Customer Reviews

Awakening: An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought (4th Edition)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I used this as a substitute for the 4th edition, and it works just fine. The only issue I had was trying to match up the questions that are in the 3rd edition with the 4th edition at the end of every chapter. The best way I managed to do this was go to coursesmart and do a free trial of the 4th edition, and highlight all the questions in the 3rd edition that match up to the 4th edition. I'd say about 97% of all the questions are exactly the same, but some questions are actually shorter in the 4th edition than in the 3rd. Overall, I recommend this to students who are looking to save. The information is exactly the same in the 3rd as in the 4th.

Bresnan's Awakening is an excellent introduction to the Eastern religions and philosophies of Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism, and Confucianism. The text is very readable, and Bresnan often tries to correlate appropriate Eastern doctrines with similar Judeo-Christian themes in order to enhance the reader's understanding.
Instead of focusing on external and exoteric religious themes, such as rituals, traditions, and the like, Bresnan uses a more theosophical approach which brings to light the ideas that encompass Eastern religions and ideologies. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book for anyone who has a budding interest in Eastern thought but has a theological IQ that does not extend east of the Arabian peninsula.

Normally I find historical texts to be very boring, but this one laid out the history and past of Eastern culture very well, and in a much more engaging way that I've seen in other textbooks.

The writing isn't hard to read, which is perfect for hard-to-grasp concepts like philosophy. The only reason I am not giving it 5/5 is because the sections tend to be redundant and wordy at times. Although, maybe the redundancy helps you "get" the ideas.