April 9, 2014

Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion: Eastern and Western Thought, New and Enlarged Edition – by: William L. Reese (1996)

   I normally only list books here that I have actually read completely, but this book has proven to be such a valuable reference book for me that I feel listing it is only appropriate.

   I refer to this book almost as much as I do to my dictionary while I am reading. No doubt this is because much of what I read has a philosophical and/or religious bent. In fact, no one recommended this book, nor did I find some reference to it somewhere. Instead I just reasoned, there must be some kind of dictionary of philosophy and religion out there for someone like me who casually reads so much of it. And I asked a friend to search Amazon for any and this was the only such book she found.

   I didn’t like not having several to choose from, but upon receiving, and consequently using this book it has well earned my respect and appreciation. My education in philosophy and religion, while more extensive than most, is informal and hence full of holes. This book helps tremendously to fill in those gaps.

Magic and Mystery in Tibet - by: Alexandra David-Neel (1932, 2014)

This is one of those rare books that exposes another culture in a way that really opens it up an lets the reader glimpse for themselves what...