This tome is an impressive work of scholarship, monumental in size and in the scope of interrelated topics that it endeavors to cover. It is the result of a decade of meticulous research based on extensive study of the primary Mongolian source Manual of Mongolian Astrology and Divination and on consultation of a variety of Asian and Greek materials. The volume consists of six large sections: (1) the lengthy and erudite prolegomenon, composed of ten chapters; (2) transcription of the Mongolian manuscript that once belonged to a Tangγut Mongol from a village in Ordos, Inner Mongolia; (3) English translation; (4–5) detailed and extensive lists and glossaries, which will be of use not only to those interested in Mongolian astrology and divination, but also to any student of the literary Mongolian language; and (6) word and subject indices.

The author is to be lauded for successfully tackling a formidable task in deciphering complex and highly technical, astrological material, which would pose a challenge to any accomplished scholar because of its intricate contents and linguistic features. The Manual is of syncretistic nature, as it does not follow any one particular system. At times, it combines the Indian and Chinese systems, and at other times, it switches between these two. Its further complexity is caused by traces of Uygur calendrical systems, which made their way into Mongolian almanacs of the Yuan dynasty, and by the inclusion of the Tibetan twelve-animal cycle. In terms of its linguistic features, the Manual incorporates Chinese and Indian astrological terminology and the Mongolian preclassical and archaic elements, while its orthography, grammatical forms, and spellings are inconsistent. As such, the text requires of the translator both excellent linguistic skills and mastery of the subject matter. Despite the obstacles presented by the text, the author of this volume has succeeded in producing a reliable and accessible translation. However, I must add that readers who are unfamiliar with the Mongolian language would most likely find the reading easier if the author provided them with a translation of the names of astrological entities in parentheses next to their Mongolian names instead of listing them in a separate glossary.

The first chapter of the prolegomenon informs us of the history and contents of the manuscript and of the sources referenced in the Manual, such as the Kālacakratantra and Vimalaprabhā, which calls for a comparative analysis. In chapters 2 and 3, the author sets the genre of Mongolian Buddhist mathematics (toγ-a) to which the Manual belongs into a broader Eurasian historical and cultural framework in order to demonstrate its similarity with premodern Western mathematics, particularly with that of Greece, and with the mathematical traditions of Eurasia. The fourth chapter, which deals with conceptions of time, gives a detailed exposition of the sexagenary cycle invented in China, which is attested in Tibetan sources since the ninth century and applied in the Manual as a basis for its chronology. This chapter also offers a set of extremely useful tables. Some of the tables list the original Uygur and Chinese equivalents for Mongolized Uygur and Chinese terms occurring in the Manual, while other tables offer the Chinese, Mongolo-Sanskrit, Mongolo-Tibetan, and English equivalents for the Mongolian terms used in the Manual. The author demonstrates his thorough grasp of this extremely complex material, its diverse Chinese, Indian, and Uygur origins, and their history.

Chapter 5, dealing with heavenly bodies, asterisms, and horoscope, is equally impressive and demonstrates the author's erudition in this area. The subsequent chapter on metaphysics is probably the weakest in the volume, as the author's understanding of Buddhist metaphysics seems limited, based on several outdated sources, and his presentation of the Madhyamaka and Abhidharma is scanty and muddled. Nevertheless, other sections of this chapter make it still interesting reading. The chapter on divination sets the Manual once again into a broader theoretical framework, and the chapter on interdiscipline brings together discussions on medicine and ritual with the dialogue on popular science and Tantra. In this chapter, a presentation of Buddhist Tantra and the Tantric conception of time is again one of the weakest parts of the volume, based on the outdated scholarship lagging behind the works of scholars whose research has broadened the understanding of Buddhist Tantra. The chapter on esoteric language in the Manual sheds additional light on the Manual's syncretism, myth, and problems of interpretation. The last and lengthiest chapter of the prolegomenon is yet another informative chapter, which gives a historical account of Mongolian mathematics, the different influences it received, and its legacy.

In short, this is a remarkable work, which will be of use not only to a Mongolist and a Buddhologist, but also to anyone interested in the history of mathematics and astrology-cum-astronomy. Finally, as a Sanskritist, I feel impelled to point out the author's inconsistency in marking diacritics when using Sanskrit terms throughout his prolegomenon and his confusion of the term Madhyamika, which designates an adherent of the school, with the term Madhyamaka, the Middle Way School.