Eastern Philosophy For Beginners

Rating:
Summary: Eastern Philosophy for Beginners
Review: "Eastern Philosophy for Beginners" by Jim Powell [Writers & Readers Publishing, NY, 2000, 181 pages] is a delightful book, commended to beginners interested in learning the basics of eastern philosophy and religion, as well as to experts inclined to enjoy a refreshing new look at the subject. In spite of its unassuming title, the book is quite comprehensive, and charmingly illustrated. The concepts are lucidly presented, along with descriptions of the historical and cultural contexts. Reader's questions are anticipated and answered by way of frequent dialogs between an intrepid learner, "Alice," and her very-much-in-the-know companion, "Caterpillar." The book begins with an introductory orientation, and a fascinating exposition of the philosophies and religions of India, followed by those of China, then those of Japan, and finally of Tibet. The index is thorough. There is a brief bibliography for those desirous of further reading.
Arthur Hubbard
Santa Barbara Science Project
November 2001

Rating:
Summary: Eastern Philosophy for Beginners
Review: "Eastern Philosophy for Beginners" by Jim Powell [Writers & Readers Publishing, NY, 2000, 181 pages] is a delightful book, commended to beginners interested in learning the basics of eastern philosophy and religion, as well as to experts inclined to enjoy a refreshing new look at the subject. In spite of its unassuming title, the book is quite comprehensive, and charmingly illustrated. The concepts are lucidly presented, along with descriptions of the historical and cultural contexts. Reader's questions are anticipated and answered by way of frequent dialogs between an intrepid learner, "Alice," and her very-much-in-the-know companion, "Caterpillar." The book begins with an introductory orientation, and a fascinating exposition of the philosophies and religions of India, followed by those of China, then those of Japan, and finally of Tibet. The index is thorough. There is a brief bibliography for those desirous of further reading.
Arthur Hubbard
Santa Barbara Science Project
November 2001

Rating:
Summary: Could have used better focus...
Review: I appreciate the format this book attempts to use and the audience it is working to reach. It covers a wide range of religious thought and non-religious philosophy, even some minor schools of thought, with an appreciable lack of bias. However, I have a few serious gripes. The first is the massive number of formatting errors and total lack of continuous, fluid formatting. The font is ugly and oftentimes words spill out of their designated boxes and into images. The second is the way attention is paid to minor matters, such as legends and myths surrounding people, and horded when it comes to technical explanations and historical descriptions. This is worst when the author goes on speels about female anatomy and sexuality. He will spend a page describing, in cliché "Oriental" terms such as "jade stalk" and "lush valley" the process of lovemaking, then fail to explain what Taoists believe. These shortcomings were enough to force my decision to find a better introduction to Eastern philosophy, despite having read this entire book through - just in case there was anything worthwhile. There wasn't, unless all books on this subject are so bad.

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Summary: Irreverence and Rationalism
Review: I liked this book because it will push almost everyone's buttons. First of all, Indians don't like to hear that their Vedic culture had its origins outside of India. Powell shows that it did. Hindus don't like to admit that vegetarianism came from outside of Hinduism. Powell shows that it came from Jainism. As an aside, Powell's contention that the Hindu Goddesses such as Saraswati are not central in Hindu theology is correct. The Gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are central. Powell's point is that before the patriarchal Aryan influence, India may have had a form of Goddess worship in which a Goddess was central, as in some other cultures. They are not central, however, in Hinduism. Although there is much attention given to Goddess worship in India, it is nevertheless a culture, as Powell points out, in which widows were expected to jump into the funeral fire to join their deceased husbands. Some of these husbands were rajas and some of them had hundreds or even thousands of wives. If Goddess worship were central in India would women need to prove their purity and sanctity by burning themselves to death in their husbands funeral pyres?

Powell is irreverent and informative. His approach is mainly historico-comical. However, he leaves most of the humor up to the illustrator and focuses instead on systematically presenting rather complex ideas. Furthermore, the illustrations imply that the entire narrative (in the form of a conversation between the Hookah-Smlking Caterpillar and Alice in Worderland) is just a pipe dream--that any representation of the Orient--including this one--is fated to be just a representation--not the Orient.

Rating:
Summary: Eastern Philosophy for Beginners
Review: Jim Powell, who also seems to be the author of Derrida for Beginners as well as Postmodernism for Beginners, has written an introduction that is lucid, well-written and insightful. Most scholars of religions tend to feel that categories such as Hinduism, Buddhism etc. are almost meaningless abstractions, because they are too broad. One of the nice things about this book is that it shows how the various traditions changed over time and were deeply influenced by other traditions. For instance, Powell notes the influence of Christianity on modern Hinduism, and the influence of MTV in contemporary China. The poetry of Powell's descriptions is often quite nice, for instance his description of Shiva. An excellent introductory read for those new to the study of Eastern Philosophy as well as those who fancy they know something about this vast field. Though it IS introductory, it is nevertheless brimming with a major insight in every section.

Rating:
Summary: Good introduction to Eastern Philosophy
Review: This book does give a great introduction to a subject that is rather 'grey' in nature, in that the lines blur in Eastern Philosophy. The author did a marvelous job when it came to definitions. The author took the subject/historical approach to presenting the material. That is, he split eastern philosophy up into it's geological categories, then traced the historical development of each one. Something I noted about this book is that the author didn't give special treatment to any one form of eastern philosophy, as many do. When I read it, it appeared objective to me. The illustrations were great. If you get this book, look for Alice and the Caterpillar. This book is easy to read, and technical terms are kept to a minimum, and defined well when used.

I would definately recommend this book to someone who wanted to know more about Eastern Philosophy.

Rating:
Summary: Good introduction to Eastern Philosophy
Review: This book does give a great introduction to a subject that is rather 'grey' in nature, in that the lines blur in Eastern Philosophy. The author did a marvelous job when it came to definitions. The author took the subject/historical approach to presenting the material. That is, he split eastern philosophy up into it's geological categories, then traced the historical development of each one. Something I noted about this book is that the author didn't give special treatment to any one form of eastern philosophy, as many do. When I read it, it appeared objective to me. The illustrations were great. If you get this book, look for Alice and the Caterpillar. This book is easy to read, and technical terms are kept to a minimum, and defined well when used.

I would definately recommend this book to someone who wanted to know more about Eastern Philosophy.

Rating:
Summary: I liked this book!
Review: This book gave me some good ideas for my Religious Studies paper. Actually, it gave me more good ideas than the books assigned by my professor! Also, the many illustrations, especially the 19th century engravings, made me feel as if I was walking through ancient India and China. My favorite section was "The Incredible Lightness of Beijing."

The books approaches Asian Religions historically, with the major focus being on India and China.

This is a fine, clearly written and insightful book.

Rating:
Summary: Really intelligent writing
Review: This book made me aware of how much I do not know about Eastern philosophies and religious systems. For, instance, I had thought that vegetarianism originated with the Hindus. In fact, as Powell points out, the Hindus adopted it from the Jains. This book packs a lot of insight into a deceptively facile genre.

Rating:
Summary: Really intelligent writing
Review: This book made me aware of how much I do not know about Eastern philosophies and religious systems. For, instance, I had thought that vegetarianism originated with the Hindus. In fact, as Powell points out, the Hindus adopted it from the Jains. This book packs a lot of insight into a deceptively facile genre.