
The First Ten Focus Group Feedback for Hinduism: An Evolutionary Religion
Because Hinduism was Book of the Day, some of our most trusted members have carefully looked over the cover, the description, and other aspects of this book as a part of purchase-intent focus group. We then asked each participant in the focus group if they planned to buy and read the book, and why they planned to buy and read the book or not. Their answer to that question and reasons are displayed below. We call this awesome feature The First Ten Focus Group.
Keep in mind, the responses from the members are not reviews. This is purchase-intent focus group which means the participants are people who have NOT yet bought or read your book. A purchase-intent focus group is an important and extremely useful marketing tool for any product, not just books. For other products, you might walk on the street and show people an item in a package and poll them about whether they would buy if or $X or not. These kind of focus groups are one of the ways big marketing companies find the ideal price points for products and test the effectiveness of different packaging. The focus group can help you identify your market so you how to target ads of your book, and it can (but may not) provide you new useful info about your "packaging" (e.g. your book cover, your book synopsis on Amazon, etc.). The point of the focus group comments is to give you information from people who have not bought or read your book about why they plan to buy your book which will help you in marketing the book. These are not reviews or critiques of your book because they are not from people have read the book. This is a marketing tool, not reviews. The trick of book marketing and book advertising is that you have to convince people who have not read your book yet that your book is worth buying and reading. For marketing, it doesn't matter much if people love your book after reading it if you cannot convince potential buyers before they read it that they will love it.
IMPORTANT: Any score over 10% is considered very good. And any score above 0% is acceptable. This is because we only poll about 20 or so readers, and all readers have to say "no" to almost all books. Over a million books are published each year. Even a very active reader cannot come close to even reading 1% of books out there.
This is also why publishing books is such a tough industry.
va2016

The cover and the title are indicative of the theme of the book. There are 8 Amazon customer ratings. The Amazon summary gives a clear description of the content of the book. As I am not interested in religious books, I would have skipped sampling if not for the First Ten program. As I sampled through the book, I found the narration describing the Hindu calendar, and how time is measured. As I am not interested in religious books, I am not going to read this book in full. I found the sample professionally edited. There were no grammatical or mechanical errors. I didn't like anything specifically about the book. I do not have any suggestions for improvement. Although I didn't find any OBC reviews on the book, my decision to not to read the book in full is based on my own sampling.
First Ten review added on April 8, 2020, at 4:43 am by va2016.
Ekta Kumari

The book is centred on the teachings of the Hinduism. The author presents his understanding and learnings of the religion based on meticulous research done with the help from spiritual masters and sages. I really liked the premise but wouldn't have read the book as I was not looking to read something religion related. But I've to say I loved sampling it. The thing I liked the most is that the author has presented all the information in a precise and succinct manner. I like that the book explains the role Hindu Rishis played in estimating the evolutionary process and other universal truths. I think the book has a plethora of knowledge if someone is interested in learning about these topics. And I like that it's not dogmatic in nature. As for the editing, I didn't find any errors and would rate the book as professionally edited. Lastly, I'll definitely read the whole book as I liked sampling it. I didn't see an official review, but that doesn't impact my decision to read the book further.
First Ten review added on April 8, 2020, at 4:38 am by Ekta Kumari.
Alice Heritage

Although I don't often read books about religion in general, I might have sampled this on the basis of the description and Amazon blurb as I felt I could learn something worthwhile from it. Sampling the book confirmed that this book is worth reading, so I will buy it. The text appears well edited and indeed an editor is credited. I did, however, notice a few minor errors; some examples are as follows. I think "Old philosophies, rituals and customs have sustained" should read "have been sustained"; there was an extra square bracket in "the Bhagavad Gita]"; I don't understand "smaller unite mahayugas" but "unite" is a verb and doesn't work here; and "natural phenomenon" should read "natural phenomena". I liked the way this book is so informative about the ancient wisdom and philosophies of Hinduism. For example, the connection the author makes between the animal forms of the Hindu gods and evolution is interesting. I also always find the prevalent notion of unity comforting. The book could be improved by including information at the beginning about the scriptures referred to as those who are completely new to the subject might not know what the Bhagavad Gita or Upanishads are. I would have welcomed an OBC review to give me more of an overview of the book, but I was able to make my decision based on the sample.
First Ten review added on April 8, 2020, at 4:28 am by Alice Heritage.
Vickie Noel

I wouldn't have read this book outside the program because I don't read religious books. The sample didn't change my mind. Of course, I can't read this book because it goes directly in conflict with what I believe in: that there's only one road to the truth, but there are many others that lead to the opposite direction. This huge gap in reasoning makes me unable to agree with the thoughts in the Hindu scriptures inscribed as, "Ekan Sat, Viprah Bahuti" which translates as "There is one Truth, the paths leading to it may be many." If that were to be the case, then all religions should have united man in love and peace, but we all know that various opposing religious viewpoints have been the basis for so much bloodshed in the world today. Therefore, the fact that the book "emphasizes the essential unity and homogeneity of all religions" keeps it off my bookshelf. I didn't see any grammatical errors though; apparently, the book was professionally edited.
I did not see an OBC review on the book, but even if it was present, it still wouldn't have influenced my decision.
First Ten review added on April 8, 2020, at 3:20 am by Vickie Noel.
Lorraine De Vos

I would not have chosen to sample this book based on the title and genre, as I am a Christian and not particularly interested in reading about Hinduism. The first ten pages gave a lot of history on the religion as well as a comprehensive explanation of the evolution of the religion to fit in with modern times. It seems that as a Hindu you are able to choose what suits you and your lifestyle. The book does appear to be professionally edited, but there was no official OnlineBookClub review. I will not be adding this book to my reading list. I also have no recommendations for improvements.
First Ten review added on April 8, 2020, at 3:02 am by Lorraine De Vos.
Annelore Trujillo

I would not have sampled this book based on the genre, blurb, cover and title. I rarely read books about religion. I also didn’t see an OBC review, and I don’t usually buy books unless they’ve received a good review from the review team. After reading the first ten pages, I will not be finishing this book. I liked that the author included footnotes to cite sources for some of the facts. I also liked the way the word was defined then included afterward in parentheses. However, I did notice at least one stated fact that needs to be fact checked. It mentioned that only 10-20 percent of the brain is used. This was commonly believed in the past, but is now being found to be untrue. I also wasn’t really into the history of the solar system and the human species that the author gave. Although I did think it was related back to Hinduism well. The book did seem to be professionally edited.
First Ten review added on April 8, 2020, at 1:34 am by Annelore Trujillo.
Washboard

I normally don't read books from this genre. The title and cover art seem to suit the book well. I did not read an official review for this book. The sample did not contain any noticeable errors. The author prefaces the book explaining the changes he made from a previous edition, followed by quotes about Hinduism throughout the ages. I think the message from the author shows how much he cares for the contents of the book and thought it was a good touch to include it, but thought the string of quotes to be odd. I won't be continuing to read this one, as I am not a religious person.
First Ten review added on April 8, 2020, at 12:36 am by Washboard.
Mbrooks2518

I am not interested in Hinduism, so I would not have sampled this book without The First Ten. Reading the first ten pages did not make me anymore interested, so I am not going to buy the book. I liked that the author included a website that readers can go to and post their thoughts and questions, which is a nice interactive element to have. I did not find any editing errors, and nothing needs to be improved. The lack of an official review did not affect my opinion.
First Ten review added on April 7, 2020, at 7:32 pm by Mbrooks2518.
unamilagra

Before sampling this book, I would not have picked it up. I am not interested in Hindu (or any religion), and there was no OBC review to help change my mind. The first ten pages of the Amazon preview consisted of the author's acknowledgments, as well as quotes from many famous historical figures about India. Because of this, I didn't really get a feel for what the actual writing of the book would be about, and my interest was not piqued. I don't plan to read this book. I didn't notice any errors in the pages I read.
First Ten review added on April 7, 2020, at 4:54 pm by unamilagra.
Kaylee Elmer

Hinduism: An Evolutionary Religion is not a book I would normally read. I prefer fiction books. The first ten pages basically gave some background on Hinduism. It was well-written and professionally edited. There wasn't a review I could read to find out if it was written in an interesting fashion that might make up for it being non-fiction. So, based on the genre, I won't be reading the rest of the book. Those interested in Hinduism would probably enjoy it though!
First Ten review added on April 7, 2020, at 2:24 pm by Kaylee Elmer.
Howlan

The cover is decent, and the synopsis gives an acute summary of the book. I am not at all interested in spirituality and religion so I would never have read this book without the program. The first ten pages were quite bland. With an uneventful preface, the first ten pages felt more and more monotonous. The first chapter dealt with a cosmic calendar dividing time according to the Hindu sages. The second and consecutive chapters namely Evolution, The Origin of Religion, Roots of Hinduism, Ancient Hindu Scriptures and so on does nothing more interesting but read the commonly known origin of life and man in a rather plain way. The only interesting thing in these chapters was the references made to the Indus Valley civilization. The rest of it failed to grab my attention. So, I am not going to buy and read this book as I am not interested in reading two hundred seventy pages about religion, a genre I do not enjoy reading. I think the author could have added more actual myths and beliefs about the Indian culture in the first pages to draw readers into the book. No typos were found in the first ten pages. The Official Review was absent, and that did not affect my judgment.
First Ten review added on April 7, 2020, at 1:39 pm by Howlan.
ritah

Based on the cover and title, I wouldn't have sampled the book because the content isn't for me. I did not find an official review for this book. I liked that the author mentioned that this book is the shortened version of the book he published back in 2008 - Hinduism: Path of the Ancient Wisdom. I found no errors in the pages I read nor did I see any areas that need improving. However, I won't be reading the rest of the book because the content is not for me. Even so, I think this will be a great read for those interested in important aspects of Hinduism.
First Ten review added on April 7, 2020, at 1:12 pm by ritah.
Sanju Lali

The book cover and the title clearly indicated to me that this book is about an ancient religion called Hinduism, understanding that, I searched for an official review of this book on this website. Unfortunately, I did not find any official review. It is the official review that helps me decide whether or not to purchase any book because it provides me important insights. However, out of my curiosity, I read the sample of this book. After reading the sample of this book, I could say that this book is professionally edited because I did not find any grammatical or typing errors. The thing l liked the most is the author's humble attempt to showcase the important aspects of the Hindu religion. However, certain claims made by this book appeared to be doubtful to me. For example, this book stated that the precise movement of stars was known to its scholars since 4500 years, which I could not believe because there are no scriptures or scientific evidence to back it. The official review would have pointed out issues such as claims without scientific evidence. My suggestion to the author would be to make the claims or quote anything only with sufficient scientific evidence to back it. Considering all these facts, I decided not to purchase and read this book today. I will wait until the author looks at my suggestions and comes out with an update.
First Ten review added on April 7, 2020, at 6:03 am by Sanju Lali.
Catherine Hsu

If I had not read the sample, I would not have read the book as I do not really read non-fiction or books about religion. After reading the sample, I have not changed my mind for the same reason. I did like how the book started with more familiar concepts like time and evolution, but I think more visuals like cycles, charts, and timelines (for the periods of Indian history, for example) would be more useful to people like me who are visual learners. It was professionally edited. I did not read an official review but that did not affect my decision.
First Ten review added on April 7, 2020, at 1:28 am by Catherine Hsu.
Verna Coy

Had I not sampled this book through the First Ten program, I wouldn’t have chosen it because the cover mentions it is about the Hindu religion which isn’t one that I like to study about. For this reason, I don’t plan to buy and read the whole book today. Reading the first ten pages didn’t change my mind about reading the whole book. The early part of the book talks about Hinduism. Based on what I read, the book seems professionally edited. I didn’t see errors in the first ten pages. What I liked most about the book is the fact that the author thought long and hard about the title and subtitle change to help draw readers to the book. I know that fans of learning about religions like Hinduism will enjoy this book. As far as improvements, considering the author’s intent, I could see no need for any. I didn’t see an Official Online Book Review for this book, but that didn’t affect my views of it.
First Ten review added on April 7, 2020, at 1:25 am by Verna Coy.
Jeremie Mondejar

The title makes me want to read the book, since I studied philosophy and culture. I am curious about the contents of the book. I like the quotation from prominent people as reference regarding with Hinduism. The sample looks professionally edited. I did not notice any typos in the bit I read. I cannot give anything for improvements.
First Ten review added on April 7, 2020, at 12:50 am by Jeremie Mondejar.
Shrabastee Chakraborty

Although I am not a religious person, my ancestral religion is Hinduism. Hence, in spite of the lack of an official OBC review, I was curious about the book. The first ten pages contained almost no errors, unless we count the word "srshti," in page 4. This is a Sanskrit word more commonly spelled as "srishti." The author made his case without much preamble. I am a believer of evolution and not Creation, however, the author seemed to include the evolutionist theories instead of refuting them. Although this is not my preferred genre, I am intrigued by the author's approach and would like to know more about our religion. I would not suggest any improvements for this book. I intend to read it.
First Ten review added on April 7, 2020, at 12:13 am by Shrabastee Chakraborty.
Jsovermyer

The cover has an interesting photograph. The title, Hinduism An Evolutionary Religion, tells exactly what this book is about. This is an informative book about Hinduism. I was intrigued by the idea that no religion should be criticized. “There is one Truth, the paths leading to it may be many." There is no review of this book, so my comments are based solely on my reading. I found one grammatical error at location 470. "Tit for tat plan" should be hyphenated as "Tit-for-tat plan." I found this book interesting and would like to read the rest of it.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 11:05 pm by Jsovermyer.
Kaitlyn Canedy

If it wasn't for the OnlineBookClub presenting this book to me, I likely would not have read the sample. I am a Christian, and I am not interested in other religions. Because of this, I will be passing on this title. However, I do like and respect how the author presents Hinduism; I think that it will be easy for anyone to understand the religion with this book. I did not see any grammatical errors in the sample, now could I find anything to improve on. There isn't an official OnlineBookClub review for Hinduism, but this did not affect my decision as I had already decided that I was not going to read it.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 11:00 pm by Kaitlyn Canedy.
Brenda Creech

I wasn't drawn to this book by the title or the cover. There wasn't a review to read, so I had no idea if this would be hard to understand, as many religious books are. I read the first ten pages, and I found the book well-written and easy to comprehend. I did not find any errors in the portion I read, and I can't think of anything that would need to be changed. I was surprised Hinduism is a religion based on God. I thought it would be worshipping idols. However, I do not feel like this would be the time for me to read this book. I am a Christian, and I'm devout in my beliefs, so I have no need to read the book.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 9:01 pm by Brenda Creech.
HRichards

I normally wouldn't have picked this book up since the content didn't really interest me. Having read the sample I won't be continuing on with the book because the content didn't really appeal to me. The sample deals with the author discussing how Hindus use the cosmic calendar and how the Hindu religion describes countless cosmos. He then talks about how Hinduism is complimentary to the theory of evolution. The writing is very good and I didn't notice any grammar errors. The author seems to be very well researched. Those who are interested in religions might like this book. I'm not that interested in the topic. I have not read any other reviews of this book.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 8:43 pm by HRichards.
Kelyn

If I had not been a member of this program, it is somewhat doubtful that the cover, title, genre, or author would have attracted me to this book. Although I find Hinduism an interesting religion, I tend to stay away from all religion-based books regardless of their subject matter. Religion is a very sensitive subject. The cover and title reveal what the book is about without any doubt. The genre, of course, would have pointed me away from the book, not toward it. I am not familiar with the author, so that would not have affected my decision either way. The blurb is simple and to the point. However, it identifies the book as being targeted toward “the youthful Hindu Diaspora in America.” I long ago left that category. The customer reviews were highly positive, but all seemed to be from those who were already interested in the subject. This made sense given the name of the book but did not help me in deciding whether or not to read it. I did not see a review specifically identified as being from this program, but if I had, I may have given it a bit more of my attention than the others because,in general, I trust our reviewers to be objective. Reading the sample was interesting. I’ve read bits and snippets about Hinduism before and have a general admiration of their philosophy that “there are many paths to the divine.” I believe my ‘favorite’ part of the sample was when the author revealed that Hinduism does not believe in the ‘Big Bang.’ Their belief is that the universe is eternal and, apparently, Steven Hawking agreed with them! Sadly, although I do find the subject of the book somewhat appealing, the sample simply was not engaging enough to convince me to read the book to completion. The book seemed basically well-edited, but I did find several mistakes in the sample. One of these was on the very first page: “I decided to make the change, hoping that it work out for the better.” – the sentence is missing the word “would” before the word “work.”
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 8:43 pm by Kelyn.
Juliet+1

Based on the title, cover, blurb, and several positive reviews, I thought I might enjoy reading "Hinduism: An Evolutionary Religion." I am curious about unfamiliar religions and sometimes like to learn more about them. Reading the first ten pages changed my mind. The writing and editing are fine, but I think the information is just too densely packed to be easily understood. This book contains a lot of data and many unusual names – gods and goddesses, documents, places, ethical concepts, etc. It was overwhelming; I need something simpler. I will not be reading the rest of the book.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 7:42 pm by Juliet+1.
AvidBibliophile

The cover art is visually pleasing and appears to have been professionally designed and formatted. The Amazon product description is brief but efficiently informative, clearly indicating this title's purpose, intent, and targeted reading audience. On the 2nd page of the preface, I believe there is a word missing in the statement: "...on the changes that have taken periodically through the centuries" and on the 3rd page, there may also be a word missing in: "teach us to live moral and virtuous life." The section containing historical quotes and dates appears to have several formatting issues with spacing and indentations (at least in the viewable sample version accessible through Amazon). While there is no currently published OBC review of this title, the 8 Amazon user ratings are all quite complimentary in both content and tone. Since faith-based or religious texts do not generally fall within my preferred reading genres, this book about the Hindu religion, its culture, and its associated universal philosophies is probably not a good fit for me, but I can appreciate its holistic approach to modern day, global spirituality. I was impacted by the truth of the statement: "Hindu society has paid dearly for becoming rather docile and passive in the face of unjust aggressions in the past," and I feel that many people may be enlightened by its teachings.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 7:03 pm by AvidBibliophile.
Odette Chace

While I am interested in learning more about Hinduism in a general sense, this is not a book I would normally reach for. The synopsis on Amazon, as well as the cover, are a little bland for my taste. The Amazon reviews were all positive, though there were only 8. There was no official Online Book Club review, so even though the reviews state the book was easy to read, I will have to verify that for myself.
I found quite a few errors while reading, the first of these being as follows: "After [a] good deal of deliberation, I decided to make the change, hoping that it [would] work out for the better." (Location 269)
I had a very hard time reading the first ten pages as the book could not hold my interest. For that reason, I will not be finishing the book. That being said, I appreciated the fact that the book did not assume the reader had any background information on Hinduism at all.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 7:00 pm by Odette Chace.
Maria Esposito

I knew I would not be interested in this book before sampling it, mainly because I am not interested in Hinduism. Although the color scheme and the picture used in the cover look attractive to me, I know I am not interested in the topic of the book. Furthermore, as stated in the blurb, I am not part of the target audience of this book. The book has positive customer reviews on Amazon, but that did not have an impact on my initial decision. Reading the first ten pages did not make me change my mind. The author shares a wealth of information about Hinduism, emphasizing the evolutionary and highly adaptable character of this religion. I was particularly interested in the explanation of the Cosmic Calendar, which considers time as being cyclical rather than linear. This was also my favorite part of the book. Although I am not interested in Hinduism, I think this is a great resource for those who are. There was nothing about the book that I thought should be improved. The book is well-written and professionally edited, since I did not come across any errors. I did not come across an official review of this book on Online Book Club, but that had no impact on my decision of not purchasing the book.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 6:08 pm by Maria Esposito.
SurroundedByBooks

I like the book cover. It has a nice peaceful feel to it. The blurb summed up the book well but didn’t appeal to me because I’m not religious or interested in Hinduism. I thought the start of the book was good. It was interesting to read about the theory of the cosmos not having a beginning. I won’t continue reading the book as I don’t want to learn more about Hinduism, but I’m sure this book will interest those who do. I didn’t notice any errors, so I assume the book is edited well.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 5:51 pm by SurroundedByBooks.
Laura Lee

This book seems extremely well-researched and offers a comprehensive coverage of Hinduism. The Amazon blurb was intriguing and I enjoyed the sample pages. I didn't see a book review on it, although I looked for one.
The book appears to have been carefully, though not professionally, edited. Scattered throughout are missing words as well as an occasional misuse of a word, almost as though the author, while very fluent in English, does not speak it as his native tongue. For example, in the opening paragraph, appears this sentence: "After a good deal of deliberation, I decided to make the change, hoping that it [will/would] work out for the better."
While numerous enough to be noticeable, these are not significant enough to confuse the reader. If you enjoy studies in comparative religions, this is the book for you. There was nothing, in particular, I disliked about the book. For a book of its kind, it is very well-done and Badlani writes in a very easy-to-understand manner.
I won't be finishing it simply because I have no interest in the topic, but for those who do, I think it would be an informative, enjoyable read.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 5:01 pm by Laura Lee.
Chelsy Scherba

I like that the author wants to preserve the history of Hinduism and teach others the fundamentals of this religion. The Hindu believe in the oneness of all religion and use the names of other spiritual figures in their prayers, which I didn’t know. I like the cover image a lot, the colors are pretty. There was no review but the book is pretty self-explanatory. I won’t be buying it today, because I’m not really that interested in Hinduism. I didn’t see any typos or errors so it is professionally edited. I would not have found the book outside the program.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 4:42 pm by Chelsy Scherba.
Nikolas Farmakis

This is a non-fiction book on the religion of Hinduism and the philosophy and culture behind Hinduism. I would not have read the book based on the cover, the title, or the genre, as I do not read books related to Hinduism I will not read the book, as I found it boring and uninteresting, while I am not interested in Hinduism. The book was professionally edited, as I did not notice an error in the sample I read. What I liked most about the book was that it was exceptionally edited and it contained many quotes from famous philosophers. To improve, the writer should make the book more interesting by adding more suspense, tension, and emotion to the text. The book did not have an Official OnlineBookClub review, which did not affect my opinion.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 4:35 pm by Nikolas Farmakis.
Diana Lowery

According to the editor of this book, it is a "mini-encyclopedia of Hinduism." I would not have chosen to read this book. I like that the chapters are very short, and it appears that it could be used as a reference book. Since I have no use for a reference book on this subject, I will not finish reading it. The cover is attractive, and the text is easy to understand. I think that it would appeal to anyone who is searching for more information on religion and their origins. I did not notice any grammatical errors in the pages that I read. I was not a fan of all the quotes at the beginning of the book. In the version that I read, the formatting was off, and it was annoying to try to read those pages.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 4:07 pm by Diana Lowery.
Laura Ungureanu

I didn't feel the need to check an OBC review because the book seemed self-explanatory. My first opinion of this was that it must be boring. After reading the first ten pages, I can't say that it changed my mind, but it did provide some interesting facts. I had almost no knowledge of Hinduism, so I was certainly surprised to discover it's the oldest religion. However, I'm not interested in religious books of any kind, so I'm not going to continue reading this. It seemes professionally edited.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 2:59 pm by Laura Ungureanu.
María Andrea Fernández Sepúlveda

Based on first impressions, I wouldn't have chosen to read this book. There's nothing wrong with the cover or the blurb but both give the impression of a dry textbook and it's not the kind of read I usually pursue unless it's for research purposes. The Amazon ratings and reviews are mixed so that wouldn't have helped to convince me to read it.
Thankfully, I read the first ten pages and changed my mind. I learned so much just from sampling the book! I didn't know, for example, that Hinduism was the oldest religion. I was very impressed by the opinion of people like Albert Einstein about this religion. I see a lot of things to praise in this belief system. For example: "at no time has any Hindu religious leader ever claimed that Hinduism is the only way to salvation or God-realization. Over a long period spanning many centuries, Hindus have also refrained from using any kind of pressure tactics to convert others into Hinduism." This differs a lot from my experience with other religions and I think we should all learn from these qualities. Honestly, I like this much better than the proselytizing attitude of most religions. I also like that Hinduistic beliefs do not clash with science. I don't intend to convert to Hinduism but I think it can be very enriching to adopt some of their ideas, like embracing change and the constant cycling of life and time. I can see why people like the Beatles found this belief system life-changing. The author makes a statement that makes me wonder what his take is on Gandhi's movement: "Hindu society has paid dearly for becoming rather docile and passive in the face of unjust aggressions in the past; those mistakes
and missteps may be avoided in future." I've always been interested in sociology and religion is an intrinsical part of a culture, so I found this book fascinating. It is well researched but, unlike what I thought, not dry or boring at all. I also applaud the author's noble intentions of giving the book away for free on his website.
I found some editing mistakes. For example, in the quote above (position 471 on Kindle) it's missing an article: "may be avoided in the future". The only improvement I would suggest is another editing round. The book lacks an official review but that didn't change my mind.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 2:36 pm by María Andrea Fernández Sepúlveda.
Juliana_Isabella

I wouldn't have chosen this book because I don't usually read nonfiction, and I didn't see a review for it on the giveaway, which made me wonder if all the reviews were negative. I found a mistake on the first page in which the wrong verb tense of "to work" is used (I decided to make the change, hoping that it work out for the better.). I struggled to get into this book, as it was all informational with no personal story about why the author decided to write the book. Then there was a long list of quotations from other people, with no linking material. Due to these issues, I won't finish the book.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 2:14 pm by Juliana_Isabella.
gen_g

Based on the title and cover, I would not have sampled the book, as I am not in the market for books on religion. I have also not come across a review of this book on OBC, but the lack of a review, in this case, would not have affected my decision, as I am simply not looking to read nonfiction books discussing religion. However, after sampling, there are a couple of minor errors. For example, at 1% in the sample, the comma in "...Evolutionary Religion," and have added..." should not be inserted (conjunction before dependent phrase). I would suggest more editing. However, I appreciate that the author inserted an overview of the history of Hinduism for readers who are not familiar with this religion, as it will ensure that the reader is not entirely lost when reading the book. To illustrate, I have learnt that Hinduism dates back to about 10,000 years, and one of the reasons that Hinduism is still around today is because of its ability to not conflict with science, which is the grand narrative that society follows today. Also, it is interesting to learn that Hinduism is the product of the thinking of many various ethnic tribes, not the thoughts of 1 founder, which probably explains its pluralistic character. However, I will still not be purchasing the book today, not because of its quality, but because I am not in the market for non-fiction books on religion.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 1:38 pm by gen_g.
Emy Katherine

Without The First Ten program, I would not have read and sampled the book. I am not fond of non-fiction books and am not interested in reading a book that focuses on the Hindu religion and culture. Therefore, I did not change my mind after reading the sample. Undoubtedly, the lack of an official OBC review did not affect my decision. The Amazon blurb was very informative, and I also appreciated that the chapters were short and easy to understand. The writing style was expository, and the book appeared to be edited professionally. In fact, I only found three minor errors that did not distract me from my reading. For example, it should be written "Swastika" instead of "Swasika." (location 966 of 1393 • 69%) It should also be written, "We may, therefore, keep an open mind" instead of "We may therefore keep an open mind." (location 440 of 1393 • 32%) All things considered, there was nothing that needed to be improved. Those who want to learn about the history of Hinduism will surely find this book informative.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 11:25 am by Emy Katherine.
LeDiplomatique

I would not have chosen Hinduism by Dr Hiro G. Badlani based on the title because I am not interested in the religion. However, I found the historical feature on the cover to be colorful and interesting because I love Indian architecture. After reading the First Ten, I realized that it is an educative book that explains the concepts of Hinduism like their calendar, origin of life on earth and culture, among others. I came across an error in the introduction, at location 432 - I decided to make the change, hoping that it work out for the better (hoping that it works out for the better). I most love that the work of the book has been authenticated by many entities, including non-Hindus. This makes the book worth reading for all who wish to understand the religion better. However, I will not be reading the book for now but I might consider it in the future, when comparing the concepts of major world religions. I did not come not come across an official review but that did not change the fact that I found the book to be very informative on Hinduism.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 10:31 am by LeDiplomatique.
cpru68

If I had not been a part of the first ten program with the online book club, I would not have read the sample pages of this based on the cover, title or blurb. I have studied the Hindu religion previously, and it is not of interest to me.
The first ten pages explaining the tenants of the book seemed to be well written except for a couple of mistakes in 2 percent of the sample: After good deal of deliberation, I decided to make the change, hoping that it work out for the better.
The article “a” is missing following the word “after”. And the word “would” should be included after the word “it”.
Other than that, I didn’t see any other errors, and without a full review of the entire book to give further advice, I would say it was professionally edited as these errors seem minor. The lack of a review was not a game changer for me on whether or not I would read the book. When I saw the subject on the cover, I knew it probably wouldn’t be of interest and after reading the first ten, I still wasn’t going to finish reading it.
I have no further suggestions for improvement. I do think that the writing was very clear, so for those with an interest in the topic, this one will be very informative.
I appreciate the opportunity to have read the first ten, and will send it out on my social media for others to look into.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 10:07 am by cpru68.
Twylla

I would definitely sample the text and check it out. Other religions are fascinating, especially the oldest ones. The idea of the universe existing eternally with no beginning or ending is impossible to get your mind around! I would probably not buy the book, but it is definitely a good book. I am just not interested enough to buy it. I love the cover.
There is no official book review on onlinebookclub.org but the amazon reviews are fantastic. I don't have any suggestions to improve it. The book couldn't be any better than it is. No errors, interesting subject matter.
My favorite thing about the book is just learning more about the oldest religion on earth.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 9:47 am by Twylla.
Theresa Moffitt

The cover of this book is interesting and caught my attention. I also liked the title and would be interested to learn more about the subject matter of this book. I would have picked this book up based on the cover alone. I haven’t read an Online Book Club Review of their book yet. I also haven’t read a customer review of this book. I haven’t searched to determine whether either types exist, but I haven’t seen any. The first ten pages were interesting and gave a history of the religion. It was interesting to learn that they have a belief that time was cyclical. Despite being one of the oldest religions, their scriptures included references to other solar systems. I didn’t see any area that the author could improve upon in the first ten pages. I also didn’t see any errors in the first ten pages, so I believe the book was professionally edited based on the first ten pages alone. I am interested in learning more about this subject and would like to finish reading this book.
First Ten review added on April 6, 2020, at 9:42 am by Theresa Moffitt.
Total ~ 18%
Hinduism earned a score of 18%.
In other words, out of the top-level reviewers who read at least the first 10 pages of this book, 18% plan to read the whole book.
IMPORTANT: Any score over 10% is considered very good. And any score above 0% is acceptable.
Over a million books are published each year. Any given person could not even read .0001% of the books out there. This means readers have to be very selective. Even taking the time to look over reviews and blurbs, let alone read samples, is more time than most readers can afford for most books. The First Ten is a powerful focus group that addresses those issues. It creates a helpful tool for authors, publishers, and other readers.
Go to main Bookshelves page for Hinduism