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A review by reflectiverambling_nalana
The Religions Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained by D.K. Publishing
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
This is my second incredible experience with DK publishing in their big ideas collection. As comprehensive as a university survey class resource it is also incredibly accessible to the average reader. With no clear bias or preferential treatment to any singular religion signifying that one was more significant, I was actually shocked to see that some sections were not as hefty as I anticipated.
While it does not ignore the significance of what are seen as the more 'major' ones, and does an excellent job at providing both historical context and evolution, the writers do a remarkable job at not glazing over others in favor of the bigger 'names in the game'.
I was impressed by the attention given to several minority religions of the past and present. While it cannot of course include every faith, I rarely hear the Sami people mentioned in works that aren't very recent. The recognition also of the indigenous people of the pacific was lovely. Being published in 2013, I know it was long after that I had in my euro-centrist education even heard of the concept of the Dreaming from the Australian indigenous aboriginal peoples. There were also nods to the Maori peoples as well of those in parts of more northern Asia that don't get touched on. The inclusion of Baha'i was also a surprise. As a weaker area of mine, I was also very satisfied in how the various sects of the Hindi faith were laid out and the attention to the history and traditions of Sikhism.
One thing I've loved about this series is the chapter summaries. While some may see them as repetitive, I find their model of repeating the main theme "in context" key figures/works, before/after to fit the pieces we've seen before or in that section together would have been a study tool I would have loved in many of my survey classes as a student and would be a great tool to jog someone's memory if they wanted to revisit certain sections at a later date.
While it does not ignore the significance of what are seen as the more 'major' ones, and does an excellent job at providing both historical context and evolution, the writers do a remarkable job at not glazing over others in favor of the bigger 'names in the game'.
I was impressed by the attention given to several minority religions of the past and present. While it cannot of course include every faith, I rarely hear the Sami people mentioned in works that aren't very recent. The recognition also of the indigenous people of the pacific was lovely. Being published in 2013, I know it was long after that I had in my euro-centrist education even heard of the concept of the Dreaming from the Australian indigenous aboriginal peoples. There were also nods to the Maori peoples as well of those in parts of more northern Asia that don't get touched on. The inclusion of Baha'i was also a surprise. As a weaker area of mine, I was also very satisfied in how the various sects of the Hindi faith were laid out and the attention to the history and traditions of Sikhism.
One thing I've loved about this series is the chapter summaries. While some may see them as repetitive, I find their model of repeating the main theme "in context" key figures/works, before/after to fit the pieces we've seen before or in that section together would have been a study tool I would have loved in many of my survey classes as a student and would be a great tool to jog someone's memory if they wanted to revisit certain sections at a later date.