Customer Reviews

KISS Guide to Astrology

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a good book to buy if you want to know more than the sun signs, but aren't sure where to start.

If you are familiar with Parker's Astrology, this book is by the same authors and is similiar to it, but it is smaller and on a more basic level than the former, which is good for somebody brand new to astrology.

Personally I prefer Parker's; it's more comprehensive--I don't want two books on my shelf that are so similiar. But like I said, this may be a great choice if you don't want to spend a lot of money and aren't sure if you are ready for the more detailed aspects of astrology.

a great book for both the beginner and advanced astrologer. The beginner will like its ease of use and the advanced astrologer will use it as a quick reference guide.The color coded pages are a nice feature and the illustrations are new and upbeat. I started my astrology knowledge with the authors first astrology book, The Complete Astrologer. This is even better. Phyllis Diercks

I never understood my friends' fascination with Astrology until I was given this great book. This Kiss guide is so easy to read that I devoured the entire book in one weekend, and now I'm an Astrology fanatic!

I have both Parker's Astrology and this book by the same author. Why buy this one if I already had the other? Well DK puts out good books for people who are left handed. ie right brain people. We tend to be able to grasp things faster with visual aids. In that respect this book was easyer to use than Parker's even though it essentially had about the same information. What makes me torn between the two? They didn't include the chart progression in this book and if they had I'd probably have given it a 5 instead of a 4.

If your interested in astrology and working your own chart by hand this book will help you do that much. It will also give you some information about what it all means. But unlike the first book Parker's Astrology it will not tell you how to progress the chart. if you just want to a copy of your natal chart though you can get it free at www.astro.com in minutes and the same results as doing it yourself. This a good book for all us right brained people who wanted to learn how to do it ourselves though.

This is an excellent general knowledge book. Great if you don't know a lot about astrology and want to learn. Like all DK books this one is illustrated beautifully.

It makes things very easy to follow, and has alot of great information. A must have for the book shelf.

MANY OF THE K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Series), books are excellent. Some are not that good. But ALL of them have the tagline: "The Only _____(fill in ssubject) Book You'll Ever Need".

"The K.I.S.S. Guide To Astrology", by Julia & Derek Parker, DOES live up, (delightfully!), to the K.I.S.S. motto! (Or at least for beginners, like me!) Full of delightful, beautiful, and thoughtful illustrations and charts, this book is full of easy-to-understand text, large print, good paper, and a binding which could be a BIT stronger, but is perfectly adequate if you do not pile other books on top of it! The chapters begin by going into astrological data with which even beginners are familiar, (the 12 sign of the zodiac, their encompassing dates during the year, and the basic personality each sign encompasses), and then go on to far more complex, (but always easily explained and understood), material, such as the various signs "at work", and what it means when another sign of the zodiac enters your "house". The Appendix is filled with detailed, (and I do
mean DETAILED!) charts on such things as 'Planetary Tables', "Moon Tables", and "How To Find Your Midheaven". These charts are in necessairily(????) teeny-tiny print size, (no, NOT necessairily, I don't think, as an even slighly larger type size would be very welcome), but the charts are in clear type, which can be read through magnifying glasses if necessary....) This is followed by a few pages of 'More Resources', on selected Books, Schools, Bookstores, and Organizations, (in the USA, Canada, the UK, and Australia!), and give complete addresses, phone numbers, and websites, where available. Herein is also inluded a selection of selected websites, for information on General Astrology, Astrological Books and Magazines, Astrological Newsgroups, Astrological Schools On-Line, Astrological Theories and Techniques, Sports, Weather, Medical, Psychological and Financial Astrology, and also an intriguing site for Horary Astrology, which, the book explains, is the art of asking a question and getting the answer from a drawn-up astrological chart. There follows, (as in all of the K.I.S.S. books I have encountered), a full index, and a list of Acknowlegements.

Some people say that astrology is really only a myth, because new planets, (namely Pluto and Neptune), have been discovered since ancient times, when astrology first began, and, anyway, the planets and stars have MOVED! Perhaps so -- but then, I think modern astrologers have changed their knowledge basis these new facts into consideration. All I know is that, whenever I read a basic description of my own Sun-Sign, it's so accurate, it almost looks like a psychological profile! However, I believe that one should not be "hemmed in" by the proclivities one is said to have, from one's astrological chart. An astrological sign or chart, to me, ONLY tells you what your habits, talents, and liabilities probably are; what you DO with these things is totally up to each individual! The authors of this book write with the same basic philosophy!

There is a great deal of information in this book's 429 pages. It may not get you an astrologist's certification -- but it can give you a basic, (and probably more than a basic), understanding of astrological ideas and protocols, if you truly apply yourself to this book, and read ALL the information in it. It can lead you to other sources, if you feel you need them. But there is SO much good, basic, and supra-basic information in this book that it reminds me of a (true!) story I once heard about a legal secretary.... This lady had been a legal secretary for about 20 years -- and now she wanted to become a lawyer. One cannot become a lawyer merely by graduating law school -- though that undoubtedly helps. No -- the crucial step in becoming a lawyer is, of course, to pass the bar exam. (J.F.K. Jr -- despite being brilliant and knowledgeable -- had to three times before he passed it.) But this lady -- with NO law school study at all, and her 20 years as a legal secretary as her ONLY legal knowedge -- passed the bar exam the very FIRST time. : ) I don't know if examinations are more crucial than a diploma, in astrological circles o not -- but if you read this book carefully and thoroughly, your astrological knowledge will certainly be far past the beginner's stage...and will make any further reading or training you desire, that much more easy to understand. Your knowlege, with this book, will increase astrologically -- er, I mean, astronomically! ** : )

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P.S.: I have looked on the website of the DK Company, and it seems they are now not now reprinting too many of their excellent K.I.S.S. books. I hope they will change their mind, soon, so that more people can be sure of getting this, and other excellent K.I.S.S. books!