Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: "The Tao of Pooh" has been called "the book most often recommended to explain Taoist principles." Hoff's fame offered a bully pulpit, and after a decade he made use of it. He wrote a companion book, "The Te of Piglet," about the way of the small, weak, childlike, feminine, sensitive, virtuous, modest, yielding, and fluid. At least, I think that's what it's about. There's little in here about either Piglet or Te (pronounced DEHr or DUHr). Instead, it's a diatribe against heavy industry, business, government (especially the Forest Service), pesticides, doctors, the military, feminists, conservatives, realists, Western culture, mainstream Americans, critics, and all the other "Eeyores" of the world. Yes, Hoff criticises critics (and shows himself to be an Eeyore). Very disappointing.The dialog with Piglet and the others is there, though with a depressing and negative spin. (Inexplicably, Piglet has hired a thief as a bodyguard. And Eeyore isn't just gloomy, he's a mean SOB.) The original Pooh stories are there, though crudely intercut in very large chunks. The original Pooh illustrations are there. The funky capitalization is there. Quotations from Taoist philosophers are there in abundance. In fact, it's a rather long book -- almost twice as long as the first one. There are long explanatory sections about the history of Taoism and Confucianism, and smatterings of Taoist principles. The book just doesn't lift one's spirits. Instead of selling Taoism, it's an environmentalist rant. Hoff even claims that our generation will see the collapse of business/civilization as we know it, to be replaced by a new age of environmental consciousness. Not that there aren't useful insights here, of course. One of my favorites: "A successful individual appears to succeed because he is Aggressive -- he chases after things and gets them. Chances are his positive attitude attracts those things to him and creates opportunities for success to happen. But chances are onlookers see Aggression succeeding, rather than Attitude. So that's what they imitate. And, since aggression attracts more aggression, the want-to-be-successful turn business into Busyness, creating an atmosphere of increasing combativeness and negativity in which relatively few are likely to be successful -- and even fewer are likely to be happy." Hoff recommends instead that we follow the way of Gandhi, "the greatest Piglet of all time." Taoists have historically been critics of hierarchical, rule-based Confucian governments and practices, and they have always supported the underdog. But Taoists have also been scientists, artists, philosophers, healers, and intellectuals of all sorts. I'd rather read about their positive beliefs than about the negatives of everyone else. And I'd like to see it done with more humor. To quote Hoff, "Eeyores, in other words, are Whiners. They believe the negative but not the positive and are so obsessed with What's Wrong that the Good Things in Life pass them by unnoticed. Are they the ones, then, to give us an accurate account of what life is about? If the universe were governed by the Eeyore Attitude, the whole thing would have collapsed eons ago." You wouldn't think the same author wrote these two books.
Rating: 
Summary: The wonderful thing about Piglets...
Review: This book is not really about Piglet so much as it is about stuff other than Piglet. Benjamin Hoff uses Winnie-The-Pooh characters to illustrate the ideas of Toaism, which I gather is the relationship between man and beast and the general balance of the world. In this book, Hoff talks about the Eeyore Effect on schools and society. The Eeyore learning system wants to shove more information down the throats of the nation's youth. They want our children to be given more facts and figures, more information faster and at a younger age, take away all of their time and creativity and not teach them the value of music and art. The Tigger Personality is also discussed and the ways that Toaism is expressed in the Winnie-The-Pooh stories written by A.A. Milne. The Te of Piglet is a wonderful book that everyone in the world should read and think about. All of Hoff's ideas seem to be thoughtful and make sense. ...
Rating: 
Summary: More about Ka-ching than Tao te Ching
Review: This book seems to have been written solely for the money the author knew it would make. It has none of the wit and charm of its predecessor. Mr. Hoff, who often annoyingly refers to himself in the first person plural (our tai chi instructor told us, etc.), begins with the notion that anything anti-western is taoist and constructs a long and tedious screed against modern American culture. He preaches the importance of seeing things as they are and then proves himself totally unable of separating myth from reality. It would be funny if Mr Hoff were not so pompous. The difference between The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet is equivalent to the difference between a prom date and a prostitute.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: There may be Taoist philosophy disguised in here, somewhere, but it sounded to me much more like the ravings of a person who is Most Certainly Not "in harmony with the world." Indeed, the author sounds to be a Very Angry Person. His consistent censure of Confucianism disturbed me the most. Confucianists: "High and mighty"? It sounds as if he has confused Confucianism with Chinese legalism. While Confucianism is certainly concerned with with the role of man in a social hierarchy, the dominant partner in any relationship has an obligation, according to the philosophy, to "rule" with kindness, fairness, and wisdom. It disturbs me that many undoubtedly got their first taste of Confucianism -- aside from any pop-culture impression of its being a philosophy of one-liners suitable only for use in comedy skits -- from the angry man who authored a book ... purportedly about virtue. For him to suggest that Confucianists, as one body, encouraged cruelty to animals, foot-binding, and other crimes against man and nature is sophistry. To imply that every person participating in the Confucianist government of ancient China must be Confucian by philosophy is likewise false. I'm extremely disappointed with this book, which I had hoped would give me a window into the eastern mind. Instead I found a window into the mind of the author-- a window I longed to close.
Rating: 
Summary: Alomst perfect.
Review: I would suggest one reads the Tao of Poo first. It wonderfuly introduces Taoism, or atleast the general ideas of Taoism, without the need for guidence. However, the Te of Piglet takes on concepts which surely should be looked at from many more angles and be thoroughly lived instead of read. Yes, it is a good book with interesting paralels to the Characters of Winnie the Pooh but goes beyond the realities of Taoism. The author also forgets the different schools of this religeon and their concepts. I would atleast hope that a reader either takes this book as a commentary on a religion or uses it as an introduction and explore further using all the resources available. Three Stars
Rating:
Summary: Taoism Made Easy
Review: I recently became interested in learning about Taoism when I viewed the movie The Tao Steve, so I went to my high school libary and found a couple books on Tao Philosphy. All of the books seemed to be a bit outdated except The Te of Piglet. I liked this book because when reading about religon the information can become distorted and complicated and this book steers away from those downfalls. I also could relate better to Pooh,Piglet,Tigger, and the other characters better then i could relate to an ancient oriental rice farmer. This book tells how tao can help you in modern day life and in all aspects of that.I was a freshman in high school when i read this book and recommend it to people my age and above who are good at comprehending the material they read; SO go to the bookstore and and ask for the Te Of Piglet and a word of advise don't pronounce it teh because it's pronouced deh and I wouldn't want you looking stupid.
Rating:
Summary: When a bookstore owner warns you against a book ...
Review: ... approach it carefully. One reviewer gave an excellent reason to enjoy this book: he was feeling very down and small and put upon, and Hoff's rants helped to give him an ally and make him feel not quite so insignificant. If you would like to own this companion to "The Tao of Pooh," I suggest that you purchase it when you're in such a mood, or better yet, check it out from the library. As other reviewers of written, there's much more ranting than philosophy in this book. In "Tao of Pooh," I felt like I was being taught Taoist philosophy from a new perspective. That's what I naturally thought that I was getting into with the "Te of Piglet." Nope. Hoff flirts with the idea briefly, but instead uses Piglet as a soap box to attack the Eyores of the world. Interestingly enough, he eventually seems to realize what he's doing, and so does Piglet (who he spends more time having fictional conversations with than he does quoting the dear character). And Piglet eventually takes him to task for it. I think that Hoff was desperate. Could he simply not find enough examples in the Pooh stories of Piglet's smallness being used for the betterment of the Wood? I discussed this book with some frieds, and mentioned how the author seemed to be really reaching in his villification of Eyore: in his fictional conversations, he has Eyore coming in to pester and depress everyone. What my friends reminded me of is that, in the original Pooh stories, the characters GO TO EYORE the majority of the time when there's need for tension between the characters, for a less than optomistic view of the world, and even for someone to rescue. Eyore is needed and loved *because* he is gloomy, not in spite of it. And at the end, Piglet - small little Piglet who Hoff has misused in an effort to have his hissy fit (and, I presume, make his next car payment) - comes to Eyore's defense. And, for once, however briefly, Hoff is blessedly speechless.
Rating:
Summary: Dissapointing
Review: I loved the Tao of Pooh. I love Piglet. But I didn't love the Te of Piglet. This was a case of taking a great thing too far. My advice to Hoff is to write another, deeper, continuation book about the Taoist ways of Pooh bear and, as Milne did, leave the loveable cast of characters as just that, a cast of characters.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointing rant
Review: Benjamin Hoff's follow-up to the Tao of Pooh, the Te of Piglet, is neither as fun or as interesting as the previous work. Te, the Taoist principle of the virtue of the small includes, according to Hoff, leaving a small footprint (as opposed to a large one) on the earth - as this book has a decidedly more ecological slant to it. Hoff remains true to the endearing format of the Tao of Pooh, but as he writes his diatribes against corporate culture and the evils of consumerism, its charm quickly wears off. Little wonder this book failed to inspire me as his previous book did. Perhaps it was the almost preachy tone Hoff takes from time to time. Or maybe it was the fact that I simply became bored and distracted at the minutae of the philosophy. Possibly I didn't like the book because I don't like Piglet as much as I like Pooh. There are numerous reasons for my dislike of the Te of Piglet - there are so many, I honestly cannot put my finger on a single specific reason. If you had been hoping, as I had, that the Te of Piglet would be as good or better than the Tao of Pooh, you will be diasppointed.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating look at Eastern Philosphy
Review: This novel is a great introduction into the eastern philosphy known as Tao (and te). It symbolically uses the characters from Whinnie the Pooh to teach the reader about Taoism. The hero is Piglet, the short shy hero, who must learn to stick up for what he believes in. This book is also full of many fascinating POEMS and SHORT STORIES from the far east. It is a book for EVERYONE to read. I shared some of the stories in this book during my Torah reading class (it was the day we could read ANYTHING)and the stories led to great discussion. This book will teach you that Monotheism is not the only type of religion and that a respect for nature and doing what you believe in are the really important things in life. This is not a hard read like those darn pocket zen books!!! :o)
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