2,500 years ago a little known government official in China wrote a book that has been translated more often than any other book in the world except the Bible. This book, the Daodejing (pronounced "Dow De Jing" and often referred to as just "The Dao"), is the basis of much of the Eastern world's philosophical and religious thought as well as Tai Chi and Kung Fu. It contains wisdom that pertains to daily life as well as the administration of government, but it is an entertaining one-night "read" (I'll bet you can't read it without smiling? ). It consists of 81 one-page chapters. It is one of those books that you will enjoy on your first reading, but you may reread time and time again, each time finding some new meaning. It makes a great gift, too. If you read the reviews of the various versions of the Dao on Amazon, you will find that many readers of the Dao have multiple copies. Add this book to the collection of anyone that enjoys an entertaining and thought-provoking book It is also known as "Tao De Ching," "Dao Teh Jing," "Tao Teh Ching," and others. The ascribed original author was Lao Tzu (the more current spelling in pinyin Chinese is Laozi).