Ratings137
Average rating3.9
I'm just starting a regular practice of consuming content more meaningfully and was suggested this book through An Vu's blog. I enjoyed this westernized introduction to Taoism and reading this reminds me that many of the thoughts and struggles that I face in my daily life are not unique and have been encountered by many people, many times throughout history and the wisdom in these books can still be applied to my life today. I have no conscious memory of reading or watching Winnie the Pooh, but still find myself understanding and relating to the comparisons that this book was drawing to the main cast. This book has gotten me to think about questions that I have been struggling with in this phase of life: What does it mean to live a good life? What am I supposed to do with my time? What do I really like? How can I have impact? Why am I working so hard? How come I am not happy now? Who should I surround myself with? Why do I get along with some people and clash with others? What do I value? This book doesn't provide answers but lays the foundation for me to answer these questions on my own.
Es una filosofía interesante, y la forma en que narran las historias entrelazadas con las aventuras de pooh se me hizo super tierna, creo que podría intentar adaptar algunas de las enseñanzas, sobre todo las de ir a tu propio ritmo, no sobrepensar las cosas ni tratar de controlar todo. Me parece una reflexión muy útil al menos a mi que suelo estresarme mucho con todo.
For my lenten growth, I've been reading or listening to spiritually nourishing stories. I'd read this book and loved this little work many years ago. Finding the brief audiobook now was a great joy. The reader is what you'd hope for and he does a fair job of speaking the voices of the Pooh family. I love these dear characters and have loved them from when I was just a boy. It was fun to revisit with them while contemplating the ways of The Way. While the audio was fine, I did miss the lovely drawings that are found in the print version of it.
A cute, light view into Eastern thought. I loved the intro into the concepts, however, I really did not like and got distracted by the characters interacting with the narrator. I understand that the author was making a point and illustrating the things he was talking about, however, it was distracting and slightly annoying. It just felt like it dragged on a bit.
I would love to keep learning about taoist ways.
“How can you get very far,
If you don't know Who You Are?
How can you do what you ought, If you don't know What You've Got?
And if you don't know Which To Do Of all the things in front of you,
Then what you'll have when you are through Is just a mess without a clue
Of all the best that can come true
If you know What and Which and Who.”
A charming book that made me smile and chuckle. Easily one of my favourite books - for both getting to know Pooh and the Way.
Easily one of the most useful books on the Tao that I've ever read, apart from the Tao Te Ching itself–and with this one, you don't have hundreds of different translations to contend with!
A wonderful and cute way to discover the principles of Taoism through a most lovable character ❤️ It wasn't perfect but didn't needed to be either, so it was in its own way.
A cute little red book that feels a little bit more of a tribute to The Bear Himself more so than Taoism. I recommend it though!!!
As a longtime fan of Winnie the Pooh and a nonstop explorer of my inner compass, I absolutely loved this book. Note to self: reread this every year.
I don't understand why this was so highly recommended to me. I didn't get anything out of it and found it rather annoying. (I listened to the audio-book. Perhaps I would not have found it as annoying if I were reading it off the page?)
Oh, poor Pooh. This was fine. It was just terrible to hear as an audiobook. Despite the reader (Simon Vance) being a known good reader, and despite his impressive voice talents (his Pooh was so good!).
Basically: Taoism as interpreted by the Pooh gang. It intersperses Pooh adventures with old Taoist fables, and occasional breaking-the-fourth-wall interjections. It spends a lot of time (and builds a convincing case) against intellectualism and scientism (two things I usually say they will have to tear from my cold, dead hands - but I was convinced this time).
BUT. Yo, I know Taoist stuff can be presented - like Buddhist stuff - in this super “inscrutable Eastern teachings” way, this whole “form is emptiness, emptiness is form” way. But there is some merit to being understandable. And I actually found The Path by Michael Pruett and Christine Gross-Loh to be a much more understandable, deeper, richer introduction to Taoism. Even the Kindle sample of Everyday Tao resonated more. So, yeah.
A very insightful book about Taoism. It blends Pooh excerpts and principles of Taoism into an easy to understand novel.
I'm not normally into philosophy or religion or anything like that, but this book was an interesting way to expose people to concepts related to philosophy. Turns out I have a bit of a Tao personality!
Pooh is my role model. I reread Milne's books every year or two, and always get something new out of them. So I had really hoped to enjoy Tao of Pooh... but I didn't. I still love the idea of this book, just not this particular implementation.
I found it ironic that Hoff rails against being Clever, because that's how his writing comes across to me. Smug, self-assured, Possessing of Truth. Even more than a little preachy.
The important thing is, we don't really need to know. We don't need to imitate Nearsighted Science, which peers at the world through an electron microscope, looking for answers it will never find and coming up with more questions instead. We don't need to play Abstract Philosopher, asking unnecessary questions and coming up with meaningless answers. What we need to do is recognize Inner Nature and work with Things As They Are.
for me