The Way of Life

Rating:
Summary: Great Traditional Translation!
Review: Beutifully translated version of the Tao Te Ching! This version, compared to others, seemed to be a little more tradidionally spoken and a little more difficult to understand. However, there are paraphrases written by the translator to explain the meaning of each chapter. I would greatly recommend getting this translation of the Tao Te Ching over others because it also explains the history of Lao Tzu, Taoism, Confucious, and much more. I have not seen such information in any other version.

Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Another Fundamental English Lao Tzu
Review: Blakney's Tao Te Ching is, like that of Paul Carus, interesting as a historical document in the development of an English literature and perspective on Lao Tzu's enduring masterpiece, the Tao Te Ching. Again like Carus, however, Blakney's language is often dated, and the paraphrasing that appears at the bottom of each poem, as if in translation of the translation, is distracting at best. For enthusiasts of Lao Tzu who like to study the development of our understanding of this marvelous view of life in the history of its articulation into English, having a copy of the Blakney is essential. But for those who wish to simply enjoy Lao Tzu's voice in a modern English rendering, the work of Ursula LeGuin, Stephen Mithcell, or Feng/English would be sufficient. ...

Rating:
Summary: Junk
Review: In recycling Blakney's translation from the 1950's, Signet is trying to get something for nothing, namely, your money for a lousy out-dated translation. Not only does Blakney misread the Chinese grammar in several places, his interpretations are both under-thought and under-written. If an inexpensive translation is what you're looking for, Penguin has a $5 D.C. Lao translation that isn't all that bad. If, however, you want really excellent translations, here's my advice: For a more interpretive Neo-Taoist reading, pick up Victor H. Mair's. This is a good place to start reading the Tao Te Ching, in my opinion. If, however, you want a truly excellent translation, Philip J. Ivanhoe has done quite nicely. Moss Robert's translation is just as good overall, but also includes notes on the differences between the MaWangDui and Guodian texts compared to the Wang Bi (which is what he and everyone translates), so that'd be my ideal choice. Don't buy this book, it's a cheap way for the publishing house to try and score some sales from nothing at all.
I'm currently working on a research piece on translations of P'u in the English texts, so these critiques come as the result of my working with all these books.