A new edition of what is probably considered and rightly held by many to be the classic modern commentary on The Rule of St Benedict. De Waal first wrote this book in 1995, and as with most things written by her it is both insightful, fresh and in depth, yet easy to read and understand—something so very necessary for those newly encountering The Rule of St Benedict. This edition is a an oversized paperback with the second edition text - sadly this does mean the typescript is somewhat blurry in parts. However, to be fair having an original copy of the second edition it is true to say that this copy of it is in keeping with that!. That said, it would have been nice, given the oversizing (230mm tall!) of this book, and price, had time been taken to reset it in a slightly larger print instead of leaving 1 inch margins around the edges. Now I do accept that those margins may be handy for those making a study of The Rule, but I think on the whole a smaller sized book or larger sized print would have been much more helpful.