The book of change: I Ching - Whole Earth Software Catalog - Version 1.3 - evaluation

STEWART BRAND: how appropriate that this ancient (since 3,000 B.C.) Chinese oracle and repository of Taoist wisdom has been translated into a computer program. It's had program qualities all this time -- binary notation (yin and yang versus 0 and 1), tree structure, use of random numbers, and design as an applications tool.

I think Fu Hsi, King Wen, and the rest would approve of this version of their work. IT is quietly elegant in the way it prompts you through the process of consulting the oracle and then studying the reading. Instead of yarrow stalks or coins, you use six taps on the space bar to build the hexagram, changes, and subsequent hexagram that constitute a reading. Screen by screen the stages of the text (nicely translated) are unfolded, and you're offered the choice of filing and/or printing the result.

In the tradition of psychologist Carl Jung's introduction to the famed 1950 Bollingen edition of the I Ching, I asked the oracle what it thought of being electronic. Reply: THE CLINGING ("Shining twice ... depend on establishing a support system...," etc.) changing to DARKENING OF THE LIGHT ("You must learn to understand the nature of evil. Do not make peace with it...," etc.) Long in the tooth, the Ching still has its bite. How many computer programs even acknowledge evil? How many fewer have intelligent advice on the subject?

It's an adroitly done, dignified program, with a fine brief manual. You need no previous knowledge or experiece of the I Ching book to get full value. As a bonus in the program there's also "Decision Maker," a succint factor-weighing utility to help you sort your thoughts for choosing between alternatives of any kind. One banal, one profound -- two levels of helping you decide.

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COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group