I have had the opportunity to read and use both the first and second editions of Dr. Burke's book. I find them outstanding in their field. The second edition contains excellent information on the Sikh religion, an addition to the first publication. It is accurate and insightful. It is evident that Dr. Burke takes the time to know the communities about which he writes and that he does not produce material simply from an academic arm chair.
The concise summaries at the end of each chapter are valuable as are the study questions. They would help the reader/student to focus. What I like especially is that the book contains texts of the various traditions and does not require students to access them elsewhere. This is a bonus.
I have some difficulty with the format of the book which I am sure is not of Burke's making but there are wide outer margins and very slim inner ones which make reading somewhat difficult. Perhaps the intention is that students can make notes in these wide margins but overall I find this difficult to work with. I hope that would be corrected in a future edition. I wonder, too, why Blackwell has opted to use only black and white photographs as illustrations and many of these are rather small for today's very visual learners.
There is a website connected with the second edition with materials that can be downloaded by teachers. I must admit to being disappointed in this material. Ideally this would contain colour visuals perhaps of the photographs in the text itself. In North America at least, the "teaching as telling" mode is suffering. More and more introductory courses at university need hands on activities for the retention of insights and information that most teachers hope for for their students.
I recommend the book wholeheartedly. Its content is superb. I hope for an improved format more user-friendly for visual learners in a future edition.
Catherine Berry Stidsen, Ph.D., R.T.C., Cayuga, Ontario
