Rating: 
Summary: Illustrative
Review: The greatest asset of this book is its colorful photographs. Again though I wouldnt recommend yoga without initiation by a teacher, its a good book for several reasons. Unlike Light on Yoga, this book does not contain all the hatha yoga asanas, but contains only the most basic and important ones. Each asana depicted in this book goes into full detail including a 360 deg picture of the pose, dos/donts and insets for important positions in an asana. For eg in a Virabhadrasana, there is an inset hilited to show how to keep your knee with respect to the ankle.The first part explains the basic asanas and there is a second part that explains asanas for several ailments. Overall this book weighs a lot with high quality paper and content. Even though the book is fancy looking it is certainly worth the price.
Rating:
Summary: A complete yoga resource
Review: This book is an excellent and thorough source of information about yoga. Yoga is not just about the physical movement of the body. It is a lifestyle that betters the mind. It also allows practictioners to deal with physical and emotional stresses. Chapters include Philosphy of Yoga, Asanas for You, Yoga for Stress, Yoga for Ailments. The excellent illustrations guide you step by step on how to practice the routines. The 20 week Yoga Course at the end of the book outlines exactly which asanas to do, starting with simple ones and adding the more complex. I loved the Yoga for Ailments chapter because it went through common ailments (osteoarthritis, insomnia, PMS, asthma etc...) and (through illustrations) outlined each asana to follow. All this from a leading practitioner and expert.
Rating:
Summary: Best Yoga Book Ever!
Review: This book is of immeasurable value to both novices and masters of yoga. B.K.S. Iyengar is a master with great heart and caring for his students, which shows in his text and also the photos of him helping students with their postures. This book is extremely accessible and is full of good, clear color photos of the postures, many of which are shown in a series of photos representing views from all angles. In addition, the book is broken into clearly tabbed sections for easy reference. Sections include recommended series of postures for specific ailments and conditions, and conclude with a thoroughly illustrated 20-week yoga course. Iyengar yoga often uses props to help students get deeper into postures, and there is a very good illustrated section here on how to use these simple props - something that's been missing from any other yoga book I've ever seen. The book also contains a list of the postures by their Sanskrit names and their English names in translation and some basic anatomical information as well. By far this is the best and most useful book on yoga I have ever seen, and I've seen more than a few. This is Mr. Iyengar's first book in many years and well worth the wait.
Rating: 
Summary: Sort of a 'glossary' of Iyengar
Review: This book provides an indispensable reference for starting a home practice, refreshing your memory about poses you might have learned in class and suggesting sequences of poses for various ailments. (Nothing--whether inhalers, decongestants, or clear country air--alleviates my asthma as much as Iyengar's prescribed poses for breathlessness.) The only drawbacks are that several more advanced poses are omitted, and there is nothing on pranayama.
Rating:
Summary: Sort of a 'glossary' of Iyengar
Review: This book provides an indispensable reference for starting a home practice, refreshing your memory about poses you might have learned in class and suggesting sequences of poses for various ailments. (Nothing--whether inhalers, decongestants, or clear country air--alleviates my asthma as much as Iyengar's prescribed poses for breathlessness.) The only drawbacks are that several more advanced poses are omitted, and there is nothing on pranayama.
Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Resource For Yoga Students
Review: This is an amazing book -- and not just for seasoned yoga students! It features thousands of photographs of each core pose (including a 360-degree view) making it easy to learn the various postures. It also serves as a guide to understanding how yoga affects the body, mind, and spirit. These DK (Doris Kindersley) books just get better and better. Buy this book -- it is definitely money well spent!
Rating: 
Summary: Size matters
Review: This is an impressive, big book by Mr. Iyengar himself, but the much smaller "Yoga: The Iyenger Way" by Mehta is better. This book lacks cross-references but instead shows the same poses in different parts of the book. It also shows the poses for various ailments, while the Mehta book simply lists them with a page reference. In other words, this book is so much bigger than others not because it offers more but because it's inefficiently organized.
Rating:
Summary: The best in yoga but poorly interpreted
Review: This is the best book in yoga if you forgive the author for his improvised and inaccurate explanation of the benefits of the various yoga drills. Iyengar earned great admiration by his talent, experience, and passion for yoga. In this colored 400-page hardcover book, he illustrates almost every move, explaining the necessary cautions and benefits like no other companion could.
The two major drawbacks with this book are its arcane nomenclature and inaccurate assertion of benefits, as follows.
1) The nomenclature is harsh. The author opted to retain the original Indian names of the yoga drills, which makes the book looks like an old bible or a Latin medical book that is meant to use secretive protocol. Although the author has associated English names to original names, such as "torso stretch" for "Bharadvajasana" and "spinal twist" for "Marichyasana", yet the non-English names are distractingly taxing for a beginner.
2) The explanation of benefits is far fetched in many cases, as follows.
a- the "extended triangle posture" for example is claimed to relieve gastritis, indigestion, acidity, and flatulence. The first three are caused by internal pathological processes and could not be easily corrected by physical performance unless their causes are corrected.
b- the "intense chest stretch" is claimed to strengthen abdominal organs, tones the liver and spleen, and cools the brain. This is nonsense since there is no meaning for strengthening abdominal organs or toning them or brain cooling.
c- the "staff posture" is claimed to relieve throat congestion in asthmatics. This is also nonsense since asthma is worsened by stress and is related to allergy rather than to physical manipulation.
d- the "hero posture" is claimed to relieve gout. This is also a fallacy since gout is caused by biochemical disturbance in the uric acid deposition in the joint and could not be manipulated physically.
e- the "head on knee posture" is claimed to stabilize blood pressure. This is another hoax since blood pressure is controlled by systems other than the musculoskeletal.
f- you can go on and on through the book to find that the author though professional in yoga yet merely throws wild guesses on the benefits of drills. The autoimmune and hormonal manipulation by yoga are berserk and should not have been put in a book by a respected expert such as Iyengar.
Rating:
Summary: Size matters
Review: This publication is a volume, a wealth of yogic knowledge for practitioners AND instructors, as well as the curious. As a Vinyasa Power Yoga instructor I find this book to be a wonderful resource. With each read you will discover new information you didn't internalize before - what an asset! Sections of philosophy, meaning, some Sanskrit definitions, basic Asanas (postures) and a section with modifications/props are easy to digest. Full color pictures, advice from the Guru himself, cautions, and a breakdown of which Asanas effect which organs/body systems makes this an outstanding value for the dollar. While I don't think any book is a substitue for a commited practice in a nurturing class environment, Iyengar opens Yoga for the reader here in a well conceived blueprint.
Rating:
Summary: Definitive Enclopedia for all ...
Review: This publication is a volume, a wealth of yogic knowledge for practitioners AND instructors, as well as the curious. As a Vinyasa Power Yoga instructor I find this book to be a wonderful resource. With each read you will discover new information you didn't internalize before - what an asset! Sections of philosophy, meaning, some Sanskrit definitions, basic Asanas (postures) and a section with modifications/props are easy to digest. Full color pictures, advice from the Guru himself, cautions, and a breakdown of which Asanas effect which organs/body systems makes this an outstanding value for the dollar. While I don't think any book is a substitue for a commited practice in a nurturing class environment, Iyengar opens Yoga for the reader here in a well conceived blueprint.
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