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Its called Buddhist Scriptures published by Penguin books

"Awaken the buddha within" was the first buddhist book I ever read. So while It was important to me, rereading it now I'm not such a fan of his writing. Same with "The Tibtain book of living and dying." While its really really good in parts it has these chapters where it just drags on and on.

I highly recommend "the tibetan book of living and dying" (hope that"s the correct english titel, read it it german...) by Sogal Rinpoche.
This is the best book I read! And what is extra great about it:
it's written in a way that every person also of other faith can get benefit from reading it.

My first contribution after officially becoming a member of the guild will be to this thread. I'm proud. heart

First, as a book on general Buddhism (or perhaps this should go under non-denominational?) I would like to recommend Buddhism Without Beliefs by Stephen Batchelor. I haven't read the book myself yet, however, it's received pretty high reviews at Amazon. Also, the Dhammapada was mentioned but without any translator names. I think this is VERY critical in the case of any book that requires translation, so I'm going to reccommend three (I've read at least part of one of these and the others have also received great reviews):

Ananda Maitreya's translation revised by Rose Kramer: I picked this one up three days ago at Barnes & Noble on a whim (my first Buddhist text) due to the small size and small price (under $9 with my membership card) and started reading it when I got home. I quickly checked Amazon to find out that this is considered to be one of the finer translations; it also has the added bonus of being pocket sized! And the notes are minimal so you'll have a volume that isn't clogged by notes. Also, I am aware that some of you may feel a bit..shall we say...skittish..upon seeing that it is a revised copy. I was too, until I read about the details of the revision done in the store. The revising amounts to updating the language to remove the archaic terms (E.G. replacing 'fletcher' with 'arrowsmith') rather than any drastic re-interpretation of the translation itself. It's also worth noting that this was done as a whole under his approval (he suggested it, actually) and watchful eye, not after his death.


These two are ones I've read about on Amazon and intend to pick up when I can afford to (the Fronsdal today, the latter at a later time):


Gil Fronsdal's translation: I'm tempted to say that his reputation precedes him, but I may need to give a bit more information than that: He is a student of Jack Kornfield, to begin with. This book is a new translation (originally released in 2005) which has a large section for notes on the texts and is known for among other things the great poetic quality it possesses. He takes a few liberties (such as using gender neutral terms throughout), however, it's received great reviews and most consider it to be scholarly as well as poetic from what I've seen.

Ross Carter and Mahin-Da Palihawadana's translation: Based on what I've read from this it is possibly the most literal translation out there, so it may seem a bit dry as your first text but it would make a great second or third translation. It evens includes a translation of the Pali Dhammapadatthakatha. The reviews seem to follow my beliefs on it and it is also important to note that the notes it provides are extensive and scholarly. Be wary, though, as there are two paperback versions and the new one seems to exclude a lot of material. (I'm basing this off of Amazon's Look Inside feature as I have neither seen either version in person.)

I hope I've been helpful.

I'm reading "Buddha in your Backpack! Wonderful book.

I'm going to recommend two on meditation that I picked up just recently:

Thich Nhat Hahn's The Long Road Turns To Joy: A Guide to Walking Meditation and Ram Dass' Journey of Awakening: A Meditator's Guidebook.

Whats yogi? (sorry to be off topic)

I'd like to recommend Buddha by Deepak Chopra.