Patrick and I have both taken issue with the shoddy scholarship in Pagan writings when we have conversed throughout the years. There are far too many instances of books which make claims where not only do they seem unreasonable, but you can not discern whether the author came to this conclusion from some other source, from personal experience, or simply to sell books.

When I heard that Patrick was being published, albeit by Llewellyn, a company once known for publishing absolutely anything, I was thrilled. I rushed out and bought the book right away. I was not disappointed. His book is well documented, far beyond 95% of Pagan books on the market, yet it was not drowning in references to the point that any non-scholar lacks interest in reading the book. In fact, this book was difficult to stop reading. The information was relevant and stated in a manner which was rather easy to understand. As a reader of this book, I was drawn into the book and really felt as if I were a part of the conversation that the author was having with the reader.

I say throw those crappy DJ Conway books off your shelf and replace them with Dunn. Llewellyn finally has a more high quality author to offer.

I should have written this a long time ago. I got it the day I saw it and haven't been dissapointed.

It has the backbone of modern magick with out all the fluff. I'm into those books. Straightforward techniques for getting things done.

I love his technique for creating mes. I had an idea for a long time of creating a servitor in the form of a floppy disc (yeah, that's my age) and having it 'copy' some skill or knowledge and then downloading it into me. He actually did it and it's a great way of learning something.

I also agree with him that some of the more dramatic chaos techniques aren't always the best way to accomplish something. Nothing wrong if that's what you want to but it's not the only way.

He also does a bit of decent debunking (servitors out of control, auras as the human magnetic field, magic as the same as quantum physics) which I think is long overdue in the magic community.

I particularly like his chapter on Magic in the streets and using glamours. Long a favorite subject, along with servitors. Also the understanding of how to call spirits in a calm, rational way rather than the traditional, almost hysterical method is something I've thought of before but this is the first time I've seen it put out so clearly.

Personally, I like his sense of humor and the writing is much better than most, which does make sense given his day job.

The best I can say about this book is that when I play my game of the ten magic books I can have if I had to whittle (way) down my collection it that this would definitely be one of them.

Thanks Patrick.