A review by wellworn_soles
Lao Tzu : Tao Te Ching : A Book About the Way and the Power of the Way by Laozi

4.0

I wish I could have an extended commentary or companion book to the Tao Te Ching written by Ursula. Her snippets of commentary are really wise and humble, and augmented the writing considerably. I took my time on this read through, opting to read a few passages per week in order to sit with them and think about them. I think having more commentary would have given me more to chew on, which would have been nice; I’ll confess a few times there were parts I didn’t really know how to parse due to Lao Tzu’s inherent contradictory nature.

I really would like to read some other versions of this text, including two of the texts most praised by Le Guin, which are Paul Carus side-by-side English and Chinese version, and Arthur Waley’s politically-charged reading of the text. Im glad to have a copy, because some turns of phrase have that quintessential Le Guin ability to embed in my mind and clarify a previously ambiguous truth. 4 stars.