I've been a Darren Main fan since reading his second book, "Yoga and the Path of the Urban Mystic." I've now read all three of his books and eagerly look forward to his books on yoga and spirituality. Reading this book is like listening to an old friend. This book is both instructive and informative and takes a deceptively complex topic and logically lays out the way for someone to successfully meditate, by avoiding all the common pitfalls that he or she may encounter while meditating. I would have given this book a higher rating, but I felt that it only skimmed different forms of meditation (Jewish repetitive prayer, Buddhist chanting, "mind blanking" are three that come to mind) at best, rather than investigating them more deeply, and explaining why they work for different people. I also have mixed feelings about the author providing as much personal information as he does. On the one hand, by humanizing the material, it can help the reader relate to the subject matter, but on the other hand by being so autobiographical, it shifts the focus of the book, which detract from the subject matter. This is still a very good book, loaded with good information on how to establish a positive meditative practice, and as mentioned, very readable.