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A review by jessica_lam
Taoism: An Essential Guide by Eva Wong
2.0
I really wish I enjoyed this more, but unfortunately, this guide was a rather dry presentation of a really interesting subject.
Wong starts out strong, describing the guide as a starting point, rather than the destination - a place that should start the reader on a journey of questions and research. Throughout the book she provides extensive sources for further research, but it fails to accomplish one of the goals she first lays out - to make the subject a thing of interest and inspire the reader to go on this spiritual journey.
Truly, this could have been two books. Wong splits the guide into two sections, with the first half providing a rather in depth presentation of the developmental history of Taoism as both an official religion and a sort of pagan practice in ancient China. Unfortunately, should one not have a firm grasp of China's complicated history, one could become quite lost. The second half goes more in depth with the actual belief systems and rituals of taoism, going especially in depth into the difference between different sects. It somehow, at once, gets so in the weeds that it becomes rather opaque and inaccessible to the beginner and also is so general that it's difficult for the reader to get much information out of it without going to one of the sources.
A pet peeve of mine is for books about Chinese (and other languages) to not include the original language when talking about specific terms and names in its original language. Pinyin is especially rather subjective and non-descript, especially depending on the dialect, so I wish that the book would include the Chinese characters of the names as well next to the direct translations and pin yins. While I appreciate that the books is marketed toward a Western audience, it's a good introduction even for non-Chinese speakers to see these characters (especially since there are images of talismans with Chinese on them). It also would not alienate Chinese speakers like myself, who knew a lot of these figures, but had to look up the translations from pinyin, especially since I selected this volume largely based on the fact that it was written by an Asian author among a sea of non-Asian names in my library catalogue. To clarify, I read this in an ebook format, so if that is the case in the paper print format, I rescind the criticism.
Overall, though, Wong includes a lot of information into the volume, though in a very direct and dry format. If you are accustomed to reading dense non-fiction texts and want to learn more about Taoism, this might be for you.
Wong starts out strong, describing the guide as a starting point, rather than the destination - a place that should start the reader on a journey of questions and research. Throughout the book she provides extensive sources for further research, but it fails to accomplish one of the goals she first lays out - to make the subject a thing of interest and inspire the reader to go on this spiritual journey.
Truly, this could have been two books. Wong splits the guide into two sections, with the first half providing a rather in depth presentation of the developmental history of Taoism as both an official religion and a sort of pagan practice in ancient China. Unfortunately, should one not have a firm grasp of China's complicated history, one could become quite lost. The second half goes more in depth with the actual belief systems and rituals of taoism, going especially in depth into the difference between different sects. It somehow, at once, gets so in the weeds that it becomes rather opaque and inaccessible to the beginner and also is so general that it's difficult for the reader to get much information out of it without going to one of the sources.
A pet peeve of mine is for books about Chinese (and other languages) to not include the original language when talking about specific terms and names in its original language. Pinyin is especially rather subjective and non-descript, especially depending on the dialect, so I wish that the book would include the Chinese characters of the names as well next to the direct translations and pin yins. While I appreciate that the books is marketed toward a Western audience, it's a good introduction even for non-Chinese speakers to see these characters (especially since there are images of talismans with Chinese on them). It also would not alienate Chinese speakers like myself, who knew a lot of these figures, but had to look up the translations from pinyin, especially since I selected this volume largely based on the fact that it was written by an Asian author among a sea of non-Asian names in my library catalogue. To clarify, I read this in an ebook format, so if that is the case in the paper print format, I rescind the criticism.
Overall, though, Wong includes a lot of information into the volume, though in a very direct and dry format. If you are accustomed to reading dense non-fiction texts and want to learn more about Taoism, this might be for you.