Joseph Cali

Just what I wanted—a fairly clear, concise look at the high points of your typical Shinto Shrine so that when I went to visit a couple of dozen on my upcoming trip I'd be able to make sense of it. I didn't need to delve too far, just enough to be about as familiar with them as I am with the forms and function of Christian churches, and this book helped enormously. It further goes on to be a guide book, listing numerous shrines across Japan and discussing their features, and to be fair I didn't read that section except to glance at (I have another, very detailed guide already that I'll consult when in person).

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, I'm a bit more ruthless.… (meer)