Amy Herring

On the back of the book, the summary states, "A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO THE WISDOM OF ASTROLOGY." This is a good book, yes, but I'm not sure it'd work well as someone's very first book on the topic. For one thing, there's a major visual component to astrology: the chart. Early on, the beginner is going to have to learn what charts look like and what the symbols mean. And yet at the point in the book where the author is explaining just that, there aren't any complete charts shown. There are some partial charts—an empty chart with just houses and signs, a chart with the Sun and Moon and some dots to indicate other planets—but there are only two "normal" astrological charts shown in the entire book, and they're towards the end of the book. Also, this book goes pretty thoroughly into what the planets, signs, houses, and aspects mean. This isn't a bad thing, but it seems like a lot to pour into a beginner's head as their very first exposure to the subject.

If you're familiar with Steven Forrest's work (especially The Inner Sky) and you know you like it, you'll probably be interested in this book as well. Forrest and Herring have a similar approach to astrology, focusing on seeing the themes that lie behind the usual descriptions of the planets, signs, and houses, and then weaving them together into an interpretation of a chart. That last bit, chart interpretation techniques, is where this book shines. Many authors show one method of interpreting a chart, sometimes two. Herring describes at least six techniques, some general and others capable of extreme detail. She then devotes a chapter to demonstrating these techniques on the chart of Steve Martin (whose chart is the one on page 297).

I think this book would give an absolute beginner too much information to digest, and that beginner would do better to start with simpler books. But once that beginner has learned the basics of the planets, signs, and houses, this would be a fine book for them to read, and it probably has something for intermediate and advanced students as well.… (més)