The Shambhala Guide to Taoism (Shambhala Guides)

An unexpectedly broad look at both the history of Taoism as well as exceptional and well-explained details about the practices of different sects. Particularly fascinating discussions of mystical taoism, magic, inner alchemy, and meditative techniques. Very helpful bibliography for further reading at end of each chapter. We look forward to checking out additional books by Ms Wong on Taoism.

The book is a rather formal, precise introduction to the core history, traditions, and ideas of Taoism. It avoids trying to convince the reader of any truths, which is polite, but the book ends up a bit of a dry read. You must be interested in learning in the textbook style to enjoy this book.

This book is very dry. There's a lot of information in it, but I found it a chore to read.

I really wanted to like this book. It covers the entire history of Taoism from its Shamanistic origins to present-day synthesis. I have really had trouble reading other books on Taoism that deal with more than classical philosophical Taoism, because so many of the later forms seem to have no connection to the classical texts. Unfortunately, after several tries, I had to give up on this one as well. I don't know if I'm still lacking some crucial information that made this so hard to understand or if it's the writing. I ended up skimming a couple of chapters of interest and passing it on.

About the author: quoting from the book's back cover, "Eva Wong is a practitioner of the Taoist arts and a translator of texts from the Chinese. [She has translated multiple titles]. About the book: still quoting from the back cover, "This guide to the spiritual landscape of Taoism not only introduces the important events in the history of Taoism, the sages who wrote the Taoist texts, and the various schools of Taoist thinking, but also gives the reader a feel for what it means to practice Taoism today. . .A comprehensive bibliography for further study completes this valuable reference work." This book is well-indexed.