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Turtle Planet: Compassion, Conservation, and the Fate of the Natural World
The author and Daoist monk shares a beautiful depiction of the natural world--and a powerful plea for preserving our planet--in this philosophical tale.
This unique work of philosophical fiction explores the wonders and suffering of the world through the eyes of eighteen exotic turtles. In this vividly imaginative way,
Monk Yun Rou asks readers to consider the intimate bond between humans and the wisdom they teach us, the wounds they can heal, and the role we play in their destruction.
Drawing on fifty years of loving and husbanding turtles, from the car-sized giant Leatherback turtle to the Central Asian tortoise, Monk Yun Rou sounds the alarm of what climate change, global extinction, human intervention, and environmental devastation really mean to their worlds and to ours. An informational glossary and description of each turtle is provided at the end of the book.
This unique work of philosophical fiction explores the wonders and suffering of the world through the eyes of eighteen exotic turtles. In this vividly imaginative way,
Monk Yun Rou asks readers to consider the intimate bond between humans and the wisdom they teach us, the wounds they can heal, and the role we play in their destruction.
Drawing on fifty years of loving and husbanding turtles, from the car-sized giant Leatherback turtle to the Central Asian tortoise, Monk Yun Rou sounds the alarm of what climate change, global extinction, human intervention, and environmental devastation really mean to their worlds and to ours. An informational glossary and description of each turtle is provided at the end of the book.
- GenresPhilosophy
292 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 14, 2020
8 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
Yun Rou
8 books20 followersCalled the new Alan Watts for his teachings and the Zen Gabriel Garcia Marquez for his writings, Daoist Monk Yun Rou (formerly Arthur Rosenfeld) received his academic education at Yale, Cornell, and the University of California. Ordained a monk in an official, government-sanctioned ceremony at the Chun Yang Daoist Temple in Guangzhou, China, his work has appeared in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Parade, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, WebMD, Fox Business News, and numerous other websites and newspapers.
Yun Rou's unique and primary calling is the ability make obscure ideas, arcane information, and transformative philosophy compelling and accessible through story. Yun Rou is the author of more than 20 award-winning non-fiction books and novels of magical realism that have done exactly this for some decades, several earning Hollywood and Chinese film industry options. From 2010 – 2013, he hosted the hit (reaching 60MM households) national public television show Longevity Tai Chi with Arthur Rosenfeld. The American Heart Association profiled Yun Rou as an inspirational resource in 2016.
Respected by academics, practitioners, and lay readers alike, Monk Yun Rou began his formal martial arts training in 1980 and has studied with some of China’s top Chen-style tai chi grandmasters. In 2011 he was named Tai Chi and Media Master of The Year at the World Congress on Qigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine. In July 2014, Yun Rou joined the heads of the five tai chi families on the dais, representing American tai chi at the International Tai Chi Symposium in Louisville, Kentucky. He teaches in Southern Arizona, South Florida, and around the world.
Yun Rou's unique and primary calling is the ability make obscure ideas, arcane information, and transformative philosophy compelling and accessible through story. Yun Rou is the author of more than 20 award-winning non-fiction books and novels of magical realism that have done exactly this for some decades, several earning Hollywood and Chinese film industry options. From 2010 – 2013, he hosted the hit (reaching 60MM households) national public television show Longevity Tai Chi with Arthur Rosenfeld. The American Heart Association profiled Yun Rou as an inspirational resource in 2016.
Respected by academics, practitioners, and lay readers alike, Monk Yun Rou began his formal martial arts training in 1980 and has studied with some of China’s top Chen-style tai chi grandmasters. In 2011 he was named Tai Chi and Media Master of The Year at the World Congress on Qigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine. In July 2014, Yun Rou joined the heads of the five tai chi families on the dais, representing American tai chi at the International Tai Chi Symposium in Louisville, Kentucky. He teaches in Southern Arizona, South Florida, and around the world.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 27, 2021
You will love or hate this book based on a single presmise; if you like the idea of an American taoist monk having chats with sass-talking immortal turtles, then you'll like it. If not, then not. Personally, I didn't like the discussions with sassy turtles mixing chats about their sex life, or music preferences, with discussions about the treatment of animals by humans. I was expecting something more akin to Peter Godfrey-Smith's Other Minds, which dicusses Octopuses and philosophy. But for turtle planet, I'm honestly not sure who this book is for or what it is trying to achieve.
May 23, 2024
Reminiscent of The Tao of Pooh, this book uses parables told in the style of Daoist "Spirit Writing" to convey the crises that ancient creatures, turtles, face in our modern world. The author, a Daoist monk, is visited in spirit visions during meditation sessions by immortal god-like beings who take the form of different turtle species. Each vision is a story of a bad thing that happens to turtles of that species or in that part of the world, and they range from abused and neglected common pets to critically endangered and even extinct turtle species. Their woes include all the usual suspects and then some affecting turtles today: over-collection for the pet trade, being killed for "medicine" that does absolutely fuck-all, being eaten, habitat destruction, road mortality, pollution, litter, invasive species, even war and unsustainable methods for scientific study.
The information is pretty good, but the stories get a little repetitive, and the fact that the rules of the visions (who can see/hear the monk, what they can actually touch/affect) never change, but the monk keeps forgetting the most basic things and has to be reminded every single time gets pretty annoying. How many immortal beings need to remind you that only they can see you and you're not actually physically present in the locations of the visions? The facts at the end about the turtle species that made appearances as gods in the book are honestly the most interesting part to me.
The parables are also connected to Daoist principles and philosophy, which are discussed and explained throughout the book, which isn't actively trying to convert the reader, but does come across as the solution to all the world's problems ("if everyone was vegetarian and meditated, we could solve world hunger and climate change!" is not-so-subtle a message). These ideas may have merit but they come across as a smidge preachy.
Still, a decent book, and worth a listen or a read for turtle lovers (I borrowed the audiobook from my library and listened to it while driving).
The information is pretty good, but the stories get a little repetitive, and the fact that the rules of the visions (who can see/hear the monk, what they can actually touch/affect) never change, but the monk keeps forgetting the most basic things and has to be reminded every single time gets pretty annoying. How many immortal beings need to remind you that only they can see you and you're not actually physically present in the locations of the visions? The facts at the end about the turtle species that made appearances as gods in the book are honestly the most interesting part to me.
The parables are also connected to Daoist principles and philosophy, which are discussed and explained throughout the book, which isn't actively trying to convert the reader, but does come across as the solution to all the world's problems ("if everyone was vegetarian and meditated, we could solve world hunger and climate change!" is not-so-subtle a message). These ideas may have merit but they come across as a smidge preachy.
Still, a decent book, and worth a listen or a read for turtle lovers (I borrowed the audiobook from my library and listened to it while driving).
July 30, 2022
I understand why people don't like the presentation here - sometimes the personification of the turtles and tortoises gets pretty grating. As well, I think there is a political orientation of this book that goes unaddressed - I think it would have been better if the author could have confronted what influence the background of growing up in an American context has on his perceptions of Daoism. I think a lot of the universalising that goes on in this book really is referring to very American culturally specific issues.
That said, I think the reviews that are questioning whether these meditative visits 'really' happened are missing the point. In the tradition of spirit writing, the author generally tries to present their experiences in manner that an audience will be able to latch onto. I think he did a good job as a part of that lineage.
As well, the book did get me googling species I wasn't familiar with, place-names, legends, and people. Any book that compels me to go investigate more will always leave me with a positive impression.
That said, I think the reviews that are questioning whether these meditative visits 'really' happened are missing the point. In the tradition of spirit writing, the author generally tries to present their experiences in manner that an audience will be able to latch onto. I think he did a good job as a part of that lineage.
As well, the book did get me googling species I wasn't familiar with, place-names, legends, and people. Any book that compels me to go investigate more will always leave me with a positive impression.
November 26, 2023
It's decent but lacks positional analysis. The author talks about how morality is relative and then calls Palestinians terrorists and denigrates cultures with sacrifice and cannibalism. Could make all the points he wants to make without engaging in thinly veiled attempts to deride Indigenous peoples.
If you like magic realism and stories of people learning from animal spirits you might like this book if you can get past the author's sense of self importance.
Interesting introduction to Daoism, but ask yourself whether you want to learn about Daoism from a white monk.
If you like magic realism and stories of people learning from animal spirits you might like this book if you can get past the author's sense of self importance.
Interesting introduction to Daoism, but ask yourself whether you want to learn about Daoism from a white monk.
November 19, 2024
Parable? Fable? Daoist fiction? Not really my cup of tea. It did start out interesting but the concept felt forced and repetitive after the first little bit. I am not, by any means, a fantastical person and reader though, so ymmv for sure.
October 15, 2021
DNF. Not my cup of tea.
August 12, 2023
This might be a good way to get kids to start thinking about these issues.
January 31, 2025
Enjoyed it thoroughly
October 26, 2023
This book was wonderful. Having been similarly afflicted with the obsession of shelled reptiles I was perfectly alright with hearing important and clear messages coming from the mouths of immortal turtle spirits. I imagine this will be limiting for some readers, and if its not your thing then you should be able to avoid the book easily enough.
As for me I learned a lot about Daoism and its specific way of interacting with the world, putting a name and lifestyle set to many easily acceptable truths. Almost all chapters and interactions with these turtle immortals could be standalone stories that offer some combination of a lesson and a poetic realization of spirituality that four leggeds represent to much of the world. I wouldn't have said it before but I've been waiting my whole life to read a passage where a Fly River Turtle speaks and relays knowledge to me, having my wait realized and quenched at the same time was a brilliant experience. Everyone should read this book
As for me I learned a lot about Daoism and its specific way of interacting with the world, putting a name and lifestyle set to many easily acceptable truths. Almost all chapters and interactions with these turtle immortals could be standalone stories that offer some combination of a lesson and a poetic realization of spirituality that four leggeds represent to much of the world. I wouldn't have said it before but I've been waiting my whole life to read a passage where a Fly River Turtle speaks and relays knowledge to me, having my wait realized and quenched at the same time was a brilliant experience. Everyone should read this book
November 16, 2024
Definitely not for me. A number of the ideas in this book are excellent, with a unique viewpoint on conservation and interspecies interaction. However the premise is a lot to accept, and even if you move past that, a number of the discussions about non-natural topics missed the mark for me. Fairly well written overall.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews