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lpm100's review
1.0
Chinese version of the Bible
Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2020
This really is an absolutely awful book.
I tried to start it about 3 years ago, and I made it 2 pages in. (That is, after the Introduction--which was quite good.)
A few years later I then reasoned that I would read two of the maxims off of every fifth page--in order to get a sampling of what the book was about.
It didn't get any better.
The whole text came across as a series of floating abstractions, and while a few of the expressions did have some mass... I would say that there is not much of anything that you haven't read before / could not read by picking up Mishlei-Proverbs (yes, the Biblical book), with which this book had a large number of stylistic resonances--even though both were written at different times and for dramatically different societies.
I have only read one other author who wrote his books as a series of aphorisms, and that was Eric Hoffer. (He did write several books in that way, and only *one* of them was successful and stood the test of time. And his books were arranged around one narrow theme.)
The few interesting thoughts that you can take away from this book, effort notwithstanding, are certainly not enough to justify the cost/time-cost of reading it.
In fact, the only thing that I did learn (in the Introduction) is that it is questionable whether or not Confucius was even one single person or a composite of several people. Certainly, everything that has been written down with his name attached to it was compiled by later students. And the dates of his lifetime are uncertain.
*******
Historical information: Confucianism is one of the two schools of thought that existed in China since its inception (about 2,300 years ago).
The other school of thought (Legalism, a la Han Feizi) is less well known, but 100% of part of the fabric of China (and its offshoot civilizations) all the way through until this very day.
The two schools of thought essentially say two opposite things, and neither one has come out on top in the last 23 centuries.
The practical purpose of the works of Confucius was to create a barrier to passing the civil service exam in China: students were expected to memorize long sections of it and essays written by other people that they would regurgitate verbatim for the exam.
There was not/is not any type of intellectual stimulation that was meant to go with these analects (unlike the study of Talmud where the intellectual pursuit is its own benefit).
If so, there's nothing particularly intellectually stimulating about these analects... That's because I don't think there was meant to be.
*******
Verdict: Not recommended at any price. Save your time and money.
Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2020
This really is an absolutely awful book.
I tried to start it about 3 years ago, and I made it 2 pages in. (That is, after the Introduction--which was quite good.)
A few years later I then reasoned that I would read two of the maxims off of every fifth page--in order to get a sampling of what the book was about.
It didn't get any better.
The whole text came across as a series of floating abstractions, and while a few of the expressions did have some mass... I would say that there is not much of anything that you haven't read before / could not read by picking up Mishlei-Proverbs (yes, the Biblical book), with which this book had a large number of stylistic resonances--even though both were written at different times and for dramatically different societies.
I have only read one other author who wrote his books as a series of aphorisms, and that was Eric Hoffer. (He did write several books in that way, and only *one* of them was successful and stood the test of time. And his books were arranged around one narrow theme.)
The few interesting thoughts that you can take away from this book, effort notwithstanding, are certainly not enough to justify the cost/time-cost of reading it.
In fact, the only thing that I did learn (in the Introduction) is that it is questionable whether or not Confucius was even one single person or a composite of several people. Certainly, everything that has been written down with his name attached to it was compiled by later students. And the dates of his lifetime are uncertain.
*******
Historical information: Confucianism is one of the two schools of thought that existed in China since its inception (about 2,300 years ago).
The other school of thought (Legalism, a la Han Feizi) is less well known, but 100% of part of the fabric of China (and its offshoot civilizations) all the way through until this very day.
The two schools of thought essentially say two opposite things, and neither one has come out on top in the last 23 centuries.
The practical purpose of the works of Confucius was to create a barrier to passing the civil service exam in China: students were expected to memorize long sections of it and essays written by other people that they would regurgitate verbatim for the exam.
There was not/is not any type of intellectual stimulation that was meant to go with these analects (unlike the study of Talmud where the intellectual pursuit is its own benefit).
If so, there's nothing particularly intellectually stimulating about these analects... That's because I don't think there was meant to be.
*******
Verdict: Not recommended at any price. Save your time and money.
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