Customer Reviews

The Encyclopedia of Superstitions

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Richard Webster's "The Encyclopedia of Superstitions" is a collection of superstitions, primarily from the Western world [not including regional superstitions] and are alphabetically listed, from A to Z. However, the author lists not just superstitions associated with particular objects, creatures or people, but also anything associated with the subject, e.g. divination, though not strictly a form of superstition, has associations with the subject and hence the author includes it and even mentions the different forms of divination.

A typical entry reads something like this - "Purse: It is important to place a coin in any purse that you intend to give away as a gift. This ensures that the person who receives the purse will have good luck and will never run out of money. See coin, money"

The list of superstitions is by no means exhaustive as the author himself in the preface mentions the large scope of superstitions of cultures across the globe. Perhaps at some point, there will a compendium of Eastern superstitions.

On the whole, this is an amusing and interesting read for fans of trivia, and may even be helpful for purposes of research. There aren't much illustrations, just random black and white drawings of objects of superstitions. Final verdict: a fun & informative read!

The Encyclopeda of Superstitions was a very good book
When I recieved the book in the mail I was really suprised by the great shape the book was in you could not tell it was a used book and what a great price. This book is ideal for the people who are into superstitions or those who would like to learn more. I personally used this book for a college project which helped me out more then i thought it would.

This is a very interesting book. Does not have all the superstitions
that are out there, but lots I never heard of. I completely enjoyed
reading it. It is an excellent book.

I bought this book for research, and I've found it to be a very easy-to-use resource. It's organized alphabetically, but each entry cross-references other entries. The conversational tone and interesting facts make it eay to read as well. Interesting and fun!