Robin R. WangYinyang: The Way of Heaven and Earth in Chinese Thought and Culture (New Approaches to Asian History, Series Number 11)

I really enjoyed this well researched book. It helped provide additional information and deepened my understanding of my qigong practice by furthering my understanding of yin yang.It also helped me find additional books to read as there is quite a robust reference section!Not for the first time reader on yin yang or TCM but great for going deeper into the theory!

Haven't finished the book yet, but the writing is exceptional. Excellent explanations without going into lots of "philosophy-speak." Has in depth explanation of the Dao and the true meaning of yinyang, including the correct pronunciation. Explains why the Dao is not dualism, in spite of arising from the interplay of opposites; how this kind of thought is integrative, not oppositional. More than worth the price.

As a longtime student of Chinese philosophy - and the practical application of those philosophies in martial arts - I'd thought I knew something about Yingyang. This book made me realize both how little I actually did know about the concept - but more importantly, how little I was able to put into practice. Dr. Wang's extremely wide ranging scholarship illumines Yinyang in a way I've never seen - and makes the concept a part of one's lived experience, and not simply an interesting philosophical idea. Now, this is not a light read. It's an extremely dense, compact work of scholarship. But that very effort of reading ensures that the concepts don't remain superficial - but are integrated into one's ideas, thinking, and action.My only reason for 4 rather than 5 stars is I feel the book over emphasizes Daoism, without giving sufficient attention to the Confucian tradition - but that's not uncommon. And a few areas could stand more aggressive editing.But those points are minor. This book is a model for what scholarly philosophical writing should be.

Writing style reminds me of a textbook, however this book was easy to read. Clear history with adequate surrounding background to give context to the subject. Answered a lot of questions I had Enjoyed reading, have recommended and given as gift.

My husband enjoyed this book so much he purchased another copy for a friend.

I gleaned much interesting information from this book. Its weaving of yinyang throughout Chinese history is thorough and at times thoroughly tiresome. Then again, that’s my take. A grad student in Chinese philosophy would likely give this four or five stars. Nevertheless, I had my eyes opened and gained new perspectives as a result of some of the inherent ideas. Other ideas presented, however, struck me as just so much philosophical falderal, though this is not the author’s fault. She is rather dispassionate in her presentation. One strange thing, for a work that had undergone such rigorous academic scrutiny, I was surprised to see a repeated grammatical error: the word “however” is a conjunctive adverb, not a coordinating conjunction, meaning it cannot join two sentences together by means of a comma, which constitutes a comma splice. This is a remedial level error that an editor should have detected. In any case, this is a worthwhile book, though not exactly scintillating.

Thank you.

Excellent!