Book Review: A History of Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult by DK

Pros: lots of information easily digested, plentiful photographs, varied topics

Cons: I feel like there was more magic from the African continent that deserved mention

The book has 5 sections, each broken down into numerous subchapters going into more detail. The sections are: Ancient roots (prehistory to 400 CE), Curse or Cure (400-1500), Scholars and Sabbats (1500-1700), Secrecy and Ceremony (1700-1900), and Modern Magic (1900 onward). There is also a glossary at the back of the book. I was impressed by the number of subsections there were and how thorough the coverage is both in terms of history and geography.

Most topics got a 2 page spread, with a few getting 4 pages. Occasionally side information would get its own spread, like images of fetishes or amulets from different cultures or the meanings of rune stones and how to use them for divination.

I would have liked to learn more about indigenous African beliefs. The authors did a good job of trying to differentiate between magical practices, superstition, and religions still being practiced (which only showed up as they intersected with magical practices, like the Christian persecution of witches). I was impressed by the sheer breadth of information covered. Much of it I was familiar with, but there were sections, like Finnish native beliefs that I had never heard about.

There are a lot of excellent photographs and good use is made of box text diving into specific practices and practitioners that needed a bit more coverage.

I didn’t expect the modern sections to interest me as much as the ancient and medieval sections, but it was fascinating to see some practices return and others morph over time.

If you’re looking for a broad overview of magical practices, this is an excellent book.

Book Review: Harry Potter: A History of Magic

This is the adult companion guide to the British Library’s exhibit on Harry Potter (there's a shorter children's version of the guide that I did not look at).

After the introduction the book has nine chapters: The Journey, Potions and Alchemy, Herbology, Charms, Astronomy, Divination, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, and Past, Present, Future. Each chapter begins with a short introductory essay, followed by exhibit items in that category. There are a number of tidbits thrown in by the curators of the library’s collection. The final chapter is about J. K. Rowling’s work, showing some manuscript pages and edits she did on the books.

I found there was a lot of repeated information, especially with the first few chapters. The same quote or tidbit would be in the essay, mentioned again with the catalogue entry, then be in a text box elsewhere on the page. 

Entries are accompanied by relevant quotes from the Harry Potter novels. A few chapters showed early manuscript pages or drawings by J. K. Rowland depicting the characters. There were also portrait paintings by Jim Kay and mini biographies for some of the Hogwarts professors teaching the classes that lend their names to the chapters. 

Personally, I found the information provided lacking. It gives the barest overview of the subjects. If anything, it’s a very basic primer for the history of magic and a jumping off point for doing more in depth research elsewhere. A lot of great source material is mentioned, much of it free online, for those wishing to learn more specifics on many of the topics.

There’s no deeper discussion of why people believed in these things or how beliefs changed over time and distance. I guess I was hoping the book would go into more depth. Instead, it barely scratches the surface of what’s being covered.

As an exhibit guide it’s fantastic, showing a lot of colour photographs of the objects, often with multiple pages of manuscripts shown and comparison images. While the majority of information is Europe specific, I was impressed that some magical items from other cultures were mentioned (Ethiopian talisman scrolls, a Thai divination manual, a Japanese mythological creature, etc.).

On the whole, I wasn’t as impressed by this book as I’d hoped to be.