The History of Magic
From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present
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The History of Magic
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Narrated by:
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Clarke Peters
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By:
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Chris Gosden
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
Three great strands of practice and belief run through human history - science, religion and magic. Over the last few centuries, magic - the idea that we have a connection with the universe and that the universe responds to us - has developed a bad reputation. But it is still with us, as it has been for millennia, as Professor Chris Gosden shows in this extraordinarily bold and unprecedented history.
As Gosden argues, magic preceded religion and science, and it has been with us from the curses and charms of ancient Greek, Roman and Jewish magic, to the shamanistic traditions of Eurasia, indigenous America and Africa, the alchemy of the Renaissance, colonial dismissals of magic as backward, and quantum physics today, where magic and science converge. Today 75 percent of the adult population of the Western world hold some belief in magic, whether we believe that the mind of a patient influences recovery, or find it hard to stab a photo of a loved one.
Drawing on his decades of research around the world, with incredible breadth and authority and stunning detail - from the first known horoscope to the power of tattoos - Gosden reveals magic's positive qualities and how we might use it to rethink our relationship with the world. This timely history of human thought across thousands of years rightly shows the role that magic has played in shaping civilisation.
©2020 Chris Gosden (P)2020 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about The History of Magic
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- agee
- 12-04-23
Very informative
Good narration, and a very informative and comprehensive piece of work. I enjoyed listening to it and would recommend it to everyone who likes to learn about religions.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- papapownall
- 22-09-20
It's a kind of magic
Archaeology Professor Chris Gosden has written a book about the History of Magic. Much of the first third of this book is focused on the ancient worlds of Mesopotamia, Egypt and China and discusses customs and traditions regarding ceremonies and relationships between the living and the dead. We then hear of the animism of the Russian Steppes and learn how Shamanism influenced other cultures and is still alive today.
According to the author the death of magic started with the Greek philosophers who changed popular opinion from myth to logic. Over the course of the next 2000 years, we hear that although religion and science have replaced people's belief in the power of magic, some elements have remained, most prominently through astrology and superstitions that have deep roots in history. There is undoubtedly a fine distinction between magic and the miracles that form our religious beliefs. The author is a bit sniffy about the existence of ley lines and new age culture and considers that every generation "gets the Stonehenge it deserves" as magic is invented and reinvented.
Whilst much of this book is dry and academic, in the final chapters, which, in my view are the most interesting for a casual reader, we hear how magical traditions have adapted and survived on different continents and how the practices of placebo medication, Feng shui and I Ching are, ultimately rooted in magic.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous
- 13-09-23
Narration is errornous and needs a revisit.
In places this is painful to listen to and given other reviews I don't think I'm being too harsh.
Reading the physical book while listening to the audiobook simultaneously simply to get through this quicker. It is highlighting many errors. A number of times the text has not been followed word for word. The worst examples so far, are on page 63 where the paperback says 'intimate relationship' while the audiobook recording says 'inanimate relationship', while on page 66 the book text says 'contaminants in flour', while the audio says 'contaminants in yeast'.
Reference to figures that are numerous in the text of the book but are not referred to in the audio recording. If there isn't a supporting pdf for the numerous figures in this book, it really needs one as these are a very useful compliment to the text which the author no doubt felt necessary to include for good reason.
Overall, I'm glad I have the paperback to fall back on, and I think it would be worth revisiting the audio in order to address the issues with it in its current form.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- VV Walker
- 06-04-21
Good food for thought
This is my first audiobook, so it has been quite a challenge to get over the weird feeling of someone reading it to me. I liked the performance, although the topic renders itself to monotonous reading. I would have liked a better, more clear transitions from section to section. I had read the book already, so I knew the content was worth the few setbacks of getting used to the audiobook format. This was an excellent way to get some steps while still working. If you are interested in the deep history of magic, this book is good. The only problem with the content is that it does not flow well, and feels more like disconnected paragraphs with a slight repetitive topics. But all in all, good food for thought while walking.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Alias Grace
- 19-01-21
A 'history of magic' which is devoid of any magic
Magic has been stripped of any joy, creativity, relish, interest, or intrigue and turned into a fatiguing, dull list of facts, places and geographical features.
It's like looking at a Picasso and listing where the paints came from.
I'm listening at 1.5 speed and I can't wait for it to end.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- John Horncastle
- 13-03-22
Really let down by the narrator
The content is fair enough (I have the paper book) but the narrator of the audiobook does not have a consistent feel for the meaning or indeed the pronunciation of key words at times. Its very workman-like and it feels like he is struggling to wade through the text. This book was worthy of a better audio version.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Guitar Laid Bare
- 25-11-22
Interesting content, awful narration
I'm not sure if it's the actual voice-ever or the editing, but this book is fractured: difficult to follow as the punctuation isn't reflected by the timing of pauses... it sounds like multiple voice sessions have been poorly stitched together, exacerbating the effect of broken narration.
This is pretty grim, overall.
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