Rating: 
Summary: The Way of Being. Outstanding Book
Review: Ursula K. Le Guin did a remarkable job in bringing us her translation of this magnificent book that will lift your heart, bring more understanding to your mind, free your ego from its grip on your life, and bring your soul peace from the ancient and extraordinary verses in this book. This is one book that would bring harmony to anyone, when taken into the depths of consciousness. It will show you the way of being. It will help you live with what IS, and that alone will help free you from pain. Highly recommended for its profound truth, and the extraordinary difference this truth can make in your life. Deserves 10 Stars.
Rating:
Summary: a translation by the great science fiction author
Review: Ursula K. Le Guin is considered one of the all-time great science fiction authors, partly because of a profound thematic content in her stories (never explained but always there in the background if you look for it). The very best of her science fiction is grounded in Taoism, for instance, "The Left Hand of Darkness." Le Guin's Tao Te Ching catches hold of the profound through the poetic and easy to visualize. She is also very faithful to the intent of the original Chinese, especially when she expresses the universal in terms that are colloquial, for instance in her use of "oh, yes" for emphasis -- which means, "don't we all know," or "wouldn't you know, how wonderful." The expression is left out as insignificant in most translations, as though it were a mere punctuation or particle, but it's there in the Chinese, not something the translator added on her own, but something she was insightful to see. Her comments, very simply stated in the notes, are also right on.
Rating:
Summary: A walk with a friend
Review: Walk with Ursula on the path beside the stream. Listen as she recites the Tao, the melody of her voice blending with the chuckling sound of the water over polished stones. Here and there she offers a word or two of her own understanding, but, like the Tao herself, her own thoughts are sparse and beautiful. When I pick up and open this book, I feel like I am sitting in a green forest, the poet beside me, and everything I see has a deep and precious meaning. I am at peace. I have many translations of the Tao, but this is one of my very favorites. It doesn't preach or offer scholarly interpretations or commentaries, it is a friend, a comfortable friend, and I love it.
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