The Duke of Zhou Changes: A Study and Annotated Translation of the Zhouyi (Abhandlungen F R Die Kunde Des Morgenlandes, 97)

I first considered awarding less than five stars to this work because of its one major flaw...expense. But I don't have the heart to do it. This is without doubt the most interesting edition of the Zhou Yi that has come out in years. Many books promise to reach back into the mists of antiquity to shed light on the mysteries of the Yi, but Field actually follows through. After an excellent introduction he organizes the work as precisely what it is: a divination manual; thus making this edition both a great starting point for scholars of early China and those with an interest in using divination. The notes on the Chinese and its connection with are well sourced and will provide many, many hours of enjoyable scholarship to the serious anglophone Zhou Yi Studies community. His basis for this work is immediately controversial--viewing the texts of the Yi from the specific context of the early Western Zhou rulers, particularly the Duke of Zhou. I still have not made up my mind on how much of the Yi is really related so tightly to the affairs of the Ji clan and the first kings and nobles of the Zhou Dynasty, but the idea is gaining momentum and I find it fascinating. I plan to study The Duke of Zhou Changes in parallel with a Chinese work (the Amazon review parsing robot censors all foreign languages, apparently, so I can't cite the book), another work that stresses the role of Zhou history in the composition of the Yi Jing.But the price and the obscurity of the publisher assure that this will be a rare, and thus rarely read work, and that is a great pity. The format of the book is one usually sold at $15 - $20, and it is instead $70, and out of print already on Amazon as I write this (I had to buy from a third party merchant). That means most readers will not be able to afford it, even if they should learn of the book's existence.

interesting and revealing.

This is an excellent book to read with new translation of a new version.