Sun, 03 Aug 2008
Review: The Essential Confucius by Paul Strathern
In this short book (57 pages including recommended reading, quotations and an index), Paul Strathern attempts to shed some light on Confucianism. Being completely uninitiated in the philosophy of Confucius, I am the target market. However, this also makes it quite hard to judge whether or not I have received a good grounding. Strathern seems to do a reasonable job of covering the basics, and I certainly know more about Confucianism than when I picked up the book. Sadly, the author comes across as being too eager for the text to be accessible, with puns and jokes which do nothing but distract. Strangely jarring with this wish to be accessible, he also can't help but take a few needless potshots at religious belief and faith, which I also found distracting. Overall though, a decent book.
A couple of quotes stood out to me. The first, as a fan of The Mighty Boosh,The second, as a university student,"To expect a man to do something without the proper advice - this is an outrage."
"It is difficult to find a man who is willing to study for three years without getting a job at the end of it."
Posted: Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:31 | | Comments: 0