A beautiful little book that’s a translation but also a meditation on translation. I really enjoyed learning about Dao, De, Laozi and being provoked to think about the art of translating.

Although Ken Liu faithfully admits that any translation of Laozi could never accurately explain dao, and in fact may be a practice disdained by the author, his self-reflective attempts are the real strength of this translation. Eschewing pretty language or cadence, Liu prefers to make Laozi's words rough and ungraceful. And instead of lectures and discussions of etymology, he pairs many of the chapters with allegories from Zhuangzi to better explain the unexplainable.

You can see this is an effort of love from someone who is not "Dao-aware" as Liu puts it, because there is acceptance in not achieving that state Laozi stressed upon. And sometimes there is even outright disagreement. My favorite passage being where he translates Laozi as "The way of heaven plays no favorites; it abides always with kindness" and responds "Heaven and earth are not benevolent. That's why it's even more incumbent upon us to be kind to one another. It's the only way."

This is less a treatise and more of a dialectic, which may be the more accessible way to introducing people to the works of Laozi. What Liu's writing avoids in finesse, it emphasizes in transparent process. A wonderful addition not only to the philosophy of Dao but the struggles of translators everywhere.

I know I may be an outlier here, but before reading this book I was not familiar with Laozi’s Dao De Jing. However, over the past couple years I have been drawn to Ken Liu's writing. He writes with passion and emotion. He's never afraid to make you feel. This interpretation is no different. I love his insights and the way he presents the Dao De Jing. It's real, raw and unfiltered. This book allows you to be unique and form your own opinions/interpretation, just the way he wants it. I really enjoyed this book.

I want to thank Simon & Schuster and netgalley for giving me the arc to review for a fair and honest review. All thoughts are my own.

This was a really interesting translation of the Dao De Jing. I have read other versions in the past (my favorite for students is Stephen Mitchell's version, simply for the ease of reading), but Ken Liu's finds the perfect balance of readability with scholarly footnotes and background essays. I thought at first that the interspersed chapters on historical context, biographical info, and Liu's translation notes would be distracting, but by the end I found these to be some of my favorite moments.

Not sure how to rate this on a scale - mainly considering how I felt about the translation and interpretation from Ken Liu. There were quite a few thought provoking passages here, but it was difficult to wrap my head around embracing Dao as a lifestyle in this modern world. I think that’s the point though, so it’s still quite interesting to chew on in the background. I liked the way Ken added his thoughts here and there and overall flowed very freely from passage to passage. As always, I appreciate his translations :)

Received a free copy from Netgalley.

I cannot describe how much I love this book. This is a new translation of a popular work, and I was familiar with the work from when I was in college studying Chinese and East Asian Studies. One of the best things about this new edition is how the author explains how he came to certain choices based on language, and he talks about the different choices.
The translation itself is beautiful and there are several stories in between sections. I know I'm prejudiced because of how much I love this culture and philosophy, but I think almost anyone could benefit from learning this philosophy of living life without fighting every minute.
Thanks so much to NetGalley for letting me read this

New translation of Dao de Jing classic text on the Tao along with commentary and stories about the Chinese philosopher.. Simple, easy to read and poetic. List of stories and sources.