Dougherty’s book focuses on Buddhist myths, tales, and legends. It includes stories of Buddhist cosmology; the life of Buddha; Jakata tales (Buddha’s early life, renunciations, and incarnations); multiple teachings; divine and extraordinary beings (including gods and bodhisattvas); and notable figures (kings, heroes, and saints). Further, the text provides an extensive history of Buddhism with sidebars defining terms, concepts, and cultural elements. The color illustrations of Buddhist art and architecture is just the “icing on the cake.” This is much more than a coffee table book and is recommended for those interested in Buddhist stories, folklore, and culture.

This is a beautifully illustrated and typeset book introducing Buddhism to the reader. The book starts from the assumption that you’re not particularly familiar with Buddhism and builds from there. The aim of the book is to educate rather than convert the reader and provides a factual account (as much as is possible) of the man often known as The Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) and some of his contemporaries as well as overviews to Buddhist cosmology, typical Buddhist teachings and a summary of the Jakata Tales.

If you’re after a detailed description of a particular form of Buddhism, this isn’t the book for you and the author notes this. The aim is to give a general overview and introduction to the interested reader and it does this admirably. Highly recommended.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I wasn't expecting this book to be so text heavy!
There is a ton of info in here, and it's a little overwhelming at times.
It is very serious and could have done with injecting a bit of 'fun' into the pages - it's very academic.

WOW. The images in this book were outstanding. As was the content. I would love to purchase a physical copy of this text. The descriptions and information were well organized and easy to read. I felt as though I learned a ton. It was a wonderful and insightful book. My favorite section of the book was Chapter 4; about the teachings. The index was very helpful to go back and refresh about ideations or figures. Absolutely incredible read from start to finish.