Tao Te Ching: A New English Version

if you've ever read his translations of Rumi, the Book of Job, etc., you know what i mean!

Listening to Tao wisdom any faster, would lose the point of what is being spoken. This audio book was the right speed and authors voice is easy on the ears. Many of the translations are easy to understand and give you plenty to contemplate.

Written with the formal Zen practitioner mind, but if you wish to read the tao te ching, you must find a different version. Jane English's, is the only other one I have read and would recommend it highly. As it is accurate

The author "Zen"ed up the story. To much of the translator not enough Tao

The author did depart from all other translators and use she, rather then he. I found this change to be wonderful and useful.

The book ends very VERY poorly. With some woman yelling at you about audio books and children. like being thrown in ice cold water. It hurts

I loved every aspect of this book. The translation, granted I know no other, was in clear and modern English that allowed me to fully appreciate the content in all its subtleties. Stephen Michell's soft tone of voice and the slow pace of his reading gently lead me through the meanders of Lao Tzu's thoughts.
As I heard the gentle voice say "by not dominating, the master leads", I was sinking deeper into a comfortable meditative mode. When suddenly, that Jack sprung out of her box: "Hello, this is Cherry Jones... bla bla bla". What possessed the producers of that book to kill it with that obnoxious ad at the end, which jumps into the listener's ears without a iota of a pause or a transition to isolate it from the reading of the Tao? That is how I learned that the reading of the Tao was over. With Ms Jones yelling in my ears.
That explains my one star for "Overall." There should be a grading for production quality.

A beautiful translation of the Tao read perfectly by the author/translator is marred by the production value. When listening with an iPod or Nano, I can actually hear the recording turning on and off. When using the recording for meditative purposes the noise becomes distracting.

Stephen Mitchell uses his 14 years of Zen training in this well-regarded translation to capture the spirit of Laotse's seminal book on the Art of Living

The Way

I've read it in paper form, I downloaded it from LibriVox, and I bought it here. This is the best version I've heard and I will definitively listen to it again.

When the reader said that the original Tao Te Ching wasn't gender specific which is against everything organized religion tells us.

His ability to read clearly and pronounce the words.

Easy to follow and understand. Gives a deeper insight into yourself. The best I've heard to explain the "tao te ching".

Stephen Mitchell has proved himself a master of translating in the most fundamental meaning of that term. He carries across not only the denotation of the words but the cultural contexts that are its connotation and which make the words live in our own culture as they did in their own. Mitchell has rescued Rilke from the gravel of Deutsch-speak and has presented the Tao as a Master himself--he not only presents the words to the reader but he subjects the reader to the words. Thus he accomplished what Lao Tse himself attempted--to make that which cannot be contained in word become alive within the words.

The "New English Version" is an ill-translated, uninspiring bore, narrated in a most drab, unenlightened manner.
I am so disappointed with this version of the "Tao" that I have not been able to listen to it through its conclusion. I have decided to purchase an earlier translation. Take my advice; try another version of the "Tao"