h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There are two excellent books on the topic of Taoism by an author whose name escapes me...
'The Tao of Pooh' and 'The Te of Piglet'

Both books look at Taoist philosophy and relate how its principles apply to the Hundred Acre Wood and the characters in the Winnie the Pooh stories. Fun reading and meaningful at the same time!

- X

These titles are both by Benjaman Hoff.

D

Thanks! I kept trying to visualize the books' covers and couldn't get past those cute characters!

They are quite good books in themselves, and I quite like them 'cos I'm especially fond of Pooh.

However, as with all subjects, Hoff definitely has his own way of looking at Taoism, and it's a good idea to get a variety of texts to 'fill in the gaps'.

(Many 'Taoists' (or at least, people who call themselves Taoists) think that Hoff has missed the point completely. But then, maybe that's the point... )

jd

I agree, but I happened to like his spin.

BTW: I'm a big fan of Pooh Bear myself!

I really enjoyed the first book, but I thought the second became a bit of a diatribe against the media and politicians of the day (the Owls and Rabbits of this world). I felt that Hoff wavered from his basic themes in order to build up to a rather dramatic last chapter.

Anyone read "Buddhism for Bears"? It's a fantastic little book of illustrated truisms, and I'd recommend it to anyone who thought the idea of using simple ideas like Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood to illustrate a metaphysics was a good one.

Seek it out (ISBN 0-09-186504-2)

JayBee

woo chris riddell, i'm a big fan, its written by Lousie Howard and they also did feng shui for cats and dogs and budhism for sheep. not exactly up to the philisophical depth, but the illustrations are fantastic (you may also recognise Riddell's work from Philip Ridley's books and Paul Stewarts edge chronicals)