My four year old, who is FAR more Pooh-like than the author, simply knew that something wasn't right, and would actually pick another book and read it silently while I read this book aloud. does he benefit from science? If so, the word "hypocrite" springs to mind. Did he not get tenure at Cal Tech, or something? While he derides science as pointless study, one wonders if he drives a car, takes medicine, prints his books on printing presses, travels by some other means than his feet, in short. Underneath his "be simple, like Pooh" message is a great deal of anger and frustration that bubble to the surface in ill-chosen exaggerations about "narrow minded science" and "irrelevant academia" and joggers. He hijacks a childhood hero to vent his frustration at a failed college career. The author is a Talk Radio DJ, in the disguise as a mystic, putting on a puppet show starring Pooh. If you are an adult, have failed at school, and sit on a couch all day, then this book will provide you with a justification. The advice in this book is questionable at best, and totally inappropriate for children. My kids are very active (as is Pooh) and I hope they are active their whole lives. One other one I remember is that exercise is worthless. There were many of these gems of knowledge. My boys are both in classes of some sort, and they don't know what to do with the author's low opinion of school. And when the author went on on a tirade about academics and school and even (ironically) books, I was shocked. When the author started talking about science as pointless and silly, my 6 year old (who was sitting in) asked what was wrong with science? He wants to be a scientist. If the author acted more like Pooh, his book would not be so objectionable to my children. The author's point seems to be "Be Like Pooh." The problem is, he cannot do it himself. If "The Way" means basically "To Criticize" then this is it. This may very well be an introduction to Tao, I don't know. I saw this book as a way to introduce some big philosophical concepts. I had used his interest in Pooh to help him learn other things, like math and drawing. My four year old had chosen to read The Book of Pooh four times in a row. I read this book at night to my 4 and 6 year olds. The author used the cute characters to mask his contempt for many of the things I value in my life, and you perhaps value in yours. The contempt the author repeatedly expressed for both science and education made this book inappropriate for my young boys, ages 4 and 6.
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