This is a most remarkable book about the history and philosophy of one of the most remarkable books the world has ever seen: the Yijing (I Ching) or The Book of Changes, as it is usually translated into English. More precisely, the book covers the development of the Yijing “from the Shang dynasty to the present” (p. xii) and is to be considered the first of many volumes on Yijing scholarship. (Two, one on the globalization of the Yijing and one on the Qing exegesis of the Yijing, are already under way; p. 264 n. 3). To paraphrase a traditional reading of Lunyu 7.17, one hopes Richard J. Smith will have fifty more years with which to produce more excellent scholarship on the Yijing.
The book consists of an introduction, nine chapters, and a conclusion, along with comprehensive appendices and bibliographies. Smith's handling of the...
