I bought this book about 2 years ago on a whim, but it has proved to be the most thorough book I have found on Ayurveda to date. Several other books I found on Ayurveda were not only smaller than this one, but very vague in what they were talking about. Ayurveda is not cut and dried, so you will find different beliefs in Ayurveda depending on the source, but if you study it enough you will find some things are constant. It's helpful also to cultivate an awareness of your body and lifestyle to better know what suits you.... anyways,
This book has something for everyone: herbalism, diet, yoga stretches, gem, color and music therapy, mantras, and meditation, body cleansing and massage, etc. etc.
I like that even though this book was recorded by a Westerner (but dictated by an Indian) it' hasn't been watered down with your standard New Agey vague "spiritual" crap. Many of the traditional Indian practices are mentioned, even though they are not all considered to be healthy in the Western world (i.e., mineral bhasmas, or burning certain minerals and using them as medicine; where in the US some are illegal because they contain lead or mercury, in India their medicinal properties are recognized, similar to the use of some poisons in Homeopathy) If there is anything I can't stand, it is sugar-coated, vague, generalized references that have been dumb-downed for us Westerners! I prefer ethnographies or at least books that are as close to the real thing as can get.
This book is at times general, but for the things that really count (the things you can put down the book and go and actually do yourself) this book does not skimp on the details.
There are a lot of spelling errors in this book, so sometimes you have to guess at what some words are, but the information is still valid.
I have found this book to be very helpful and enlightening. When reading this book I recognized things that I already knew to be true subconsciously, but did not realize other people knew about as well. For example: when reading about nutrition and the effects different kinds of food have on the body. I have heard it said that the best books are the ones which remind you of what you already know, because they point to universal truths. I would say 5000 years is a good amount of time to distill the truth about a thing! This book definitely changed my life for the better
