The great spiritual traditions offer a veritable treasure trove of devotional acts. There are morning and evening prayers, graces said over meals, and reverent physical gestures. Christians bow their heads and fold their hands. Native Americans dance. Sufis whirl. Buddhists sit quietly. Hindus offer sacrifices. Orthodox Jews bob their heads back and forth. Quakers keep silent.

"Everything that one turns in the direction of God is prayer," said Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus. Richard Foster calls his favorite type of devotion, "praying the ordinary." It is serving God in the regular rhythms of the day through everyday activities.

In this edifying and imaginative overview of the history of prayer — which spans from prehistoric rituals to modern discussions of prayer in classroom — Philip Zaleski (editor of The Best American Spiritual Writing series) and his wife Carol (Otherworld Journeys) do justice to this complex and fascinating subject. They state: "The story of prayer, like that of all treasure sought through the centuries, is rich in myth and dream, revelation and tragedy, secret maps and elusive clues. Here the absurd and the sublime sit side by side, while the fantastic and the banal merge."

Instead of staying within predictable parameters, which could have resulted in a dry-as-dust read, this history takes many exhilarating leaps outside of the box and leaves us with a great respect for both the drama and the diversity of the devotional life in all the world's religions and outside of them.

After examining the mythological origins of prayer and the two figures that stand guard at its gates (the magician and the priest), the Zaleskis present a colorful side-trip into the convergence of daily prayer, folk magic, and esoteric redemption in the Hasidic movement and the life of the Ba'al Shem Tov. Following a three-fold look at sacrifice in a Vedic ritual, the story of Abraham, and the suffering of Jesus, the authors plunge us into a wild and creative journey through the four fundamental archetypal figures of prayer: the refugee, the devotee, the ecstatic, and the contemplative.

Examine the prayers of such diverse figures as the Quaker mystic Thomas Kelly (1893-1941), the Indian sage Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886), the popular Catholic saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897), and even the fictional character of Robinson Crusoe.

The Zaleskis continue with thought-provoking material on prayer and tradition, the modern arts, the public square, and healing. Throughout this survey, they manage to maintain a healthy respect for the mystery that lies at the heart of so many devotions. From the Tibetan prayer wheels to the sign of the cross to the Sufi zhikr, the Zaleskis have delivered a text that brims with diversity and stretches our imagination. It's an essential resource for living in our multifaith world.