Behind the Crystal Ball (rev. ed.)

Magic, Science, and the Occult from Antiquity Through the New Age

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by Anthony Aveni

University Press of Colorado

Due/Published December 2002, 408 pages, paper

ISBN 0870816713

New in paper (F02)

Aveni takes the reader on a tour through time and space to unveil the many ways people have used magic over the millennia in hopes of improving their lives. As Aveni persuasively argues, the ancients sought what we now search for through science and religion--a clearer picture of humanity's place in the cosmos.

"[Mr. Aveni]'s not out to debunk . . . occult practices. Just the opposite: he argues that magic has had a bum rap through history . . . that 'deep down science and magic are perhaps more alike than we might care to admit.'"--The New York Times Book Review