The Tao of Pooh
Penguin (Non-Classics) - Penguin (Non-Classics)
Release date: 1983-07-28
Paperback
Author: Benjamin Hoff
Novels, other prose & writers: from c 1900 -, Taoism, Philosophy, Humor / Topic / Religion, Philosophy / Taoist, Taoist, Religion, (Alan Alexander),, 1882-1956, 20th century, Books and reading, Characters, Children, Children's stories, English, Great Britain, History, History and criticism, Milne, A. A, Winnie the Pooh, Winnie-the-Pooh (Fictitious character)
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The Tao of Pooh
Date undefinedSimply put, this book is excellent. It is simple and concise, and it keeps you reading. I also think it does a great job giving you the basics of Taoist thought.
The Tao of Pooh
Date undefinedI'm right to review this book for two reasons, and wrong for one. First, AA Milne was the first book I remember looking for in the school library, as a child. My "inner child" (which is mostly in control of the outer adult, anyway) rejoiced in an excuse to revisit 100 Acre Wood. Second, as a missionary in China (and later author of a book on "How Jesus fulfills the Chinese Culture"), I also learned to love Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi, and learn from them. Third, however, while as Hoff correctly points out, there's a little of each these characters in each of us, the owl usually emerges in me when I start critiquing books.
By and large, this is a pleasant and successful introduction to philosophical Taoism. Sometimes it's confusing which are the bits Pooh said in Milne, and which are the bits Hoff added -- even though the font is different -- but then, Hoff's Pooh sometimes sounds quite different from Milne's Pooh. Sometimes he even comes across as overly clever, which is not in character.
When I asked young people in China, I found that more seemed to admire Confucius than Lao Zi. Let me devote the rest of my review to explaining that, in light of Hoff's depiction of both.
If Pooh disses Owl, you can't blame him because (1) He's a stuffed animal; (2) It's funny; and (3) Hoff is critiquing archeotypes, not individuals. When Zhuang Zi disses Confucius, the second two excuses also apply: there's a bit of sectarian edge, but it's more Saturday Night Live than Inquisition. When Hoff steps out of character to diss "dissicated" intellectual types, there's a bit of humor, but it's harder to draw the line between fair critique and cheap shot.
The truth is, lots of "owls" are reasonable people. Confucius was one: he loved music, took disciples hiking, and admitted when he didn't know something. And lots of "Poohs" can't tell their heads from the hole in a honey jar, making them not cute and wise, but common, ignorant gluttons.
But this is a critique of Taoism in general, not just Hoff, and certainly not Pooh. This is why Taoism was never "the Way" in China. There was a reaction, often a healthy one, to the Lao-Zhuang philosophy. It's the weakness of early Taoist philosophy -- reflected by Hoff's over-generalizations and over-simplicities -- that it did not make the difference clear. Folk Taoism ran off in one diametrically different direction -- as Hoff appears not to know, but probably does -- and Buddhists and Confucius' more proper and stuffy disciples (who often did live down to the caricature) in another. Each had its up side and its down side. Imagine Pooh singing and philosophizing cheerfully at the still-warm grave of Piglet: that's Zhuang Zi, at one point.
The world would be poorer without Pooh, and much poorer without the aphorisms of Lao Zi and the stories of Zhuang Zi. They don't make a full philosophy of life, but they do make part of one; and Hoff's little book is a good, sometimes flawed and sometimes too accurate, but often fun, introduction.
The Tao of Pooh
Date undefinedIt is true that Hoff seems to display a certain "dislike" or "bias" against things that go against his vision of the Tao, but overall, this is a wonderful, enjoyable book that gets across in a rather easy and simple manner some ideas central to Taoism, especially when it uses quotes from the Tao Te Ching in explaining Pooh's actions.
In fact, I have used several quotes from the book in a compilation of useful Taoist guides towards the right Path:
Simple Tao:
http://www.blueboard.com/tao/
