This is a set of selections from the Pali Canon, summarizing the Buddha's life and his most central stories, parables, and teachings. This is a massively illuminating book and I believe any reader who reads these teachings deeply and comprehensively will almost certainly be better off. The Buddha's rejection of the self as arbitrary is radical even today, and his arguments are beautiful.
The Buddha is often compared to the figure of Jesus Christ in the Western Tradition, and this comparison is quite understandable with his shimmering compassion, concern for human suffering, willingness to establish a 'heresy', and encouraging of others to overcome the terms of the self. Another comparison, that is made much less often, however, could be drawn with the great Greek philosopher Socrates. The Buddha's philosophical discussions often remind me acutely of the Socratic Dialogues; the style, with the Buddha thoughtfully, though often with acute humor, considering and discussing his positions with those who disagreed with him, and encouraging others to do the same is itself deeply reminiscent. I am reminded that the Buddha encouraged his followers to doubt and question him at every turn, and promoted a sort of free thought and conversation to lead to those abstract and hard to grasp truths he espoused and begin to feel, in many ways, that this may be an even closer connection to the one with Christ. There is also, of course, Lao Tzu, whose Taoist/Daoist philosophy is quite similar to Buddhism (with many in China historically combining the two traditions). With all these philosophical and intellectual similarities, I am left wondering and, quite honestly, believing, that these four monumental figures, though separated by hundreds of years and thousands of miles, had witnessed the same great universal truth, and spoke of it in their own terms.