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Buddha  By  cover art

Buddha

By: Karen Armstrong
Narrated by: Kate Reading
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Publisher's summary

This rich, timely, and highly original portrait of the Buddha explores both the archetypal religious icon and Buddha the man. In lucid and compelling prose, Armstrong brings to life the Buddha's quest, from his renunciation of his privileged life to the discovery of a truth that he believed would utterly transform human beings and enable them to live at peace in the midst of life's suffering. Buddha also expands to focus and meditate on the culture and history of the time, as well as the Buddha's place in the spiritual history of humanity, and the special relevance of his teachings to our own society as we again face a crisis of faith.
©2001 Karen Armstrong (P)2001 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Religious historian Armstrong succeeds brilliantly in creating a compelling and illuminating portrait." (Booklist)

"This handsome and solid portrait is sure to become a classic; it is a refined and readable biography of a pivotal character in human history." (Publishers Weekly)

"Armstrong combines the abilities of storyteller, historian, and interpreter of Buddhist thought to create a work that is both fascinating and informative." (Library Journal)

"[A] fascinating biography....Kate Reading superbly moves along the text, keeping pace with Armstrong's ideas and hypotheses." (AudioFile)

What listeners say about Buddha

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learned a great deal

Narrator was excellent, if she was faking pronunciations she did it convincingly. Buddha wouldn't eat animals killed for him but meat from market was ok. Interesting and Armstrong does good job of comparing other faiths objectively.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Mostly speculation

Much of the content is stated without a specific reference. Still, an interesting account of the likely events in the Buddha’s life.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

boring

after much initial excitement I soon became disappointed. The discourse is simply boring and fails to describe the true buddha.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Buddha

I thought this book was difficult to follow in audio form. I had to purchase other reference materials to clarify what I read.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • C
  • 11-26-09

Don't bother

The Buddha didn't want anything written about him and didn't want to be worshiped. This whole book is speculation.

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