Noah Rasheta

Out of the three or four introductory books I've read about Buddhism NO-NONSENSE BUDDHISM FOR BEGINNERS was the most valuable. It helped me understand how some of its key guidelines relate to one another.

Author Noah Rasheta (creator of the Secular Buddhism podcast) has organized the book as a series of questions and answers. The questions mimic the kind of introductory questions anyone might pose if they had an interest in learning more about Buddhism. Rasheta's answers to these basic show more questions are concise, straightforward, and clear. With no judgement. And no proselytizing.

The book is divided into four segments: the Buddha, core concepts, core teachings, and core practices. This structure helped ground me with a sense that each section was building on the previous. Also sprinkled throughout are a few anecdotes from Rasheta's own experiences becoming more familiar with Buddhist philosophy, as well as a handful of relevant quotes taken from ancient Buddhist texts.

Rasheta is a lay person whose day job is as a technology marketing director. He wrote this book and another based on his own personal journey discovering Buddhism, a journey that began about 15 years ago. So the entire time I was reading the book, I felt like I was hearing from someone who had been on the same path I'm on. That is, offering NO-NONSENSE BUDDHISM FOR BEGINNERS as an easy-to-read overview of one approach to living your life - whether you adopt all, part, or none of it.

If you're someone who has already explored the basic tenets of Buddhism and has committed to studying Buddhism in greater depth, this book may strike you as too simplistic. But it worked for me and it's only 124 pages long. show less

Out of the three or four introductory books I've read about Buddhism NO-NONSENSE BUDDHISM FOR BEGINNERS was the most valuable. It helped me understand how some of its key guidelines relate to one another.

Author Noah Rasheta (creator of the Secular Buddhism podcast) has organized the book as a series of questions and answers. The questions mimic the kind of introductory questions anyone might pose if they had an interest in learning more about Buddhism. Rasheta's answers to these basic show more questions are concise, straightforward, and clear. With no judgement. And no proselytizing.

The book is divided into four segments: the Buddha, core concepts, core teachings, and core practices. This structure helped ground me with a sense that each section was building on the previous. Also sprinkled throughout are a few anecdotes from Rasheta's own experiences becoming more familiar with Buddhist philosophy, as well as a handful of relevant quotes taken from ancient Buddhist texts.

Rasheta is a lay person whose day job is as a technology marketing director. He wrote this book and another based on his own personal journey discovering Buddhism, a journey that began about 15 years ago. So the entire time I was reading the book, I felt like I was hearing from someone who had been on the same path I'm on. That is, offering NO-NONSENSE BUDDHISM FOR BEGINNERS as an easy-to-read overview of one approach to living your life - whether you adopt all, part, or none of it.

If you're someone who has already explored the basic tenets of Buddhism and has committed to studying Buddhism in greater depth, this book may strike you as too simplistic. But it worked for me and it's only 124 pages long. show less

A helpful answer to basic questions about Buddhism. The style was light, but informative and friendly, and there were interesting vignettes throughout the book. I am encouraged to read some of the suggested references that were at the end.

The content is much the same as the podcasts (though it seemed a little rushed in the audio book). Nonetheless, it's excellent content, to which I will likely refer again and again (reading both with ears and eyes).