Drury has been refining his presentation of this material for several decades. This is a large, beautiful, well-produced presentation of his findings to date, with up-to-date coverage of magic in visionary-plant shamanism and on the Web. This book is a good model of combining clear, accessible presentation with scholarly references.

This book has widely comprehensive coverage of magic in the history of ideas, including myth; he treats magic in relation to religion, myth, Western esotericism, Gnosticism, alchemy, hermeticism, and astrology. Mostly Western rather than Eastern practices, but Bon shamanism is covered. Spans ancient and modern eras through the 20th Century. Has stronger coverage of visionary plants than most books on magic, though more coverage is needed such as in Ratsch's book "Witchcraft Medicine: Healing Arts, Shamanic Practices, and Forbidden Plants", which raises the standard for covering this key subject.

I would like to see more explicit coverage of magic and myth as metaphorical double-entendres for the visionary-state phenomena. I would also like to see more extended coverage of astrological determinism and magically or supernaturally transcending it -- for example, the index lacks entries for determinism, fate, heimarmene, and astrological determinism, even though the book does have some coverage of astrological determinism.

Because of the focus on the history of esotericism, this is a superior book on magic. There is a little room for improvement in depth of profundity such as bringing together metaphor, ecstatic consciousness, transcendence, and cosmic determinism. This book is among the better treatments of the history of magic, though not outstanding in its depth of grasp; its real outstanding strength is its comprehensive scope, the author's thorough and highly developed long-term familiarity with the material, and clear presentation.