Simple Layout and really a fantastic effort. Only feedback is Fonts could have been little bigger. Cross referencing Ramanuja's interpretation where applicable was really unexpectedly handy and fabulous. This book is a must for any begining student of bagavat gita.

I am Hindu, and my mother is very religious. That being said, we have many copies of The Gita at home. However, I bought this one because I needed a copy to study with. The English translation and the sanksrit word for word translation are great. I find this extremely helpful.

A lot of my friends who take religious study classes find this book extremely helpful as well, for the same reasons.

Although there isn't any one true translation out there, this version of The Gita, in my opinion, is wonderful for those who are not versed in Sanskrit, and seek a better understanding of the Slokhas.

I long ago lost count of the different editions of the Bhagavad Gita that I have, but it must certainly be over twenty. Of them I keep two constantly by my side, one of which is that by Winthrop Sargeant. For lovers of the Gita who, even though they may be innocent of Sanskrit, would like to approach the text in its original language, a language of great force and beauty, there could be no finer edition.

Each page is devoted to a single verse of the Gita and gives, in the left column, line by line - the Sanskrit text in Devanagari letters, its transliteration, and a word by word literal translation. Then follows a prose translation of the entire verse with, at the bottom of the page, occasional light annotations.

In the right column we are given Sargeant's incredibly useful grammatical analysis of every single word. This analysis, which also gives relevant English synonyms, is evidently a labor of love which involved Sargeant in an enormous amount of work. In the many bilingual editions I have examined, I've never seen anything that even approached it, and we should all be intensely grateful to Mr Sargeant for having, out of the goodness of his heart, provided us with such an invaluable tool.

If this book has a weakness, it is perhaps that the Devanagari script is printed in far too tiny a font; but, since it is immediately followed by transliteration into the Roman alphabet, no great harm is done. Also, since Sargeant's edition has a linguistic orientation, one will have to look elsewhere for a 'philosophic' commentary.

Readers who may be new to Sanskrit, and who would like to get a bit of grounding in the language before approaching the Bhagavad Gita, might take a look at Thomas Egenes, 'Introduction to Sanskrit' (1989). There are many primers of Sanskrit on the market, but this is undoubtedly the best as not (like that, for example, of Michael Coulson) overloading the beginner with too much detail. It also has the additional merit of printing the Devanagari letters in a large clear font, something that will be appreciated by anyone who has ever attempted to learn this difficult script.

Those who may already be comfortable with Devanagari, and who are looking for a bilingual edition of the Bhagavad Gita which, besides giving a word by word transliteration and translation, also gives a prose translation and full commentary, might look at the edition by Swami Gambhirananda with the commentary of Sankaracarya (1995). This is the second edition that I keep constantly by my side, since the two serve to complement each other beautifully.

This version, one of about 6 I have read so far, is excellent because it is a clearly, simply written, with no commentary, and most important of all, IT FITS IN A SHIRT POCKET, with room to spare! The combination of excellent expression of this beautiful "Song of God" with its convenient size makes this book one to own, especially for those who find comfort within its pages. It is a bargain for the price!

The Bhagavad Gita is to Hindu India what the Sermon On The Mount is to the Christian Church. It is also a wonderful story about a discussion between a figure who is a human incarnation of God, and his disciple and friend.

I have read 5 different translations of this classic work, and this one is the best, most readable to my western mind.

It can be read as the song of God, or as a beautiful story. The language flows smoothly, and is easily comprehendable, and transmits the beauty of the original.

I highly recommend it.

Winthrop Sargeant, the distinguished music critic of The New Yorker, compiled this collection of profiles of legendary opera superstars between 1959 and 1973. Five of the six originally appeared in the New Yorker, in slightly different form. The style of his writing is accessible and entertaining, even for those who know nothing about opera. It is obvious to the reader that these profiles emerged from a gentler time, when the writer's purpose was to gently reveal the forces shaping each singer's career, rather than the contemporary style, which runs to scandal and exposure. The subjects of the profiles are: Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne, Beverly Sills, Birgit Nilsson, Leontyne Price, and Eileen Farrell. This book is a real pleasure for someone learning about the world of opera. All six of the "divas" are sopranos, and have appeared in starring roles in nearly every well-known work. Read this book. You'll find yourself using the term "diva" a lot more selectively.