Amazing Temples of the World

The outstanding attribute of Amazing Temples of the World concerns how discrimination, as recognized in our daily life, is peaceably absent from Michael Kerrigan’s outstanding book, where art and worship are drawn together. More than a hundred images span the continents and centuries, some showing unexpected geographic juxtapositions: the Buddhist temple south of Paris largely funded by the regional Vietnamese community; the magical Sikh temple seemingly floating on water in Amritsar in the Punjab.

The pages feature synagogues from Asia to Africa, the Americas to Europe, some soberly dignified, others magnificent. Japanese temples are awesome in both design and colors, and multiple fourteenth century temples are mysteriously half-hidden in clouds in Myanmar. Each region is explored and illustrated in full color, and to the credit of both author and photographer, no overwhelming number of red-sky sunsets.

Readers will value the captions, not always so successfully integrated in coffee-table books. Architecture, history, a range of construction materials, and unique elements combine to highlight a splendid display. It need not be mentioned that the photographs, taken and included with pride, are not simply of wayside chapels and warrant close admiration.