous insight and meaning in it. I would guess that the translation is geared toward contemporary westerners, as opposed academics, and like any work of philosophy or religious thought, it's important to take it with a grain of salt, and consider that it was written for an ancient world. That aside, it's still an essential read that touches on countless human truths. The deceptively simple passages of the TTC can have a profound influence on the way one looks at one's world. Personally, I feel slightly more at peace, more understanding of the ebbs and flows of life, and from that stronger and more clear-headed, every time I read from this book. One thing the eastern traditions of Taoism and Buddhism seem to stress is seeing the truth for what it is, not believing in signs and symbols, or what you think you know or what you have been telling yourself, and this book illuminates that notion. In a media-saturated society oozing deceptive advertising and political punditry, it's great meditate on reality once in a while.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Poetic Tao,
By
This review is from: Tao Te Ching: The New Translation from Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition (Tarcher Cornerstone Editions) (Mass Market Paperback)
This is a beautiful version of the Tao Te Ching, most well understood when read alongside a more literal translation. This one is a bit more modern & poetic than a starker literal translation, but when read together the deeper meanings come through.
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