Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Encyclopedic Work by a True Scholar and Practition
Review: Being a long time student of various yoga and related traditions, I humbly bow to the author for his vast and accurate knowledge of the subject. This work gives exceptionally unbiased, clear and insightful treatment of the diverse spiritual traditions. A result, I believe, of open mindedness and deep understanding. This is extremely rare for works in this category. Actually, there are no other books like it, period. The volume, clearly the distillate of many years of diligent study and practice, contains abosolutely no fluff, and everything is backed up by authoritative materials. In one easily understandable reference work, it makes available the many wisdom teachings spanning a great time period and geographical locations. Not only does it provide a bird's eye view of this vast and complex field, it also provides a rich historical context, which greatly aids our understanding. If I had access to the information contained in this book years ago, it would have saved me much grief and helped me to progress further and sooner. A must read for any serious student on the spiritual path.
Rating:
Summary: grasp 5000 years of yoga in one comprehensive text
Review: Dr. Feuerstein has created an opus magnum, a liftetime of research into the spirit and many hsitorical forms of yoga. With numerous original translations, commentaries, and interpretations, readers get to look at this profound spirituality of the body, mind, emotions and soul, through the eyes of one of our most learned contemporary scholars in the field.
Rating: 
Summary: A great resource
Review: For the keen on Yoga, this is a great resource. It is commendable that the Author has made an effot to compile the huge volumes of ancient Indian scriptures - many of which is a life-time study - into a single volume. With such an effort, there would many purposes served and some not served too well. You have the vedantas, yoga sutras, history of yoga, history and philosophy of various religions all in one place. Because of this, the reader could get a bit lost for there would be too much to understand. Nonetheless, I treaure this book; as a Yoga teacher, I find that I constantly go back to this volume. Secondly, the effort is commendable because these ancient texts are still not public as much as we want them to be.
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic book on Yoga; rich, clear and well organized
Review: I bought a copy of this book (softcover) and then gave it to my yoga teacher and bought the hardcover. We both love the book. It clearly explains many topics better than most other sources and has a clear organization for such a substantial reference. My first literary source now for Yoga guidance and clarity. thx & namaste
Rating:
Summary: Good info but excessively long.
Review: I think this book attempts to cover too much information. There's too much of an attempt to classify everything and too little an attempt to explain. It's hard to follow and excessive. On the other hand, it is very informative if you're skimming for information. It can give you a very good over-all understanding of Yoga's history if you read just a few key paragraphs from each section.
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe its just me !!
Review: I was looking for a book about the history, philosophy and evolution of Yoga in a simple and informative way. The reason I bought this book is mainly based on the customer reviews and average customer ratings of 5 stars. I am one reader who didn't like the book nor benefited from it in anyway. I am new at Yoga and this is my first read in Yoga. I wished that this book would give me insight into how this ancient tradition evolved over thousands of years, It didn't. The organization of the book is terrible, unnecessary details that deviates from the main topics are all around. In every chapter extracts from Hindu sacred books spans many pages which I didn't enjoy. This is more of a text book that is might be useful for research purposes than a book to read. I have tried numerous times to read the book but failed; I also tried to use it to write a paper on the History of yoga but got totally confused and find resources elsewhere more helpful.
Rating: 
Summary: Handsome book, not much substance
Review: In the clubby world of American yoga Feurstein is often cited and recommended. Perhaps it is because he has a Ph.D. and quite a number of books published (largely recycling the same material). Maybe its because he has supplied them with effusive blurbs for their own books. Frankly, I don't see what all the fuss is about. In my opinion, Fuerstein's writing style is ponderous yet is lacking in academic rigor. Nor do I find him to be ispiring or substantial in any practical sense. The question I ask myself is if he is not a good academic writer nor a good practical writer, why should I read him? I can't think of any reason! One of his most irritating qualities to to present his marginal theories as if they are well accepted in authentic academic circles. Also, he cites some really insignificant writers as if they are renowned scholars, simply because they support his views. One author whom Fuerstein frequently cites has a dubious degree and is self-published. Fuerstein also cites as authoritative a book which he co-authored (a fact that is only mentioned in a foot note)that is academic junk and is published by a theosophical publisher! On the plus side, this book is handsome and is well designed, with nice graphical images and photos throughout. Yes, there is some interesting and valuable material contained in The Yoga Tradition. However, in my opinion getting to it is not worth the effort. There is far too much winnowing of chaff required. Still, if you want to impress your friends with the depth of your "knowledge", leave this book lying around. It just may impress them.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME BOOK
Review: It is very refreshing to see a westerner who really understands the heart,soul,and original pupose of all yogas. Most westerners assume Yoga to be a merely stretches and postures. In reality, there are many different paths of yoga--all invented to ultimately lead the soul to complete liberation, although a lot of people (even some self-designated "gurus") don't know or lose sight of this. I was very sceptical as to whether a westerner giving an honorable representation of this majestic science, and to give an honorable IN-DEPTH presentation at that! As Ken Wilber states (in other words) in the foreword...we DO have in Feuerstein the perfect and necessary blend of a scientifically minded scholar and devoted practitioner. HUGE BOOK!!! The size of an actual encyclopedia. But, if you have any clue as to how deep and rich the yoga tradition is, and if you also appreciate it's beauty...or even if you think it's a bunch of hooey and want to know whether you are right or not, it is an immensely scholarly--yet readable sourcebook. MUST HAVE! (p.s.--I like old george now.)
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Summary: Yoga Traditions Made Easier to Comprehend
Review: The Feuerstein book was highly recommend to me by a wonderful yoga instructor I studied with. It really helped me to understand the path and how to understand these yoga traditions. This book will remain a reference for a lifetime.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but flawed with sloppy research
Review: This book is a sweeping overview of the Yoga tradition of India and its many subdivisions. He covers everything from Tantra yoga, Karma yoga to Sri Aurobindo and everything in between. Does he do a good job at presenting this vast subject?
Yes and no. Yes he covers the various topics in some detail. Though his coverage is spotty. On some topics he does a good job and on others he glosses over. He also suffers though from accepting every guru and school as valid. As such he includes several well known cults and bogus teachers as legitimate. He also does not cover the problems with gurus in the yoga tradition. A good many of them have sexually or emotionally abused their student and had to leave the schools they founded. The kundalini teachers are especially notorious in this regards. Also does not adequately cover the so-called 'crazy wisdom' teaching and how it is abused. Two cases of his intellectual sloppiness stand out:
Adi Da(franklin Jones)- a brutal authoritarian with a god complex, Fuerstein gives a glowing review of his teachings and him as a authentic guru. Da's group is considered a cult by all cult-watch organizations. BTW Fuerstein was/is a student of Da. Yogi Bhahan. This man is teaching a mish-mash system of yoga with no lineage. The Sikh's don't even do yoga in India. It is also considered a cult. Yet georg includes his teaching as valid. His inclusion of these two groups makes me wonder if he really does investigate and research the various schools of yoga or accepts what they say on face value. As such this work is marred by dubious scholarship. Ken Wilber's glowing comments not withstanding. Despite this it is still worth purchasing. But don't accept it on his say so alone, do some research.
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