Review of The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff

I read this book in conjunction with the Tao Te Ching by Stephen Mitchell, just for kicks. My copy of The Tao of Pooh came from my mother's bookshelf; when she died several years ago this was one of the few books I kept that was hers.

At 158 pages, this is a short book. The print is larger than normal. Hoff borrows text and illustrations *generously* from previously published A.A. Milne stories about Winnie-the-Pooh. (FYI, it was Disney who dropped the hyphens.) to illustrate points he's trying to make about the Tao.

And what is Hoff teaching?

Well, I learned that there are Taoist martial arts.

I learned of a man named Li Ching Yuen, who, when he died in 1933, was supposedly 197 (some believe 256) years old.

I learned that Mr. Hoff doesn't always follow his own teachings; he lets himself go on a rant about busy people, "Miserable Puritan[s]" (and their "Party-Crashing Busybody religion") and the "Restless Pioneer" and the "rigid, combative fanatic" that modern folk are, in his mind. His understanding of the discovery and exploration of North America seem straight out of a modern-day children's coloring book.

I learned of a few Taoist terms, most importantly "T'ai Hsu"--the "Great Nothing." I liked Hoff's translation of Chapter 48 of the Tao Te Ching better than Mitchell's to describe the practice of emptying: "To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day."

Ultimately, though, I learned that Hoff spoiled a good read for me when he let's himself be overcome by Western ideas of the destruction of the world. It's too bad. He started out fine then lost his own way, and not in the Hundred Acre Wood.

I don't like it
1/5 Goodreads
2/5 Amazon