Customer Reviews

Living Religions - Eastern Traditions

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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I bought this for a class I was taking, but I would reccomend it to anyone interested in Eastern religions.

Why anyone in his or her right mind would purchase this book separate from the greater Living Religions textbook is beyond me. Literally, for $5 more, you get 260 additional pages of material and I do not believe that the western traditions are just intrinsically less valuable. As I did the math in the product description, you are paying $.63 for each leaf of paper in this book, which to me seems to border on criminality.

Price aside, I think Fisher has put together a very good introduction to world religions (Asian religions in this case). Her greatest strength is her knack for incorporating a variety of different entry points that are sure to catch the attention of a variety of students. She addresses elements of history, sociology, anthropology, philosophy and real-world, modern day practices to get her point across. This is a very strong move on her part and should be commended. But, her strength is her weakness, as she doesn't get into much depth. Any teacher worth his or her salt should be able to pick up the slack here, but I prefer a textbook with a little more of a philosophical orientation.

Overall, I think Fisher is the bee's knees, but the pricing of this book is nothing short of silly.