Lets get one thing straight, this is not a book for a complete novice to Astrology, it assumes a basic understanding of astrological concepts and principles - which can easily be found in countless guides and manuals.

The book starts with a remarkably thorough insight into the origins of Astrology and its subsequent development to the present day, charting the major breakthoughs that helped the discipline to establish itself as the premier intellectual pursuit of ancient and more recent times.

Although practitioners do not need any justification of Astrology, the authors do go into considerable detail on psychology which helps the reader to understand the concepts and techniques of interpreting mundane charts in a much more objective manner than would otherwise be the case.

If this were all that the book explains that would be enough for it to be valuable, however, the authors then proceed not only to demonstrate chart-reading techniques, but also to explain other extremely valuable charting techniques not requiring horoscopes! All the while cross-referencing with examples and published works.

Where this book excels is that the authors present astrology in a practical, no nonsense logical way and are honest enough to admit that they do get things wrong from time to time.

For sheer volume of extremely valuable information this book has it all - An Essential text for any serious Astrologer

"A simple guide to calculating and interpreting birth charts for effective application in daily life", is what is says on the cover of this book. I found that this statement, in my opinion, is true.

Nicholas Campion is a well-respected astrologer who has written several other astrology titles - Mundane Astrology: the astrology of nations and organisations (with Michael Baigent and Charles Harvey), The Book of World Horoscopes, The New Astrology: the art and science of the stars (with Steve Eddy), and Zodiac: enhance your life through astrology. He is also an award winning, internationally authority on astrology as well as past President of the Astrological Association of Great Britain and the Astrological Lodge of London.

The Ultimate Astrologer is divided into 17 Chapters covering everything from the planets to becoming a professional astrologer. Also included are the necessary tables for calculating a birth chart so that you don't need to go and buy extra books if you want to have a go at working out your own birth chart. The tables provided are aimed for the reader in the UK and USA and include the tables of houses, ephemeris (from 1960 - 2010) and daylight savings times.

From the beginner to the more experienced astrologer, this title has something to offer readers with a wide variety of knowledge. The chapters start off with the basics, such as the meaning of the planets, zodiac signs and houses. There is a comprehensive chapter devoted to calculating a birth chart as well.

For the more experienced reader there are several chapters introducing prediction, relationship charts, horary, electional and financial astrology as well as several other branches of specialised topics that come under astrology

Overall, this is a worthwhile investment for the student of astrology that includes nearly everything you need to draw up a birth chart. While you are exploring astrology this is a perfect book because it will save you from having to buy an ephemeris, book of tables and daylight savings book - in a sense The Ultimate Astrologer pays for itself. That in itself is an achievement! I would recommend this title for the beginner/intermediate astrology student.

This is not a book for the novice. The author presumes that the reader is familiar with basic astrology i.e. there are no details on how to draw up a chart from first principles given a birth date, time and place. In that sense the title is a bit mis-leading. I can't judge the book from an astrologer's perspective, since (as you have probably gathered by now) I am a novice!

I had read another book on Vedic astrology and it didn't come close to giving me the understanding that I got from this book. Everything was explained in easy to understand language. This book left me with a great appreciation for the science.

Although I have been a western astrologer for 28 years, I'm very new to Vedic astrology, and The Essentials of Vedic Astrology is only the second book on the subject which I have read. Thanks to Komilla Sutton's clear, inspiring and supportive text, I am now well and truly hooked on the subject. People coming to Vedic astrology from the better known western system will probably find themselves more at sea than those who haven't studied astrology at all: the reason for this is that, though sharing many elements, the two systems have a different way of arriving at the overall balance of the chart. Komilla steers the student through these differences in a way which clarifies and inspires, while at the same time providing a thorough and easy to understand foundation for people who know nothing about astrology at all. Her treatment of the subject of karma is particularly inspiring and reassuring; instead of treating it in a fatalistic way, she shows how karmic patterns can be traced in the chart with a view to working with them positively...a far cry from the usual impression of Vedic astrology as being fatalistic and dire. Her introduction to the Nakshatras, dashas and transits fascinated me and make complete sense in terms of my own chart and life events, and the material on Rahu and Ketu (the moon's nodes) has got me determined to buy her book on the subject. Though I don't see myself ever discarding the western system of astrology, I know my passion for Vedic astrology will continue to unfold, and this is in no small part due to Komilla Sutton's excellent, supportive, inspiring and accessible book, which I will not only continue to use for reference but will recommend to anyone else wanting a sound and lucid introduction to the subject.

I do not have this book at present, thus I can only write what I remember.

Overall I would say that anyone interested in history, particularly milleniarism, should read/buy "The Great Year." The book is an engaging, comprehensive survery of milleniarism along with a great deal of history to boot.

"The Great Year" and "The Great Week" are views of history that have been accepted by many cultures/religions - Hebrews, Christians, Platonists, etc. According to this view, history is predetermined and fulfills itself in phases of various lengths. In the Hebrew book of Jubilees a "year" is 49 years, for example. In another culture a 4-phase historical cycle may involve completely different time scales. The Hebrews tended to see their "Great Year" cycles as successive renewals with God's covenant through prophets like Moses, with alternating cycles where the covenant is broken and people suffer, the explanation given as not following God's laws. Everyone is certainly familiar with how Christians believe their destiny will be fulfilled!

The author of "The Great Year" argues that history is not predetermined, that human behavior and events are not so predictable, and that historians often bias their accounts using various filters, especially the theory that history and humanity are always progressing.

Very broadly speaking, what the author seeks to accomplish in this very large survey are three things: 1) To define "The Great Year" concept and pinpoint how and when it manifested itself in various cultures. Millenarian movements in Christianity and other cultures are discussed thoroughly. Some readers may be surprised at how widespread and pervasive milleniarism has been over time in many cultures and religions. 2) To show that historians who view history in terms of progress are in error. Karl Popper wrote a book called "The Poverty of Historicism" that Campion and others have cited to show that historical accounts are often biased by false preconceptions. 3) To demonstrate that a number of currents in history, such as Marxism, are actually millenarian movements themselves, describing history in their own terms of fulfillment of their predetermined goals.

I feel that the author suceeds very well with these aims. I was particularly impressed with his insight in observing that adherents of the more modern movements such as Marxism and Nazism indeed act exactly like those who claim that a select group of people will be "saved" because they believe in a "Saviour," that history is following their version of a predetermined conclusion.

In the end, however, I found parts of this otherwise excellent book unsatisfactory because the author, while accurately depicting the fallacies of other historical views, himself falls into what I would call the trap of reason, that reason and material "proof" are the sole arbiters of "truth."

In the first part of the book Mr. Campion critisizes Jung for the latter's writings which stated that excessive materialism had corrupted mankind and made it more bellicose, hence 2 world wars in an era of great technological progress. He claims that there is no "proof." It's a shame that Dr. Jung can't defend himself, as I'm certain he could. But let me say, if the lack of spiritual values - compassion, tolerance, humility, a bond with something Divine, etc., which have in no way kept up with our material development in this century - is not one of the major causes of our almost total preoccupation with materialism, then we might as well discard the timeless teachings of many teachers, theologians, and others, who have attempted to bring some civility and purpose into this often Godless, corrupted world. Personally I am not willing to do this.

I also found the author's attack on "New Age" thinkers, like Helen Blavatsky and others, only too typical of the trite criticisms of materialistic thinkers. I even checked out one of his sources, who wrote a trilogy debunking Blavatsky and others (I can't remember the author's name), and parts of the 2 books I perused were in my opinion sadly failed attempts to attack the messangers while not attempting to take on the far more difficult and important task of evaluating their messages. Not at all surprising, for how can we "prove" that there is a God, or that there are Masters of Wisdom, karma, reincarnation, etc., which would point to some spiritual meaning for life? There are those who try to prove these things, even doctors, scientists, etc., but from what I could tell from this book, to Mr. Campion and his sources it's doubtful that any proof would ever suffice. To me a purely materialistic reading of history, where there is no ultimate Purpose and meaning - which I would claim can be pursued by trying to grow spiritually, often through multiple physical incarnations - is itself in one important sense lacking in purpose.

Campion convincingly ties together the stands of historism, astrology, and millenarianism into a tapestry spanning time from Babylon to modern Marxism, seeking to explain how ancient beliefs about the cosmos have influcenced modern views of the future. The amount of material the author marshals is truly impressive.

For the novice astrologer, this book provides understandable explanations of the basics of astrology. Its comprehensive scope also gives introductions to the more specialized aspects of astrology, such as astro-economics, political astrology, and locational astrology. There is a lack of depth on these latter subjects; however, the fundamentals are presented clearly and fully.