The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff (3.0)
I bought and read this book many years ago. After seeing
the new movie, ‘Christopher Robin’, my love of all things Pooh was rekindled
and I found the book on my shelves. I am really torn about this book – I really
love Pooh’s Taoisms, but upon rereading it, I realize the author has some
strong (and sometimes frankly offensive) views. When he sticks to the words of
the Taos masters and A.A. Milne’s corresponding Pooh-isms, the book is
delightful. It makes one want to read the original stories to relish in the
simple views and delights of the little bear. Unfortunately about two-thirds of
the way through the book, the author inserts some very blatant views on
capitalism, exploration and intellectualism. Basically you should not want for
anything (knowledge or cleverness as embodied in Owl and Rabbit are scorned). I
have read some Tao teachings and, while the gist of this is true, I found Hoff’s
treatment to be too blunt and simplistic. This is a very short book – so worth
reading if you are a fan of Pooh – just don’t take the author’s
heavy-handedness too seriously.
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