The Book of Lies: Schemes, Scams, Fakes, and Frauds That Have Changed the Course of History and Affect Our Daily Lives

Rating:
Summary: Mystical Poetry, Reference Work and Qabalistic Conundrum
Review: For The Mystic, this collection of Poetic Insights is very difficult to put-down. Once you start reading, it is almost impossible to do anything but ingest the complex blocks of text before your eyes. Be sure you have some reading time set-aside, before you tackle this one. I read it in two sittings, but I would-have finished it in one, if I only had the time!
Only Mystics will fully appreciate this Work of amazing verbal, Qabalistic Conundrums.
Any student of Crowley should have this text on-hand, because he refers the reader to this Poetic treatise, more often than not. Regardless of whether you are reading his "Confessions" (Autohagiography) or his Qabalistic masterpiece, "777," you will casually be referred back to the good ol' "Book of Lies."
I never imagined this book of Crowley's whimsical jottings would prove so intriguing or helpful in pursuit of mystical knowledge. Crowley often refers to this book as his most-important work. However, don't expect to "get it" right-away. This is more of a Text-book, than a casual Poetry book.
I am surprised he didn't put a Test in the back!
However, this book is all-about testing yourself, not being tested by others. Luckily, the Commentaries were added for us common folk. Enjoy !

Rating:
Summary: It's a filtering process
Review: From the "FOREWORD: At first sight the book is a jumble of nonsense intended to insult the reader".

It's a filtering process or maybe early target marketing.

Personally this one of my favorite books ever written but it's not for everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Beyond Kabbalah...
Review: If you've studied Crowley for even a few hours, you'll realize that you're not going to open this book and understand what he was getting at just by reading through the text a few times. This is undoubtedly a work that requires careful consideration of so many implicit elements. To list what you need to consider to get at "the deeper meaning" of this book, I'd have to sit here all day.

The interesting thing about this book is that you don't necessarily have to analyze the text thoroughly (though it's certainly worth it) to get something out of it. Some of the 'poems' evoke a good laugh, some are beautiful and inspiring and can easily become a personal gem of wisdom for the reader (for me, "The Mountaineer".)

When I first started getting into Crowley's writing, a friend recommended starting with the Book of Lies. Other friends naturally scoffed at the recommendation, and insisted I start with The Book of the Law. Now I wish I'd gone with the Book of Lies first, so that I could come back to it after reading other Crowley just to see how far I've come in the Great Work. Even if the Great Work isn't your goal, this book if nothing else is a fantastic conversation piece. I recommend it to not only occultists, but to all book lovers. It's fascinating.