Rating: 
Summary: not a good beginning
Review: i purchased this on a whim, and, if i could i would sell it back for the simple reason that i find Mitchell distorts the essence of the way by trying to define it thereby limiting it. If one reads the Tao te Ching, one learns that "the way that can be named is not the eternal way" to quote another, truer version of the text. i have several versions of this ancient classic, and this is my least favorite. it diverges too far away from the essentials. It seems to me that Mr. Mitchell got carried away with the sound of his authority. Sort of like the sound of one hand clapping, as it were.
Rating: 
Summary: The English translation to beat
Review: I have searched near and far for a better translation of Lao Tsu's Tao Te Ching, and I am now prepared to say that none exists. Unlike some efforts which come off overtly academic or obscure, Mitchell has created here not only an English translation but an English equivalent. Some translations I have seen go out of their way to keep out of 'Taoist jargon' some going as far as to ignore the word 'tao'. Mitchell on the other hand brings the mysticism with the explanatory, the most readable version available. As for Lao Tsu's work, it may be the most important book ever written. Optimism beyond Bhudda, freedom beyond Confucious; Lao Tsu is the eastern Diogenes. More accurately, Diogenes is probably the western Lao Tsu. This book, as the legend goes, was written in two days for a guard who wished the to know the secrets of the world from the egressing Lao Tsu. What arises is a magnificent philosophy, one that, uniquely, becomes simpler with study. Useful to any person of any faith, the Tao Te Ching's truths are so simple that even if you have thought of them, you never really have. For further reading try Chuang Tsu's Inner Chapters.
Rating:
Summary: a book like no other - simply the best
Review: I dare you to find a better book than Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching! I don't think it can be done. There is no other single place where you will find all that you need to know to happily navigate on your journey. This book has it all, from an exact psychology to a comprehsive philosophy on living. No other wisdom tradition has an approach comparible to Taoism. Its roots reach deep into the Earth itself, into Reality; avoiding the confusion of a vast number of other teachings that send the student into their mind, where they struggle with their own delusions, rarely emerging a whole human being. Abstract concepts are strategically avoided, bringing the Taoist seeker into intimate communion with every dew drop on every leaf. Lao Tzu's unified Love of Life is found on every page. After lifetimes of endless questing for Truth, I continually return to the wisdom of Lao Tzu. It has been my most trustworthy companion on countless plunges into my own True Nature. I can not imagine where I would be blissfully dancing today (or not) if this book hadn't fallen into my hands. A sincere love of Lao Tzu had driven me to pick up numerous copies of the Tao Te Ching. None encapsulate the essence of Taoism like Stephen Mitchell's translation. The translator's Zen-ness captures the depth in Lao Tzu's words in their poetic purity. No human or huwoman should be without this book.
Rating: 
Summary: no stars
Review: Perhaps when Old Boy spoke the words somewhere in the air between his lips and the first listening ear was his meaning lost. Now we have the text in a trillion translations. Stephen Mitchell has strung his own beads on this old carcase, perhaps obscuring something else. Perhaps he has been injecting something into it to bring it alive again. Perhaps old Lao Tzu's body will be bouncing around the world for another thirty years now-ha!.
Rating:
Summary: Whoa, dude below hasnt got the Tao.....
Review: The reviewer below who chastises Mitchell for unorthodoxy is missing the point. The Tao is empty dude, empty. You dont know it, Mitchell doesnt know it, NOBODY KNOWS it, thats why its the Tao! In your review you criticize someone for misinterpreting a phantom ghost. Nobody is right when it comes to LaoTzu. There most likely was no LaoTzu. Just as there was no Jesus. He is a figment of our imaginations, perhaps he is a figment of the Tao. I dont know, and that is the point, neither do you. Therefor, this is as good a translation as any. And very readable to. Remember reviewer below, the TAO cannot be told....
Rating:
Summary: Incarnation of Mystical Wisdom (reinterpreted)
Review: "The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name." So begins the Tao Te Ching (Book of the Way), written by one Lao-tzu 2500 years ago in China. He left no other records or clues to his life, and only was persuaded at the last minute (by a gatekeeper) to write down this slim 5000 word poem before riding downriver on a water buffalo, never to be seen again. He didn't found a religion or recruit disciples, nor did he care to do so. In his own words, "When you are content to be simply yourself / and don't compare or compete, / everybody will respect you." This translation by Stephen Mitchell is a loose one, more aptly labeled a reinterpretation. But the result is a lucid, simple, and profound work that points the way toward a life filled with wisdom. There is also a helpful notes section in the back of the book where Mitchell repeatedly reminds the reader that he has "improvised" here or there to make the text more modern and especially to recreate the original mind of Lao-tzu as he sees it. It is obvious--even to someone such as myself who hasn't read any other version--that this translation should be accompanied by a more literal rendering. Nevertheless, Mitchell's words have the power to move hearts and enlighten minds. The basic essence of the Tao Te Ching is the Tao, which is evidently the origin of all things. The Tao also nourishes and gives life, and can be known and embodied (at least to a certain degree) by we humans. When we become close to the Tao via our mystical ability of inward contemplation, our being becomes supple, calm, patient, compassionate, and simple in its existence. Knowledge of the Tao is impossible; the Tao can only come of itself, and it is ever present all around us. In Lao-tzu's words: "Your intellect will never grasp [my teachings],
And if you try to practice them, you'll fail. If you want to know me,
Look inside your heart." So the Tao is a fundamentally mystical thing that can only be revealed inside our being. Another critical feature of Lao-tzu's teachings is "doing by not doing." In other words, if you try to be wise then you'll never be wise; if you try to know the Tao then you'll never know it, etc. So in order to follow The Way, we must empty ourselves of judgments and desires, rid ourselves of our ego, stop trying to accomplish things, and just let the Tao come. The wise master possesses nothing (which is not the same as having nothing; possession means psychological attachment), asserts no judgments, relinquishes all attachment, attains happiness by helping others instead of himself, and becomes wealthy by giving to others. His being and mind are also transparent, like empty space to the average man who puzzles over its existence and doesn't know what to do. The master is the very embodiment of the Tao, and thus relinquishes his attempts to exert control over things. After all, he doesn't judge anything and hence doesn't know whether an event will turn out to be good or bad, so how can he try to control the course of events? The Tao is the only real controller, and it controls without effort. This book is the kind of thing one can read in one hour or in an entire lifetime. But don't read it quickly; you need tons of time to ponder the depths of Lao-tzu's wisdom and how you should apply it in your life. The words may at first seem too simple, naïve, even nonsensical. But the Old Boy has an answer for skeptics: "To those that have looked inside themselves,
This nonsense makes perfect sense." This stuff isn't for the mind, it's for the soul. Reason is to the Tao as a wrench is to a heartache: a crude and useless tool.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond rating
Review: How could one possibly rate a book such as this...Wisdom cant be rated, nor can anyone say this scales so and so on the wisdom counter (much less count it in any way)...In this respect giving 5 stars here feels more like a mechanical response or a non choice.. This collection of poems which comprise the "Book of the way" by Lao Tzu is wisdom you feel with tevry nerve and pore of your body as you go through them. It's not a book that you read once and immediately achive something. It couldn't be possibly meant that way. It's a book to keep coming back to for life, one you'll refer to and embrace for as long as you're alive, one you'll understand slowly, piece by piece, sometimes verse by verse as you gather experience bad or good. The incredible thing about it is that its "wisdom" is based on overwhelmingly simple premises, so simple and yet for most people (sadly so) so incredibly hard to grasp. That's a thought that will occur to you many times while reading through these poems: "hey, this sounds so simple and feels so right, but it seems everyone i know including myself is doing the exact opposite".. Human nature will also occur to you as a basic theme while discovering the foundations of Taoistic philosophy through Lao Tzu..Is our nature much like that of a computer where someone can programm us in whichever flase way and then we have to invest a whole lifetime's worth to deprogramm ourselves back to simplicity? The premise of "take things as they come" or more importnatly "dont interfere" is a repeated one in Tao Te Ching. Now, this thought is the hardest to grasp and it hides beneath it a huge, massive underlying philosophy on life in general which in turn contains the secret to the survival of this species. Heavy statement? Possibly so, but then again once you start thinking simple you go through a somewhat psychedelic cycle of "simple-very complicated-back to simple. The simple HAS to occur in anyone's mind before anything else that comes close to complicated can be taken up as a thought. The opposite process, the one we put our children through at schools is one that mathematically leads to mass confusion and mass failure: individualistic failure and societal failure.
We have come to the point where simplicity has to be retaught to us. What's worse than that is that we have to venture 1000s of years back and take up philosophy and poecy as old as the winds to achive this. That, at least to em, sounds pretty scary. But it might be our only way out of the predicament our modern "civilised" world has come to.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent translation
Review: This has to be one of the best translations of the Tao Te Ching I have read.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a translation but an interpretation
Review: Mr Mitchell includes a disclaimer to the effect that a translator cannot do his job with complete objectivity, that different translators interact with the text differently, that some passages cannot be translated absolutely literally. While I agree with all these statements, Mr Mitchell goes far beyond any reasonable definition of translation in a scholarly work and dives whole-heartedly into the realm of out-and-out interpretation. He notes in quite a few areas that he has been, in his own words, 'very free here'. What he means is he has completely replaced the words of Lao Zi with what he personally feels 'the old man' meant. This is the height of academic irresponsibility. I want to read, as much as possible in a foreign language, the words of Lao Zi, whoever he may have been, not the Zen Buddhist beliefs of a fellow American with an inflated opinion of his own understanding of Lao Zi's mind. I have read three translations and plan to read many more; this by far is the worst of the three. Thankfully, Mr Mitchell's otherwise worthless notes include more correct (though still flawed) translations of the passages he made up--err, I mean, 'translated freely'. Infinitely better translations (J.J.M. Duyvendak's springs to mind) are available and, despite what some people say to the contrary, are no more difficult for the layman to understand. This is more like 'Chicken Soup for the Daoist Soul'. If you are really interested in the Daodejing, choose a translation which approaches the text seriously rather than this one, which treats Lao Zi as some sort of infomercial self-help guru.
Rating:
Summary: Tao Te Ching
Review: If philosophy is an interest or if you are interested in Zen and finding yourself this is for you. The pocket version is great, with explanations at the back. Wether you read it for fun and with a critical eye or embrace it this is an interesting read. You are bound to identify with some of it and it is key on a historical level. It is very insightfull and is bound to make you think.
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