The Buddha in You is a great addition to an existing swath of books outlining the varied ways that one can practice Buddhism. It was a helpful guide that meets readers where they are in a helpful and useful manner. The book was laid out in a coherent way, that made it easy to understand. I was reading to understand how to talk about the book in any Reader's Advisory work, and less because I was looking for a guide to read about Buddhism, which may have affected the way I saw it. Nonetheless, it was still a great book. Several parts of it reminded me of Sharon Salzberg's "Lovingkindness" book wherein the exercises and its other immersive features provide a full body reading experience. You catch yourself relaxing your shoulders and sinking into the seat you're in as well as breathing more mindfully. Biofeedback tells us that humans co-regulate in a way that stabilizes dysregulated systems. Books like this have a similar effect where your self-awareness increases to the point that you regulate your breathing and system by even marginally participating in the exercises throughout its pages. It's not a meditation guide, but a primer that goes over all of the different ways one can be a Buddhist, or express their Buddhism practice. It does not promote one school of it over another, either, but offers several overviews of what each specific style or school of Buddhism highlights, promotes, and believes. Where many books conflate Buddhism with meditation as the singular practice (it is in fact, one among many, though it is what the religion is most known for), Rinpoche reveals that there is much more to Buddhism. Practitioners and seekers stand to gain much from this volume. Thank you to the publisher for the advanced reader copy! I am very grateful for the chance to read this.

This is a nice little guide to Buddhism for the beginner. It’s easy to read and written in a friendly, conversational tone.

This is like a beginners guide to Buddhism, filled with information to enlighten the reader with an understanding of what is (and isn't) Buddhism. There are mantras, meditations, and boundless wisdom that you can reflect upon. As a Christian who no longer recognizes what Christianity has become today, I was interested in seeing what Buddhism was all about. It answered a lot of questions that I (and I am sure many others) have wondered about, and I agreed with a lot of the principles, and liked the idea of having more inner peace in my life..... especially during this time that we are all facing. Do you need to convert to Buddhism or even desire to convert in order to read this book? Of course not. Do I think you will benefit from reading it? Absolutely!

I went in knowing a little bit about the history of Buddhism from a textbook, but I appreciated the perspective from a Buddhist themselves. The book was structured nicely and written with language that was easy to follow. I appreciated how little beginning steps were given for you to start practicing. I learned quite a bit from this book and will take many of the lessons with me! I would suggest anyone who is interested in learnings basics of Buddhism to this book!

No pun intended, but I found this book to be very enlightening.

I’ve never known much about Buddhism and this took me on a historical and educational journey into what the meaning of this religion is. While I read this in one sitting, I will definitely be thinking and contemplating these lessons for a while, and I can see myself coming back to this text for clarity.

*An ARC was received for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Buddha in You is exactly what it says in the title: a beginner's guide! And in my opinion, it's a very solid one. It goes over everything a beginner might need to know, but what I found especially nice about it were all the exercises to make you think and put what you just read into practice. I have quite a few beginner's guides to Buddhism on my shelf at home, and I think I might like this one the best out of all of them because it's written in easy to understand English and the practical applications were really nice, even for me who is not a beginner to Buddhism.

If you are already a Buddhist, this would be a good gift to give a family member to help explain what you believe. If you're interested in becoming one or getting to know a Buddhist friend better, this book can definitely help you out.