Complete Idiot's Guide to Eastern Philosophy

by Jay Stevenson

You’re no idiot, of course. You know Eastern philosophy encompasses many countries and concepts, but when it comes to breaking down the basics—to discuss with others or for your own enlightenment—you can’t tell Confucius from Krishna. Don’t nix nirvana just yet! The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Eastern Philosophy is an extensive, reader-friendly guide that maps out the terrain along the various paths of knowledge. In this Complete Idiot’s Guide®, you

Genres: Philosophy, Religion, Nonfiction, Spirituality

Paperback

First published January 9, 2000

Reviews

[Cat]

Complete with facepalm puns. "Where there's a will there's a Veda" and "Way back Zen".

[Kat]

This book read too much like a text book. Im not a big fan of The Complete Idiot's guide series because theres SO much information but if you are an idiot, they should make it easy to understand. I almost put the book down half way through the part on hinduism because it was all over the place and just too much. I wouldnt recommend this to someone inerested in eastern philosophy unless they are going to skim through. The things to remember at the end of the chapters were good but some chapters were so jam packed that even just skimming those would not give you a good understanding of each chapter.

[Matt]

A good overview of Eastern philosophy: It focuses on Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.

I thought the book was difficult to read thoroughly. I was not sure what to write down in my reading notes: it was hard to figure out the important bits from the literary rest. So I read this book more like a novel.

The book contains summaries for each chapter (entitled "The Least You Need To Know"). Those are recommended reading.

[Holly]

Im interested in all types of religions, and this book gave an easy to understand explanation of different eastern religions such as Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, and separates fact from rumor on what these religions actually consist of and believe.

[Nivas]

Great introduction to Indian and Chinese philosophies

[Mac]

Very interesting, but kinda lost interest in the middle of it.

[Samantha McGuire (Mirror Bridge Books)]

This is a great informative reference book for people who are accustomed to American culture! Definitely have to recommend this one..

[Little Timmy]

A great book to learn about the basics of several eastern faiths. Excellent layout and chapters. Recommended