The eastern philosophy of Tao explained via examples from Winnie-the-Pooh. Oh, and remarkably inane conversations with the various characters. each character is turned into a stereotype (Eeyore frets, Piglet hesitates, Owl pontificates), but in the long run, it's all okay.

Often published with its sequel, The Te of Piglet, this pair and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance are perfect Cliff Notes for understanding why people can be so laidback.

One of the best books that I have ever read. Seriously, this book I think has truly changed my life. It's not that it had any real significant impact on me, like a complete, utter change in consciousness, but just on how I think about things. I don’t worry about the small things too much, for there's no point in it, I don't worry about the large things too much, for there's no point in that either. basically I’ve come to the realization that I AM, and no matter what is wrong with the world, religion, God/Gods, what have you, there's no changing that. whether or not I believe in God, or heaven or hell, I’m still here on earth, just trying to live each day at a time, and with at least a little joy.

It's a wonderful book, and one that is hard to fully describe it's meaning, and what it's about. To put it simply, and as Taoism would put it; It Is.

A reviewer above described this work as "remarkably inane" and full of "stereotypes", and while I would agree with this, I would like to expand on this a bit.

First, it should be pointed out that books treating academics through the eye of the Winnie-the-Pooh story are somewhat of a cottage industry, and that some of these books are quite amusing and somewhat informative. It was due to my good experiences with these other books that I decided to pick this up, despite the fact that as a student of sinology, I was well aware of the type of drivel that has been written about Taoism.

Unfortunately for this book, the book ends up as a stereotypical reduction of Taoism into a "feel good" ideology to fit the 70's lifestyle. An even worse offense is that the book is just not funny, and not even really slightly amusing. I expected to be annoyed as a student of Chinese, because the Taoist writings are thrown in mish-mash, with no explanation of the historical origins of Taoism, and no explanation of the various branches of Taoism (ie, religious, philosophical or magical taoism. Taoism is presented as a single uncarved block that can't be critiqued and analyzed. I could write a bit about cultural foiling and othering, but the book doesn't really warrant it.

The real sin of the book is writing a book about how to be an open, happy person and doing it in a way that comes across as so dogmatic and superior. If someone can read Winnie-the-Pooh and Zhuangzi and still be unfunny, there is not much hope for that person.

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