The Occult [Hardcover]

Colin Wilson (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 608 pages
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd (October 4, 1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034015263X
• ISBN-13: 978-0340152638
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,483,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite Good and Very Readable, September 17, 2007

By 

Danno (NY, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Occult (Paperback)

Colin Wilson brings an excellent conversational tone to "The Occult." Despite the fact that Wilson seems to have included virtually every pre-1970 seer, philosopher, adept, alchemist, prophet, soothsayer, necromancer and sorcerer, the book never seems poorly organized or disjointed. This is a testament to Wilson's writing style. Although by its very nature superficial, "The Occult" comes across as a conversation about the subject with a well-versed, highly-educated and rather witty enthusiast. As such, you will likely have as much fun reading it as I have. This is probably the most readable book on the topic, and a fine place to start if you're new to this.

Despite its' breadth, however, "The Occult" has one fatal flaw, and that is Wilson's inability to truly weigh competing points of view. For example, while Wilson provides rather lively portraits of Caligostro, Nostradamus, Mesmer, Pythagoras and the like, he uncritically reprints sensationalistic stories about them. Any historian of Greek philosophy can tell you that the stories Wilson shares regarding Pythagoras are most likely fiction, and any Freemason can correct Wilson's misconceptions about the Masons in his section on Caligostro. (Freemasonry is NOT a religion, despite Wilson's claims).

Still, this book deserves much praise. The Tarot is here, but so is the I Ching. Crowley is here, but so is Zen. The Kabbalah is here, but so are the Masons. And so on. While casting his net wide may open him up to charges of being a dillentant, it also saves this from being yet another collection of ghost stories and pseudo-myth. Don't buy this book because Halloween is coming. Buy it if you have ever cared about mystery, religion, philosophy, or spiritualism. You probably won't like everything about "The Occult" but I think you will be glad that you have read it and will probably want to read it again.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Largely Erroneous, January 7, 2008

By 

J. W. Kennedy "in statu uiae et meriti" (Richmond, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Occult (Paperback)

I was drawn to this book after being impressed by Colin Wilson's ideas in "The Mammoth Encyclopedia of the Unsolved." This book was written early in Colin Wilson's career after a publisher commissioned him to write it - he admits not having had much interest in the subject when he started. It was first published in 1971 but the copyright was renewed by Mr. Wilson in 2003 (apparently without bothering to update the text.)

The meat of this book is a "history" of occultism presented as condensed biographies of some of its most famous figures (John Dee, Paracelsus, Nostradamus, Cagliostro, Daniel Dunglas Home, Madame Blavatsky, Rasputin, Aliester Crowley, etc) The accounts are fascinating to read but I found myslef plagued by doubts as to the veracity of the "facts" as the author has presented them. I already regarded him as a potential hoaxer after his collaboration with L. Sprague de Camp on the Skoob _Necronomicon_ but I don't know enough about these historical figures to tell how much of the story is hogwash.

In the one field he discussed in which I HAVE done some prior research, Mr. Wilson showed himself to be without any knowledge whatsoever. His two chapters about the Evolution of Man and Primitive Magic are full of embarrassing mistakes and crude distortions. He also makes much of the notion that people during the Classical period of ancient Greece were colorblind, which is patently ridiculous since we know that painting was an art in Classical times. He also repeats a mistaken theory (which was accepted among academics at the time but has since been disproven) about the purpose of paleolithic cave art. Given the number of bald-faced errors in this section of the text, I remained skeptical of the entire rest of the book, although there are passages in which Wilson hits his stride and is quite fascinating.

He also expounds a vague theory about "Faculty X," a power supposedly latent in all humans, which we have forgotten how to use but can access by exertion of the will ... I think... It's unclear because Mr. Wilson's theories about Faculty X are not entirely well-thought-out. Every time it seemed he might be on to something, he would proceed to miss his own point and contradict himself a few pages later.

This book is immature and unformed, the author's first foray into the realm of the Occult. It's an interesting read, but if you want something of substance I'd recommend "The Mammoth Encyclopedia of the Unsolved" or the sequel to this volume, "Mysteries" (which I'm currently 1/3 of the way through reading and finding it to be MUCH more substantial.)

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mind Blowing, February 17, 2000

By 

James Aquilone (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Occult (Hardcover)

This book totally changed my outlook on life. Colin Wilson's penetrating look into the occult -- its history, causes and effects -- left me with a different worldview and a better understanding of the world beyond.

"The Occult" demystifies the world of magic, supernaturalism, and religion. And gives you a clearer, practical view of this strange and interesting world that exists all around us but is seldom seen.