Ok, you expect the author to do some decent research on some mages throughout history but he devotes far more space to childish listings! Don't pick this up unless you like pop culture and are desperate to waste your money.

First the author needs to learn how to write. Second to know the historical facts, if interested to establish any credibility. The whole book is nothing but stories at a 6 year old level.

How unusual to combine education with entertainment. (I am unqualified to discuss this book as a scholarly work. For all I know, Ogden is a wizard or sorcerer and made most of it up.) I learned a great deal which I did not know previously...and I enjoyed myself while doing so. In his Introduction, Ogden explains:

Wizards are "magicians, from the first priests who used trickery to entrance their congregations through the alchemists to modern-day cabalists. Generally, they seek wisdom and mystic truths and practice 'white magic,' based on experimentation and gained through apprenticeship, oral tradition, folklore or the study of arcane writings. Their work tends to be beneficent, or at least benign, particularly to their patrons."

He then explains that sorcerers are "are the practitioners of black magic and dark spells who call up the spirits of the dead and the Underworld. Above all, sorcerers seek unlimited knowledge, with a lust for power, control, and mastery of the universe. They wish to use their powers to make them, in essence, gods."

These brief excerpts correctly suggest the tone, style, and thrust of Ogden's discussions of subjects ranging from Abracadabra to Zoroaster. In effect, he has created both an encyclopedia and a dictionary (deftly using the A to Z format) in which he examines almost all forms and dimensions of "enchantment, magic and the occult." He notes that while the emphasis is on individuals, both fictional and real, he has "covered relevant jargon and items from related supernatural fields of study, as well as relevant aspects of popular culture, such as films, theater, and comics."

For me, one of the greatest strengths of the book is that Ogden (within the obvious limitations of space) suggests WHY so many people (throughout history) have been attracted to "enchantment, magic and the occult." Perhaps in a book he has yet to write, Ogden will shift his attention to the implications of that attraction. What is there in human nature which causes so many people to worship other people, physical objects, even physical locations, natural forces, etc.? Which human needs (perhaps unmet) do such objects of worship serve? To what extent have the skills of the wizard and/or sorcerer been demonstrated by historical figures such as Nero and Caligula...more recently by Stalin and Hitler? Cult figures? Serial killers?

To repeat, I learned a great deal from this book and enjoyed myself in the process. I hope this brief commentary has helped you to decide whether or not you also have an interest in knowing more about "enchantment, magic and the occult."

The book is not worth the exorbitant price one has to pay to buy this thrash, but if you want to waste your money then go ahead. This third rated book is meant for waste paper basket and the author is not a scholar he claims to be. He follows the school of Nyberg who falsely called the great prophet Zarathushtra, a sahman and this author has further rediculed the great prophet. My advice to him, "Please do not write nonsense anymore and do not waste papers and make trees cry".