Finnish Magic (Llewellyn's World Religion & Magick) [Paperback]

Robert Nelson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications; 1st edition (February 8, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1567184898
• ISBN-13: 978-1567184891
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,251,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #61 in Books > History > Europe > Finland

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not an accurate book, and don't be fooled by the "Ph.D.", July 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Finnish Magic (Llewellyn's World Religion & Magick) (Paperback)

It is nothing but a shallow blend of wrong assumptions about the ancient finnish people. He mingles some of the Edred Thorsson interpretations of the nordic runes (which have nothing to do with finns). I found a lort of mistakes, very inacurrate things and even print errors, such as the very same sentence duplicated in one paragraph. He wrote that with very few (about 3%) valid sources that concern the topic, and a lot of non-related sources concerning amerindian shamanism, records from his own family and so on. You better read the Kalevala and interpret it your own way than read the ramblings of this so-proud-to-be-a-"Ph.D."-author (in psychology, which has nothing to do with the book topic). For the first half of the book, he tries to tell the reader how many Finns came to live and settle in America. In a way, he is trying to sell american readers the idea that the finns were important to american history, so they must buy this book if they want to achieve magic. This was definitely an attempt to cash on in the trends of neo-paganism, written under the style of many Llewellyn books, but with almost NO content. Email me if you want a more detailed review and a list of inacurracies and blatant stupidities contained in the book.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars "Get some logs and build a sauna." Yeah, right..., September 6, 2001

By 

"jemkat" (Finland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Finnish Magic (Llewellyn's World Religion & Magick) (Paperback)

Nice try, but not much more... All I got out of this book was a couple of good laughs, plus a feeling that it had been put together in a terrible hurry.

For starters, the book contains instructions on how to build your own sauna (!) that go pretty much like this: 1. Get some logs. 2. Build the walls. 3. Get a heat source and throw some water on it. Uh... if it really is that easy, what do we need builders and electricians for? Secondly, the Finnish phrases and even single words are so peppered with typos it may sometimes be hard to tell what the originals were supposed to be, especially for a non-native reader. And what's with the ä's and ö's? Did the author think the dots were merely decorations, or did Llewellyn's staff screw things up? "The God Nakki" (whose name is, of course, _Näkki_ and definitely not Nakki!) suffers most greatly of this oversight - without those bothersome little dots over the a, he instantly turns into "Sausage". Sigh.

Now I may be just a nit-picker, but I still think a person attempting to write a book about a foreign culture can't afford to overlook such things as getting that culture's primary language right. Consider this: what if some Finn wrote cheapie books about Americans claiming that they worshipped "the Grate Spirit"? -_^

This would have been an OK book if it only had more to do with the actual Finnish traditions and less with that weird mixture of Norse mythology and the basic Llewellyn-flavored Neo-Pagan stuff. As it is, I've got a hunch the author ran out of authentic material and threw in just about anything that came from farther up North than California. In my opinion, you are better off saving your money until something more worthwhile comes along.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dismal, March 7, 2002

By 

Roger Williams (Providence, RI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Finnish Magic (Llewellyn's World Religion & Magick) (Paperback)

I just had to loan this book from the local library to see if the reviews here were at all accurate. They are. I'm not sure what the aim of this book is. Is it to give Finnish-Americans with an interest in new age gibberish some sort of connection to mythic, mystic past? That's my theory, because it certainly doesn't have much to do with bonafide Finnish history or culture.

The authors carelessly intermingle Sami and Finnish cultural traditions, misspell or misuse Finnish words, and even worse, create something of a mockery of Finnish culture by creating this bizarre, frankly non-existent mismash of cultures and positing it as "Finnish". All I can say in conclusion is that I wish I could get back the time I wasted reading this horrid book.