Which I Ching books and how many do we really need?

[denv12]

I took up learning I Ching late last year.I have since bought 5 books.I have found that I like these 2 Stephen Karcher books:
1)Symbols of LOve.
2)Total I Ching.
I like these books because thay are indepth and offer accurate information.

What I would like to know is how many I Ching books do we really need to answer questions?
I have 5.Selling the other 3 and keeping the 2 Stephen Karcher books.Do I really need any more?


I also prefer the "K.I.S" method:"Keep it simple".There are books out there that I wont buy.I just want a simple explanation of the hexagrams,that suits me.

What books do you have? How many have you got? When do you decide you have enough books?

REgards Chris.

[bradford_h]

Chris-
You are too new at this to be making these decisions. Now it is best just to keep looking at different things and surveying what is out there.
But that doesn't mean you have to buy them.
brad

[micheline]

rod and amy sorrell...I ching Made Easy. FOR: "a simple explanation of the hexagrams"

you never have enough books

[bruce]

Hi Chris,

What's better, a strawberry or a banana?

K.I.S. with already 5 books?

Just a simple explanation of hexagrams? If only it were that simple. Well, maybe this I can assist with. But remember, you said simple. This isn?t a substitute for authentic studies. simple (http://www.yijing.nl/hexagrams/index.htm)

Brad?s being modest, so you should check his translation with commentaries, here, I think (http://www.hermetica.info/C-YiTran.zip)
Test some or all, and you?ll know which works best for you. That?ll likely change from time to time.

[denv12]

Yes,5 books and I am selling 3 of them because the 2 Stephen Karcher books offer more than the other 3.

[bruce]

There ya go. http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/I_Ching_community/clipart/happy.gif

[denv12]

Brad,at what point does someone start making decisions?

What books do you use?

[bradford_h]

Bruce-
Are you really accusing me of modesty? How Cool!!!
But it's only that I usually try not to mention or recommend my own work to beginners for fear of scaring them away. There are better first steps for a beginner to take. Nor would I recommend that someone start with Karcher, since he's technical in idiosyncratic ways, and he misses a lot of the original meaning in ignoring the Chinese grammar. Still, with a few exceptions (like Sorrells), I do usually recommend more conventional translations by people who actually translate from the Chinese, instead of doing new age or beginners' interpretations. Typical of these are Legge, Blofeld, Lynn, Cleary, Huang, Wei, Wu Jing-Nuan, etc.

[denv12]

Hi Brad.

I was just about to ask about the Karcher books.Thank you.As I have 2 of his books I can understand your point of view.

Chris.

[bradford_h]

Hi Chris-
Karcher's work IS informative, especially in certain reaches of his Chinese-English vocabulary. And he has some good, innovative structural and interpretive methods for squeezing meanings from readings (which don't, however, help us much in understanding the original Zhouyi).
But a beginner should probably have a more general survey of the characteristics of the whole elephant (wall, tree, snake, spear, fan and rope) and this is more likely to come from the more traditional material.
Here's one rough guide - if a book tells you the Yi is 5000 years old, pass it by. It's written by a fool, or someone deluded by the glamor of it all. The Yi is about 3000 years old