Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Somebody has to bash this book and I guess it's going to be me. Now get this straight before I saw anything: I like Pooh and I like Taoism. I don't attack the subject matter of this book. However, I attack the style, misrepresentation of religions (other than Taoism), and the misrepresentation of Pooh in this book. Although I can see this book was intended for young adults, I find the style condescending, as if Hoff thinks he's speaking to the uneducated masses waiting for enlightenment. There is definitely the feel of being taught by a teacher in elementary school as one reads this book. Furthermore, while some might find the childishness of Hoff "delightful", I found it nothing of the sort. I thought the book was boring and tedious. I don't know why people enjoy this book when there are real philosophy books out there, like the wonderful "Zen and Art of Motorcyle Maintenence". Most disturbing about this book was its misrepresentation of other religions and its general condemnation of non-Taoist thought. For a young-adults book, I've never seen pages so loaded with mind-narrowing prejudice! His treatment of Buddhism and Confucianism are ludicrous and disturbingly inaccurate. I'll leave it to the reader to find the obvious discrepencies between Hoff's imaginary philosophies and the real philosophies he attempts to describe. Further, I've never felt so insulted by a book as this; his virtually says that all scholars are fools. Does everyone passively accept that being enlightened requires ignorance? I sure as heck don't! Finally, Pooh was the unfortunate mascot Hoff manipulated to give credibility to his views. Hoff would ask a question to Pooh and Pooh would respond by condemning certain schools of thought. The real Pooh would never do that! Pooh is a simple and non-offensive character who gets along with the world because of both of these qualities. In short, I was morally offended by this book many consider to be a classic, and I think Hoff should have learned some lessons from childrens' books with good messages before he wrote this loaded polemic.