This is a book which demands a lot of from its readers: to follow what's going on without constantly looking up people/works mentioned, you'll need a reasonable knowledge of the history of western intellectual and religious thought from the Greeks onwards as well as a rough grasp of India, Chinese and Japanese traditions (especially Indian as China and Japan had long periods where either foreigners weren't welcome or the west didn't know about them).

I enjoyed the early section on Antiquity to 1600 as it ranged across India, China and Japan. The second section 1600-1900 focussed heavily on India as China and Japan were rather closed. The third section, 1900-present, was my least favourite as it really slows down to focus on a few individuals and their appreciation/appropriation/adaptation of Indian ideas especially (as well as some Zen and Taoist thought). I'd not heard of these individuals and this part dragged as it was too detailed compared to the previous sections.

Worth a read to see how westerners reacted to Indian thought but there's scant space given to Japonisme etc. trends in the western decor and furniture, or vogues for Japanese/Chinese influenced gardens.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

In “The Light of Asia”, it felt like the first several hundred years of east-west contact passed by relatively quickly early on in the book. Then as it progresses, focus lies increasingly heavily on various Asian spiritualities and religious traditions and their influences on trends and particular figures out in the west, almost to the point where it frankly made things bog down for me a bit.

Overall, I would definitely call this quite informative, and even entertainingly so at times - but also something of an imbalanced read.