Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction by Damien Keown

http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780192853868

This was a different read then I am used to. Appropirate seeing as how it is the first book on Buddhism that I've ever read.

It was not as interesting a read as the previous Very Short Introduction (VSI) I read. It was very dry, and the author seemed overconcerned with pronounciations; after a while the phoenetic letters became quite a distraction. As a consequence I didn't read this book straight through, but I had to read it in stages over the last month whilst reading a novel. (I suppose that this is a book about a major world religion, so I shouldn't have expected a page-turning read.)

I still enjoyed the book, and it contained a lot of interesting facts that I didn't know. It was a wealth of information about many aspects of Buddhism and I am certain to return to passages occasionally. I thought that some of the meditaion practices seemed especially practical for everyday relaxation.

I chose this book specifically to read because I have decided to try to educate myself about major world religions. Too often in movies, television, and literature I come across characters with belief systems I know nothing about, and I want to change that. I am far from an expert on Buddhism now, but at least I have had an introduction (albeit briefly).