The concept of "jinen" or "naturalness" is an important part of Shin Buddhism, and so I was expecting this book to cover this concept. Instead, this book was more of an introduction to Shin Buddhism, with the focus being the sentimental side to Shin Buddhism, not the analytical side.
There are plenty of books around that explain in theory how Shin Buddhism works, but not many explain what it all means to the average person, so I think this book fills a special niche.
The problem is in the writing. The book is somewhat dated, and its translations of some terms are equally dated. As with earlier Buddhist writings, this book tries to use Christian terminology rather than more establish modern Buddhist terms, so a new reader may get the wrong impression in thinking that Shin Buddhism is like Christianity for Buddhists.
Also, the author tends to use more literal interpretations of Shin concepts. The term Jodo Shinshu gets translated as "The True Teaching" which it really means "The True Pure Land Sect" in more modern translations. The author takes the Pure Land sutras at face value, which I am not all that comfortable with. Western interpretations tend to see them as symbolic, not literal.
One thing I really liked about this book is explaining the importance and meaning behind the Nembutsu. A lot of people misunderstand the purpose of the nembutsu and treat it like a mantra.
The other problem with this book is the flow. The book spends a lot of time covering what the Pure Land is like, which again is taken from a literal perspective, and lot of time praising Amida. Toward the end, it finally explains why this matters, but I felt that the praise was unnecessary (let the reader decide that) and detracted from the more important message at the end.
All in all, I think this book is a useful addition for the Shin Buddhist library, but I hope someone can edit this book, or at least add footnotes to explain some of the phrases chosen. This book is well-intentioned, and has some useful points, but I wouldn't call it the definitive book on Shin Buddhism.