Bernhardt J. Hurwood (1926–1987)

This is one of the first books I owned. I was 10 years old when I selected it from the Scholastic reader at school. What wonderful memories of going through that thing, choosing a few books. (They averaged about .75 cents) Then, in two or three weeks, we'd walk into the classroom one morning, and find stacks of new paperbacks that our teacher would pass out at lunch time. Do they still do this in schools? I hope so.
This book of little ghost stories isn't very remarkable, but I loved it as a show more ten year old. show less

This is a collection of essays from The Occult Review, a largely-forgotten magazine published in London from 1905 to the 1950s. The essays are interesting, but for the most part not great. They range from first-hand accounts of hauntings to theoretical pieces on such topics as the "silver cord" of astral travel. Some of the authors include such individuals as Upton Sinclair. I found Sinclair's essays, as well as such personal reminisces as that on Jacob of Simla (which, interestingly, was at show more great variance with other material I have read on his life) to be the most interesting. These fragments of autobiography, as pieces of individuals' lives, are valuable and irreproducable. But much of the information is grossly out of date. Even in 1969 there was much more information available from Asia on karma and zen, for example, than there was in the 1930s Unfortunately, the editor doesn't give a very adequate introduction, and doesn't note when each article was first printed. This of course is very frustrating for those of us interested in the history of ideas. (I, for example, am interested in how these essays might have influenced other authors, but that can't be determined if one doesn't even know when the essays were published.) I was also disappointed that such authors as A. E. Waite, who wrote a great deal for the Review, isn't represented at all. In short, it's a mildly interesting book, but probably shouldn't be too high on one's reading list. show less

I was really looking forward to reading it. It was okay it wasn't really as good as I thought it was going to be but I still liked it anyways, the book wasn't really the best book on Vampires, Werewolves, or Witches I have read but still decent enough.

Such trash. Oy.