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Summary: A good book on taoism and pooh.
Review: This book explains Taoism and how it translates into "the way". It talks about how pooh doesn't conplain constantly like eore and calculate, he just is. He sees a situation as it is, and explains that that is the tao of pooh. He later talks about Lao Tzu-the founder of Taoism.
It is a very imformative book on a very well known character and how he relates to a fairly uncommon religion
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Summary: Wonderfully written
Review: This book is a wonderfully written treatise on Taoism expressed in a manner that we can all easily understand. You don't need to be a Pooh fan or a Taoist expert to appreciate the book, but you'll probably become more interested in both after you read the book. I've read a lot around Taoism and it's easy to see that Hoff's summary in this book is not the most academic I've ever read. It's not necessarily the most practical either, but it does allow you to visualise certain of the more esoteric notions in a manner familiar to us all. Like most of the books that I really love, this one has been a popular gift item in my friends' stockings over the past few years. I hope you enjoy it.
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Summary: One Word:
Review: This book was a Christmas stocking stuffer gift from my fiance. I had never read or even heard of Benjamin Hoff before then. Intrigued by the concept of Taoism being explained with the help of Pooh and other companions from the Hundred Acre Woods, I started reading this a week after Christmas. I had finished it by next afternoon. This is such a remarkably wonderful book; deep and simple at the same time. It left me thoroughly enthralled, and I have already reread it thrice. I'd highly recommend this book!
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Summary: A Nice Description of Taoism Without All of the Big Words
Review: This was a really great book! I read it after I had done a school project on Taoism, so I had a slight clue as to what I was reading about, but I really wish I had found this book when I was doing the project! Its explanations of the concepts of Taoism are wonderful in that nearly everyone can understand them. Pooh and pals are very public figures and most people are familiar with their basic personality traits, so using those traits to explain Taoism was a very smart idea.
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Summary: Tao made easy
Review: This was one of those rare books purchased for a college course that I simply refused to sell back. Hoff's Tao of Pooh is a wonderful, easy to understand book on the basics of taoism. Pooh is the ultimate uncarved block, as the book illustrates. It's so simple and easy to read, yet conveys concepts that takes other books on taoism several hundred pages and weeks of reading to even begin to understand.
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Summary: Fleeting Wisdom
Review: I've read this book a couple of times and I always enjoy it. I think it provides a good introduction to Taoist philosophy (I haven't read much other Taoist philosophy so take that for what it's worth). I like how bits of Winnie-the-Pooh are used to provide examples and illustrate abstract concepts. I agree with many of the basic ideas of the book. But reading it always leaves me vaguely unsatisfied. While much of what the author says makes sense, it isn't easy to apply it to daily life. I would describe two of the main axioms of the book as "go with the flow" and "be true to yourself." These are both sound pieces of advice but what do they really mean? What am I supposed to do with that? When I read the book I find myself nodding and agreeing but as soon as I put it down the words kind of evaporate. There just isn't enough substance to apply it to my life. Or maybe I just haven't figured out how to do it yet. Nobody said it was easy.
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Summary: Pooh and Taoism...who would have thought...
Review: Taoist wisdom and Pooh; an unlikely combination. A wonderful intro to Eastern Thought!
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Summary: Am I the only person that thinks this?
Review: When I was at school, we were made to read a book called "The Dark is Rising". I thought that was the worst book I'd ever read, and it held it's title for a long time (I'm 27 now) - but compared to the Tao of Pooh it shines like a glimmering beacon of success in the puss filled mire of Hoff's seemingly limitless inadequacy as a writer. Unfortunately, Amazon.com won't allow me to put less than one star, but given the choice I'd rate this book in minus figures. What I'm going to suggest though, is that if you are an intelligent person, please do read this book so that you may contribute along with me in diminishing the completely unjustified acclaim it holds. At the end of this book, I understand very little about Taoism, as I would hope that it is vastly more interesting and holds less prejudice and small-mindedness as Hoff suggests. If anything, the book is far more representational of facist and racist views. To suggest that knowledgeable people, or people who strive to gain knowledge are stupid in their quest, is quite frankly ludicrous. The book is basically saying, if you're thick and stupid and have limited room for thought, if you only look for simple things because you're too incompetent to strive to achieve, then you'll be happy. Sorry, not convinced. Are there people who agree with me here, or am I unique, [...] - thanks!
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Summary: The Tao of Pooh
Review: Humorous and insightful. The book brings into question many of the values that Western Society has come to value in a light-hearted a way that is non-threatening, but still challenging.
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Summary: The difference between simple and stupid
Review: I have read the tao te ching, and this book perfectly mirrors the largest message in lao tzu's work. Things work out on their own, and it's mostly our meddling that cause them to go wrong. To do this one has to be simple, and not worry about things constantly. I know that the whole idea of simplicity being a virtue might set some intellectuals on edge, I can understand this. Our society is not overly accepting of thinkers, therefor it makes us rather defensive. But this book does not condone stupidity in any sense of the word. In fact, the character of pooh is very interesting in the fact that while he does not know many things, he draws very logical conclusions using the information he has available to him. I consider stupidity to be the act of willfully ignoring the world around us, and it seems so do Lao Tzu and Benjamim Hoff.
Throughout "The Tao of Pooh" Hoff uses the pooh stories as examples of how Taosim works, while his narrative more clearly explains the characters and what type of people they represent. I think the best example of this is the Pit story. When Pooh, Rabbit, and Piglet are lost in the woods Pooh notices that they keep on coming back to the same pit whe they try to find home. Thus he concludes that if they try to find the pit, the will end up back at their houses. A perfectly logical conlusion based on the evidence at hand. I thought it was one of the best examples of Taoist principles I have ever read.
"The tao of Pooh" made me see the winnie the pooh books in an entirely different light, as philosopical texts in themselves. Taoism seems to overlap with many of the values i hold anyway, so I suppose I am a Taoist. Both the religion and this book reassert a sense of optimism about the physical world which is very lacking in nearly every other major religion, and much of our literature. It is simple yet prfound, truly a Taoist text in every sense.
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