"Friedman's book has translated Gurdjieff into ordinary understandable English. I would highly recommend this book as a place to start. ""I have more than 50 books on Gurdjieff's and Ouspensky's Work on my shelves, but this is no doubt the most practical one for beginners. ""Couldn't Put it Down!""Gil Friedman has done the near-impossible: rendered Gurdjieff's esoteric philosophy eminently readable, even entertaining... No serious student of philosophy or metaphysics should miss this great book!""The clearest and most useful book on the basics. ""I want to express my appreciation for for your Beginner's Guide to Gurdjieff's philosophy. Before reading your book, I have read several books on Gurdjieff ( Ouspensky, Needleman, Waker, Gurdjieff) and, at times, got lost in the complexity of what I was reading, and left wondering. It is not until I read your book, that Gurdjieff's philosophy emerged to the light, and resonated deeply within me. Trying to describe your book to a friend, I mentioned that the gift I saw in you was your ability to unearth the precious nuggets of Gurdjieff's philosophy and process, and to bring them to the light in a way that is accessible to the "house-keeper". "