In the article about Alan Lightman ’70’s new novel (Alumni Scene, Feb. 8), a note surprised me: “What he’s reading now: Tao Te Ching, an ancient Chinese text about Buddhist philosophy.” That third-century B.C. work (“The Book of the Way and Its Virtue”) is the most important Taoist text. It is a short collection of poems credited to the legendary Lao-tzu, the founder of Taoism. 

Brian Bate ’62