73 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You people are missing the point., January 7, 2005
OF COURSE THE BOOK IS FAKE! OF COURSE THERE IS NO REAL NECRONOMICON!
It wasn't written to fool you, it's just for fun! So you can say "I have a copy of the Necronomicon!" It's a prop! It's not a hoax, it's not a religious text, it's not a "real" grimoire.
It does, however, read like a "real" hermetic, enochian, or kabbahlistic spellbook. Many of the same themes are present, the seals and gates correspond directly to the kabbahlistic sephiroth, for instance.
The two main differences here are.
1. The Sumerian pantheon is used instead of a Hebrew or Greek pantheon
2. The books is much darker and forboding. The reason for spellcasting here is not to advance in your workplace or get a new lover, as in most modern "real" spellbooks, instead it is supposed to be used to gain power from the "Elder Gods" (the good guys) to keep "The Ancient Ones" from destroying the mortal world.
The beggining and ending written by "The Mad Arab" are a great homage to Lovecraft. This is for entertainment.
If you like the way you get scared reading Lovecraft's stories, you might like to read this book. If you love occult sigils you will love this book. If you're writting horror or fantasy stories, you might find this book useful as inspiration. If you want to learn a bit about Sumerian mythology (you know, MARDUK, slayer of TIAMAT, and all that), there's some of that in the introduction too.
I really enjoyed this book.
Actually the "real" Necronomicon is "The Egyptian Book of the Dead" which is a pretty complete translation of hieroglyphs from the papyrus of ANI which, written about 1500 - 1400 BCE. and aquired by the British Museum in 1888. This book won't give you magic powers either, but it's an authentic religious text.
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44 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For those of you who want to believe, March 20, 2000
I tell you, I owe this book a great deal. It gave me an interest in Mesopotamian Theology that I have kept for 10 years now. I discovered the Necronomicon in high school, and it is, most certainly, a fabrication. But it's a pretty good fabrication, I'll give it that. Now I have never read any of Lovecraft's works, but I'm sure that Simon borrowed a great deal more from the translations of Sumerian cuneiform tablets that have become increasing available in the past 50 or so years than he ever did from the Lovecraft's mythos. In fact, some of writings in the Necronomicon, such as the Maklu and the Magan text, are very similar to actual Sumerian and Babylonian manuscripts. In other words, Lovecraft's Necronomicon was a myth by his own admittance. However, Simon's Necronomicon is, at least in part, based on a religion that was very real and practiced for thousands of years. Personally, I am at least pleased to see a book create such a resurgence of interest in a system of believes that has been close to dead for such a long, long time. However, for those of you who are interested in taking the contents of this book to a more personal level, there are far more accurate sources to look to, although I'm sure Simon's work would be best in captivating your interests.
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44 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
FORGET THE BOOK - THE REAL HOOTS ARE THE NAIVE REVIEWS...., November 9, 1999
By A Customer
LOVED both Crowley and Lovecraft since childhood... how nice to read a creative grimoire that has some of the "spirit' of both! Does it work? Of course, if you make it so. "Alice in Wonderland" is a great grimoire if you approach it properly (ask any quantum physicist). Is this or any of the other "Necronomicons" a work of fiction? Who cares? Remember, Crowley often used fiction and poetry as prime source material and Wicca was reconstructed by an anthropologist or two in the 1950s (despite all the bogus "family tradition" people who suddenly appeared in the '60s). Even so, these arts really DO work - it's not the veracity of the reputed source that makes your Magick work, it's your MIND and your SPIRIT!........ On the lighter side, check out the many reviews below and the reviewers' constant trumpeting of their esoteric credentials... "I'm Frater Hoo-Ha and I've read my Lovecraft"...."I'm a Certified Crone, and these others don't know what they're talking about," etc., (methinks they do protest too much.) Remember, gentle Sabrina-and-Buffy-watchers, everybody else has already read the same mass-produced books (on magic or by Lovecraft) that YOU have read! Oh, well...
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