Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful
Review: I purchased this book while I was in college, as part of a quest to learn about different world religions. Over time, I have come back more and more to this book to comtemplate on each and every verse. I have always found something new whenever I come back. This book is also beautiful aesthetically. The pictures are subtle and graceful. The calligraphy, even though I have yet to master them, complement the surrounding pictures as if they were part of them. I agree with one of the previous reviewers, as one of my personal reminder goes: "One day a student of the Tao, one life a student of the Tao."
Rating:
Summary: Timeless Lessons, Beautiful Format.
Review: I read a different version of the Tao Te Ching before deciding to buy. I wasn't enthralled by the other version, and I knew that the lessons in the Tao Te Ching were inspiring. They say you can't judge a book by it's cover, but with this one, that may not be the case. The entire book is just like the cover: simple and beautiful. As Tao should be represented. The book itself is about the size of a magazine and the cover will bend or crease easily if handled roughly. The pages, while nearly as thick as the cover, should shrug off abuse easily... which is why I've opted to leave this one on the coffee table every day. What I found very nice (as another reviewer mentioned) is the fact that you see the lessons in English and in Chinese characters on the facing page. Equally as pleasing: beautiful black and white photos adorn every page, blending easily with the verse. I cannot comment on the lessons contained in the book, as each individual will take what they choose from it. I would venture to guess that if you're bothering to read this review, you would find more than two of the epiphanies contained in the book useful. While this edition may not wear as well as a hardbound copy would, it is definately worth its price, and a piece of your time.
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Summary: Lao Tzu
Review: I read every Tao Te Ching book and translation I can find. I have never found one that embodies the Tao better and is more able to leave out all that is not the Tao than the Feng and English translation.
Rating:
Summary: The best
Review: I speak only for myself (who else WOULD I speak for?) but this is the best translation I have seen. It clers my own thoughts on the subject and any confusions I have about particular passages are concisely corrected to my satisfaction after reading this version.
Rating:
Summary: The one I turn to
Review: I've read five or ten translations of the Tao Te Ching and read the work countless times. I don't know anything about Chinese, but I've practiced Tao for more than a decade. I can only say that this translation has been invaluable to me and is always the one I turn to. Most other translations seem to be much more scholarly in their pursuit of accuracy, but I know of none that are more true in their presentation of Tao.
Rating:
Summary: The best (rather un-Taoistically)
Review: I've read more than a dozen popular versions of the Tao and this is the most beautiful and captures the essence more fully than the others. Look deeply into the text and feel the photos and you will learn or deepen Tao without teaching, without speaking.
Rating:
Summary: 'This is called "following the light."'
Review: It is hardly difficult to understand the enduring quality of the Tao Te Ching. Written by Lao Tsu in the sixth century BC is a simple, quiet book that reflects upon our true nature and our behavior. Broken up into 81 'chapters' or short poems, it comprises a mere 5,000 words. Every other sentence is a memorable quote, and one can read it in an hour and study it for a lifetime. What I do find remarkable is the durability of this particular edition. My copy is ancient, dating back to my college days. At frequent intervals it seems to come to hand and I will peruse it again and enjoy the clarity of this translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English. They have carefully chosen a simple, accessible style which I feel completely captures the nature of the Tao. "What is a good man? A teacher of a bad man. What is a bad man? A good man's charge." Accompanying the text are many fine examples of Gia-Fu Feng's calligraphy and Jane English's photographs. While I like Chinese calligraphy, I lack the understanding to make any judgement. I can only report that it shows flow and grace, and works perfectly with English's photographs. These latter capture, most often with natural images, a play of contrast which often is as calligraphic as the accompanying handwriting. Thus, the book itself is a careful balance between content and form. At the end of the day, or in an otherwise tense moment, this volume has often been the source of the tiny bit of sanity that makes the next day possible. There is much to meditate on here and this edition is a precious resource for the seeking mind.
Rating: 
Summary: An Attractive copy of the Tao Te Ching
Review: It would be a little silly of me to review or criticize Lao-Tzu's writings...but, I would like to comment about this specific copy.
The translation is one of the more succinct versions I've encountered. Because of this it appears and sounds more poetic than most translations, but the drawback of a terse translation is that it only makes the notoriously ambiguous Tao, harder to grasp.
The best thing about the book is that it is very pretty. To simulate the Yin and Yang, the pages alternate between black and white. The chinese characters on one page and the English translation on the next. The book is inundated with drawings from nature, augmenting the themes and serenity of the words.
This is a great copy if you're already familiar with the text or for display. If you would like a copy for serious study, I'd go with Jonathan Star's Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition.
Rating:
Summary: Opening up a space for the myriad things to advance.
Review: Perhaps we need different editions of the Tao Te Ching for different moods. When we are in a more analytic and outward-directed mood we will turn to an edition such as that, perhaps, of Ellen M. Chen, an edition with a substantial and stimulating introduction and with very full and detailed commentaries. When in a more receptive and intuitive mood, however, a mood in which the busy-ness of the rational intellect is stilled and the deeper levels of mind are open to more subtle influences, our needs become different. At such times we will perhaps benefit more from a stripped-down version of the Tao Te Ching, one that allows the text to advance directly and make contact with our sensibility without the distractions of notes and commentaries and suchlike. Although it was first published in 1973, the fact that the edition of Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English has never been out-of-print suggests that it is an edition that has been working for many people, one that satisfies perfectly one side of our nature, the gentler and more receptive and aesthetic side, perhaps the wiser side. Each Chapter of the Tao Te Ching is given on two large quarto-sized pages which hold the English translation, the brushed Chinese text, and the black-and-white photographs. The white pages also hold large areas of blank space, an 'Emptiness' or 'Openness' in which, as others have noted, the black texts and pictures are allowed room in which to breathe and be themselves. The English translation is simple, pure, spare. Here is a brief example from Chapter 48, with my slash marks indicating line breaks in the original: "In the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired. / In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped. // Less and less is done / Until non-action is achieved. / When nothing is done, nothing is left undone." The translation has been recommended by no less an authority than Alan Watts, himself competent in Chinese, who commented: "No one has done better in conveying Lao Tsu's simple and laconic style of writing." The calligraphy is exceptional. It is brushed lightly and with sensitive though vigorous strokes in a range of styles whose size and weight harmonize perfectly with both text and pictures. Also noteworthy is that, in most cases, legibility has not been sacrificed to beauty for the structure of even complex characters can be readily discerned. Even those who may not know Chinese will be subtly influenced by it, for all Chinese ideograms are characterized by an exquisite balance, and an economy and beauty which are precisely the qualities we find in Lao Tsu's text. The calligraphy floats on the page like clouds floating through a Chinese sky, and establishes a perfect mood. The ability to appreciate Chinese calligraphy, though uncommon in the West, is not difficult to come by since all it involves is learning to open our eyes. A little application will quickly lead anyone to see that it is the world's supreme art form, a highly abstract, dynamic, and endlessly fascinating art form, and to understand what Lin Yutang meant when he said that "in the realms of art, [China] soared where others merely made an effort to flap their wings." The spareness and beauty of both text and calligraphy are perfectly reinforced by the striking though unpretentious black-and-white photographs which are given on each page, photographs of such things as a branch poaking through the surface of a lake, a foot, a bird perched on a stump, a house on a rocky outcrop, snow heaped up on a leaf, a gull in flight, a rainstorm, a seashell, a burning candle. These are the important things, seemingly simple though of infinite value as are the fundamental truths embodied in the lines of Lao Tsu. Very close to the thought of Lao Tsu's Chapter 48 is an observation made by the great Japanese Zen Master, Dogen (+ 1200-1253): "Conveying the self to the myriad beings to authenticate them is delusion; the myriad things advancing to authenticate the self is enlightenment" (Tr. F. H. Cook). Life offers only two choices. We can reach out aggressively to grab. Or we can open up a space in ourselves and allow the myriad things of the universe to come forward and disclose themselves. It's easy to see what Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English were trying to do in this book. It's also easy to see that they succeeded brilliantly. By the way, not that it will matter to most but the calligraphy of Chapter 67 has been printed in reverse and what we see on the page is a mirror-image of the original...
Rating:
Summary: Cool Book
Review: The Dao de King is one of the spiritual and philosophical treasures of the world. This book needs to be read for what it is -- poetry. The Tao goes beyond words and cannot be explained. Nevertheless, Needleman's commentary is quite enlightening.
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