I Ching is an important Chinese classic. Together with the five elements theory, I Ching provides a foundation to Chinese philosophy, geomancy, medical theory and mysticism. Legend says the emperor Fuxi created the trigram and the King Wen of Zhou (~1000 BC) created the hexagrams. The title of the book literally means ‘canon of change’ and the book has traditionally been used for divination.

The author Kerson Huang is a famous Chinese American physicist. He passed away this year at the age of 88. The other author is his wife. I am not familiar with his research (particle physics) and I knew the author from his book on statistical mechanics.

There is a revised edition published in 2014, which I haven’t read.

Dr. Huang’s book includes the history of I Ching, its traditional oracles methods (tortoise shell and yarrow) and modern day methods (coins and computer), and detailed descriptions of the 64 hexagrams. He has a scientific perspective on I Ching and there is nothing supernatural in his book.