Customer Reviews

Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Perdurabo is truly a majestic work. Taking the reader on a comprehensive and insightful tour de force, we are given delightful, exciting substance not found in other biographies. The author elegantly and solidly paints a vivid picture of the astounding life of Crowley, his varied - and often bizarre - interests and influences, and the multiple directions his life took.

What is unique about this work is the revealing nature of its chapters which offer detailed accounts of letters, "magickal" practices and previously unexplored facets to this extraordinary life. The author seems to want to give you all the goods, which I like.

Two other wonderful works about this fascinating subject - `Astrology, Aleister, and Aeon,' and `Do What Thou Wilt' - when taken in consideration with this one, provide a delightful trilogy that vouchsafes the most relevant and probing ideas surrounding their subject. When all three are read, one captures a thorough picture of Crowley, for better or worse.

Crowley, the highly controversial mountaineer, magician and writer, is rendered powerful and frail, alluring and repulsive: many lives wrapped up into one. Intriguing, to say the least.

An extensive Notes and References section that pushes this magnificent work close to 600 pages makes the price an absolute bargain. Not to mention the glorious cover art that really must be held to appreciate.

I have no real complaints about this excellent book! I give it my highest recommendation.

This book is absolutely wonderful. I am reading it a second time and will read it again. Other biography's are either slanted toward or against Crowley. This one is different. It gives the reader all of the information, in a linear fashion, which enables the reader to come to their own conclusion. It also helps the reader understand many of the works writen by Crowley (i.e. his libers). A must for anyone who wants to study Crowley's work. Very well done, Dr. Kaczynski.

Perdurabo isn't the first biography ever written on Aleister Crowley, a.k.a. The Great Beast 666 and The Wickedest Man in the World, and it's probably safe to say that it's not going to be the last.

But that doesn't matter much, because Perdurabo is, quite frankly, an amazing biography, a masterpiece that should be required reading for anybody interested in Crowley's life. It's is definitely not a short book and it's not an easy read. The text is very small and there are no pictures or illustrations whatsoever. And on top of that is Kaczynski a VERY careful writer, sometimes even on the verge of being too careful.

And that last quality must be regarded as both positive and negative. If you're a reader looking for a work that'll give you a total view of Crowley, his childhood, ideas, poetry, circle of friends, magical work, inspirations, dreams and much more, then Perdurabo is the one book to go out and get. On the other hand, if you're not extremely interested and only want a general overview, then don't bother reading it. You'll probably get bored very quickly if you do.

Furthermore, it's not the book you want if you're interested in working Crowley's Magick and how to do the different rituals he came up with. This is a biography, that is, a descriptive book, and NOT a manual of how to do his Magick.

The title is taken from the magical name Crowley chose when he was initiated into The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the magical group he later left in order to start his own. Crowley was a unique person, no question about that. He was a talented poet, an extremely skilled mountaineer, a millionaire (at least in his early years; later in life he basically had to live of his friends), and a controversial student of the occult who didn't hesitate to use different drugs and sexual magic in his ritual working in order to reach his goal - which obviously the British press used and wrongly accused him of being a Satanist or devil worshipper.

Interesting people deserve to have biographies written about them, and Crowley was one of the most interesting people around in the late 19th and early 20th century. All students of the occult should be thankful for Kaczynski's book.

He's really done an amazing job with this one.

Take Aleister Crowley's best works of fiction and non-fiction and they're still only shadows of his own biography, described by Richard Kaczynski in Perdurabo in great detail with a highly engaging and entertaining style. The true story of Crowley's life is rich with experience, with his controvertial character having developed to the height of skill in so many areas. Crowley was one of the world's best mountain-climbers, poets, and occult scholars, continually travelling the world on amazing adventures.

After so many Crowley bios having been published, it's hard to believe that this author could come up with such a brilliant and informative book. The research must have been staggering. The chapter of Crowley and crew in Tunis is so detailed that I felt I was there, while in other bios I was just reading abt it. Quite an accomplishment. Now the author is publishing material in the Blue Equinox Journal, the second volume being about the OTO in Detroit in the 1920's. This guy has done his homework and his books are recommended with out reservation!

Perdurabo isn't the first biography ever written on Aleister Crowley, a.k.a. The Great Beast 666 and The Wickedest Man in the World, and it's probably safe to say that it's not going to be the last.

But that doesn't matter much, because Perdurabo is, quite frankly, an amazing biography, a masterpiece that should be required reading for anybody interested in Crowley's life. It's is definitely not a short book and it's not an easy read. The text is very small and there are no pictures or illustrations whatsoever. And on top of that is Kaczynski a VERY careful writer, sometimes even on the verge of being too careful.

And that last quality must be regarded as both positive and negative. If you're a reader looking for a work that'll give you a total view of Crowley, his childhood, ideas, poetry, circle of friends, magical work, inspirations, dreams and much more, then Perdurabo is the one book to go out and get. On the other hand, if you're not extremely interested and only want a general overview, then don't bother reading it. You'll probably get bored very quickly if you do.

Furthermore, it's not the book you want if you're interested in working Crowley's Magick and how to do the different rituals he came up with. This is a biography, that is, a descriptive book, and NOT a manual of how to do his Magick.

The title is taken from the magical name Crowley chose when he was initiated into The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the magical group he later left in order to start his own. Crowley was a unique person, no question about that. He was a talented poet, an extremely skilled mountaineer, a millionaire (at least in his early years; later in life he basically had to live of his friends), and a controversial student of the occult who didn't hesitate to use different drugs and sexual magic in his ritual working in order to reach his goal - which obviously the British press used and wrongly accused him of being a Satanist or devil worshipper.

Interesting people deserve to have biographies written about them, and Crowley was one of the most interesting people around in the late 19th and early 20th century. All students of the occult should be thankful for Kaczynski's book. He's really done an amazing job.

This is quite a well constructed biography. The author manages to remain very professional leaving out all but the slightest personal opinions. This does admittedly make for some dry reading at times, but I prefer this approach over that of sensationalizing Crowley's life in either an overly negative or positive light.

As far as Crowley, the unbiased approach taken here allows you to constantly shift from greatly admiring the man to utterly despising him. One thing is for sure, love him or hate him, he lived life according to his Will and did not allow anyone obstruct him in this matter. This book is also an invaluable resource for those who are actually working with Crowley's system of magick. It is extremely helpful to have insight into Crowley's life when attempting to understand some of the more obscure passages and references in his writings. For anyone considering working with Thelema I would highly recommend this book as a prerequisite.

The only complaint I have is with the publisher not the author. New Falcon has a chronic problem of producing poor quality books. Every book I have from them is either falling apart after the first read due to poor binding or has pages that are unreadable due to sloppy printing.

Like most people who will read this book, or know who Crowley is, I read it for his association with Magick. Since this topic is a bit off the beaten path, I was surprised to find this book so scholarly and informative. It is hands down the best biography of anyone I have ever read (and yes, I've read some).

Crowley, the Beast, was a complicated figure and this book portrays him without judgement, sympathetic to facts and clearly deliminating the occassional commentary. It's a tale of a man seeking his Will and being true to himself.

What I learned from this book strengthened my belief in Magick and gave me a refreshingly frank view of a new prophet. Crowley was a transitional figure; bridging the Victorian age to the Modern age. Love him or hate him, you can't ignore him.

I admire and thank Kaczynski for his work. Anyone interested in a Crowley biography will find nothing better than this. It's also just a darn good read.

I read this book twice in six months.

Obviously written by an academic, Perdurabo is the near perfect result of many years of intense study and accurate reproduction of Crowley's life, without common descent into tabloid sensationalism and ignorant propogation of the ridiculous rumors surrounding the life of one, like it or not, great and influential man. Kaczynski pays tireless attention to detail in his sympathetic work without shrinking from elaboration on those more scandalous exploits of his dear Crowley. Doubtless, there will be many more books on the life of Aleister Crowley, but in the end, this work takes its place as the definitive reference.

No Crowley library is complete without it.

Regardless of how you feel about the subject, this opus will guide you to a balanced understanding of the man known as the beast. Well written and incrediably researched, I never found the book dull and it allowed me the ability to make up my own mind as to how to view Crowley. Kaczynski understands what it is to be a writer of biography as you never feel any type prejudice or bias in his work, allowing the reader to form their own opinion of the subject. A rare feat and very much appreciated since Crowley is not an easy study and his life and achievements deserve a fair chance to be understood and studied under a balanced light.