Pocket Buddha Reader, The

Rating:
Summary: nice compact compendium
Review: After years of harboring vaguely Buddhist sentiments, I came across this book and found it quite fascinating. It is a somewhat disorganized assembly of very brief quotes from various discourses of the Buddha and related materials, written in modern conversational English. It encouraged me to obtain the full-length versions of the Digha Nikaya and other parts of the Pali Canon. So I credit this book for helping to get me started in a deeper exploration of the Buddha's teachings.

If you are an advanced student of Buddhism you might not be satisfied by the abbreviated material or the compiler's casual and footnote-free handling of complex, controversial matters like the "no self" issue. On the other hand, if you want to keep several copies of an affordable book handy to give to people who express an interest in learning more about Buddhism, this might be a great choice for such outreach efforts.

By the way this same material was also published in a regular-sized book entitled "The Buddha Speaks."

Rating:
Summary: Belongs in Your Back Pocket
Review: I would consider this the most accessible pocket reader on the Buddha. There's plenty of substance between the pages which can answer most if not all of your questions about the Buddha's philosphy. Something you can read over and over as you evolve spiritually. It's strangely made easier to read because of the color of paper it's printed on. Of all the shambhala pocket readers, I'd pick this if I had to choose one.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommend
Review: This is by far one of the best books containing teachings of the Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama). Anne Bancroft did a great job selecting and organizing the material, and the translations are excellent.