Book of the Week: Tao Te Ching

22 Dec 2012

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu I’ll file this under a failure. I should have known a bargain bin pickup for an ancient Chinese classic that has lots of photographs wouldn’t be necessarily the best way to read the Tao Te Ching. First off, the Tao Te Ching in Chinese itself is hard for Chinese people to read without being well read and scholarly. The translation given in this book differs a lot from the other translations I have read online. I believe it was probably the intention to provide the essence of the Tao Te Ching for the general public to consume as a coffee table book. It is effective in that sense, but I want to read the Tao Te Ching. I read a similar well illustrated version of the Art of War and it was very readable and comparable to other translations. The meaning is more direct in matters of war, so there is less ambiguity in the translation and less knowledge required. I haven’t been able to find a translation of 東周列國志 by 馮夢龍. Time to learn Chinese.