The format of this bibliography is without precedent. We suspect that this book will one day be considered the prototype for all bibliographies because of its clarity, ease of use, and the lavish production details.

This book provides the most honest and concise bibliography of one of the foremost authors of our time and Mr. Pastore has essentially re-engineered how a bibliography should be written - that "thin" can be better than "fat".

This book will serve as a high water mark for all bibliographies to follow. The numerous illustrations, the obvious painstaking care with which the material was assembled and, above all, the accessability of the material to all researchers, professional and novice, make this a necessity for any library.

I read this book about seven years ago and I still remember it as one of the most enjoyable books of the many I've read. Each chapter takes a look at a different cult that has/had sprung up out of some excitement over the possibility of aliens. The analysis is qualitative and not overly theoretical (nor mildly journalistic).

I like this book because it is more objective perspective, not from the UFO true believers camp. Although from an academic viewpoint, most of the reading is interesting and would make a good resource book for any library. Its illustrations help put a face on the many types of flying saucer organizations. It contains an extensive bibliography, as well as an early history of the Heaven's Gate phenomenon (before they committed suicide). Fascinating chapters on Unarius and the Raelians. Lots of information all in one place, even a few statistics.

When I met Jim Lewis in 1996, he was introduced to me as a scholar who was doing field research on the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness as a "New Religious Movement." My immediate reaction was, "Oh-oh," in the wake of some difficult past experiences with journalists and former colleagues who ended up misquoting me and others or using remarks out of context. I have read Jim Lewis's account of MSIA with great satisfaction and admiration, both because of its clarity and quality and also because of Jim's mastery of research and reportage. It is, simply put, a very good read, even for someone who has studied and practiced teachings through MSIA since 1976, as I have.

If you are at all curious about what all the talk about John-Roger has been about, or if you are looking for an experience-based, genuine teaching to "lean into" but are wary of hucksters, ego-maniacs, and others scary points of call, I highly recommend Dr. Lewis's book as a good starting point. If you are doing research on the various so-called new religious movements of the latter 20th Century, you couldn't find a better mentor or example to emulate. And if you are a parent or member of the clergy (I am both), whose child or parishoner has pursued an interest in MSIA, this book should do much to allay your fears and perhaps offer some reassurance.

With his impeccable credentials and breadth and depth of study in both Western and Eastern practices, Jim Lewis is someone who can tell you what some of us have known for many years but could not put so well on paper for a general readership. Here is a scholar not afraid to immerse himself in his subject, allow himself to actually experience what he studies, and then stand back and faithfully report his findings in an appropriately objective way that also expresses great humanity.

As a fellow educator, researcher, and writer with a 30-year background in "New Age" and esoteric/mystical practices here in the West, I take my hat off to Dr. Lewis. Jim, you set a high standard for all of us, and I am especially grateful as a student in MSIA to be able to encounter this subject area through a more objective viewpoint. This book is a great gift and makes a great gift. Thank you.

I found Seeking the Light to be both interesting and helpful because apparently Dr. Lewis looked at the controversy and decided its sensationalism had no place in a balanced work. He presents a clear account of the historical facts ... .

What I appreciated was learning of the long and deep spiritual roots of the practices presented through MSIA, and the history of the organization that seemed to me to neither play up or play down any part of the story. It is a fascinating objective academic study, not a tabloid tell-all.

Pick apart the book on its literary merits. Leave the personalities and the politics out of it.

I liked the book. I found value in it. I think people who are interested in non-traditional religions - or just in an interesting story of a contemporary spiritual movement will like it too. It's readable. The author is well versed in both the field of spirituality/religion and the specifics of this organization. He presents the story with taste, humor and clarity. What more can one ask of any book?

For the spiritual seeker who has felt in his/her heart and mind that he/she has found "HOME", yet faced with the controversies of Church Universal and Triumphant... This is the book for you! If you have family or friends who are concerned for your well-being because you are seeking out this church... reading this book will put them at ease. This book is a compilement of interdisciplinary studies from a team of acadmic specialists. The 11 specialists range from a criminal investigator to a psycholigist, including a reverend and a lawyer. If you are ready to take the plunge and pursue a disciplined spiritual life with Church Universal and Triumphant, this is a book you will want to have on your bookself.

James R. Lewis' Doomsday Prophecies provides a 'complete guide to the end of the world': a collection of beliefs from tribal roots, prophets, and those who have predicted doom from the beginnings of mankind to modern times. This examination of underlying questions and issues is intriguing.

Coming out of RazorBlade Press, Hideous Progeny is one monstrously beautiful anthology that explores the world as it would have been if Dr. Victor Frankenstein's gruesome experiments had not gone awry. Writers such as Tim Lebbon, Peter Crowther, Steven Volk, Steve Rasnic Tem, and Rhys Hughes (to name just a few) each donate a small literary organ to the mix, and everything is skilfully stitched together into a marvellous book by first-time editor Brian Willis.

Cosmetically, the book is a two-face: while cover design by Chris Nurse is nothing short of outstanding, the internal layout is not without blemish. For example, outside margins are too wide, story titles are not always at the same height in the page, and the author's name is italicised in some but not all of the instances. Another gripe I have is that page numbers on the right-hand pages are left-aligned; plus, headers have no indication about the stories presented below them: these will give you a bad time if you want to riffle through the book to look up a specific something. There are a few extra typesetting warts and moles as well, as I noticed some characters showing up in a different size than the rest of the text, uneven spacing between words, typos derived from bad OCR, and so on. I sincerely encourage RazorBlade Press to pay more attention to internal design in the future, and run a few spell checks as well. Still, don't let appearances fool you, because the writing on these pages is top-notch.

In the whole, I was not in the least disappointed by Hideous Progeny while expecting quality work. Many short stories surprised me by their original angles, and all are very well written. The subjects are quite varied too, although some do overlap a little - it seems inevitable given the limitations inherent to their collective premise. I have my favourites, of course: Peter Crowther's piece is shocking yet touching at the same time, and the idea behind "Mad Jack" is a simple but nevertheless brilliant one. "The Banker of Ingolstadt" is perhaps the funniest in the book, and I found Steven Volk's "Blitzenstein" to rank among the best.

Whatever shortcomings the book has, they're quickly overwhelmed by the superb fiction it it, not to mention a downright gorgeous cover. For £6.99, it's well worth getting Hideous Progeny: not only will you be adding a fine specimen of a book to your library, you'll also be helping small press business to thrive. Because I want to see more from RazorBlade Press. Oh yeah.

This wonderful book tells the story of where the James family and its money came from, how Henry Sr. almost lost his inheritance for the frivolity of buying too many books, then reclaimed it and used it to raise the most remarkable intellectual family yet in American history. The book is big, which gives it enough space to delve into the tragedy of the two younger James brothers, the maturation of William and Henry Jr., and the closeted life of Alice.

I came away with a new respect for the somewhat eccentric Henry Sr., with his diverse interests in educational philosophy, Swedenborg, and Emerson. He is the under-sung hero of this narrative and its true author.

Perhaps I enjoyed the book most of all because it allowed me to feel almost a part of the family, to live what to me is a fantasy. If you feel yourself a kindred spirit to William, Henry, Jr., or Sr., or Alice, I would heartily recommend this book.

I keep this by my side at all times, even after years of working in astrology, there are times you need a reference made or verified. This encyclopedia is the perfect reference book for beginners or advanced.

If you were limited to only one astrological reference, this should be it. It is thorough, interestingly written and concise. You can sit down and actually read this like a text. Wonderfully annotated articles so that you can reference better detailed sources if the thorough but concise treatment of a topic is not enough. The paperback version gives you great "bang for the buck". Some articles are well illustrated or diagramed and the text is pleasantly set with judicious use of bolded text to get critical names or concepts through in a hurry. Wonderful coverage of all asteroids and hypothetical planets. An excellent addition to any astrological or occult library.

This book was very informational and it helped me to find the answers to a lot my questions. It brought me more into astrology and made me what to learn more about it. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about astrology.

Lewis Carroll sends Alice on a second set of adventures in some territory that is beyond our world. This time she crosses a mirror and enters a game of chess. She will eventually become a queen but she will in all possible ways express her deep desire to rebel against a world that is seen as having too many limitations and frustrating rules. She will in a way rebel against the game of chess itself when she comes to the end of it and pulls the tablecloth from under all the pawns and pieces to have peace and quiet, to free herself of absolute slavery. But what is she the slave of ? Of rules, the rules of the game, the rules of society, the rules of education. Of words and their silly ambiguities that enable them to mean both one sense and its reverse, that enable them to lead to absurd statements and declarations that completely block her in blind alleys and impasses. But at the same time, her return to the normal world that transforms those adventures into a dream, is a rejection of such adventures and of such rebellion as being absurd and purely fantasmatic, dreamlike. There is in this book a rather sad lesson that comes out of this ending : children can dream adventures, can dream perfect freedom, but reason brings them back to the comfortable world of everyday life and submission. And there is no other way possible. This book is pessimistic about a possible evolution from one generation to the next thanks to the retension of childish, childlike dreams, forgetting that the world can only change and progress thanks to the fuel those dreams represent in our social engine.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

"Through The Looking Glass" is, perhaps, not QUITE as good as "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland", but it's close enough to still rate five stars. Not, properly, a sequel to the first book, there is no indication at any point in it that the Alice (clearly the same individual, slightly older) from this book ever had the adventures in the first one; there is no reference to her previous adventures, even when she once again meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Obviously, the two books are intended as parallel adventures, not subsequent ones.

The most memorable bits from this book are doubtlessly the poem, "Jabberwocky", as well as chapter six, "Humpty Dumpty". But all of the book is marvellous, and not to be missed by anyone who enjoys a magical romp through silliness and playful use of the English language.

(This review refers to the unabridged "Dover Thrift Edition".)

Carrol was a profound and wonderful writer, and Through the Looking Glass... is definate proof of this. Though there isn't much evidence that he was a pedophile, you shouldn't grade his works simply on who he might or might not have been. Through the Looking Glass... is one of the greatest works of literature in the english language, and will continue to be despite the author's supposed problems.

This book is a little helpful when trying to figure out what something in a dream means. It's cool to see the background for something but it doesn't always necessarily help. The dream symbol dictionary doesn't have enough symbols and I often am finding that the things I am dreaming of aren't in there.

An excellent resource for any lay person looking for infomation on dream meanings and symbols!