I was thoroughly engrossed in with the information in this book. But I think the title is too broad because the topics were mostly on Christianity, Judaism and Islam and the other world religions were barely touched. Mr. Panati did warn that he is Catholic and is coming from that perspective. Being a Catholic myself, I think this is an excellent sourcebook for Catholics but be warned that some of Mr. Panati's explanations may make you doubt what you learned in catechism. What I did come away with is a better understanding of the connections between the three major world religions and how they are related to one another.

I've always enjoyed Charles Panati books and this one is no exception.

Not only did I read this book to satisfy my thirst for trivia, but also, to be enlightened on the more strange and mysterious rituals and practices of different religions. Although the cover says '..of the World's Religions', I personally think that this book focuses more on Christianity. But still, this book is very, very interesting -for me- because the author describes in colorful detail every information he has about a subject.
Even though I really like this book, I rate it 4 stars only because sometimes, the explanations are long and somewhat irrelevant. I still recommend it to others, though!

This was a great book it explained the true meanings behind the world religions. I'm a 15 year old humanist and have never gone to church, never read the bible or any other holy books, but this book explained it perfectly. I can see why deeply religious people would be offended by this, but they need to open their eyes to the truth. Great book and a must read.

As an incurable trivia nut, this book helped delve into areas that are normally avoided. There is a lot of fascinating information and the author does a great job of looking across more than just Christianity to includee Judiasm and Islam, emphasizing the common roots of all three. Every so often I would come across one part and find myself saying "wow, I never knew that." Soemtimes, well you have to take the author's word on things; I would find his explination reasonable just not what I thought to be true. My vocabulary expanded as I finally learned what a number of things are called. It is a good book to peruse in bursts - reading a bit here, then putting it down to return a day or two later. A welcome counterpoint to the more dense or philosophical writings about religion.