Magic: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Owen Davies (PDF)

Description

Defining ‘magic’ is a maddening task. Over the last century numerous philosophers, anthropologists, historians, and theologians have attempted to pin down its essential meaning, sometimes analysing it in such complex and abstruse depth that it all but loses its sense altogether. For this reason, many people often shy away from providing a detailed definition, assuming it is generally understood as the human control of supernatural forces.’Magic’ continues to pervade the popular imagination and idiom. People feel comfortable with its contemporary multiple meanings, unaware of the controversy, conflict, and debate its definition has caused over two and a half millennia. In common usage today ‘magic’ is uttered in reference to the supernatural, superstition, illusion, trickery, religious miracles, fantasies, and as a simple superlative. The literary confection known as ‘magical realism’ has considerable appeal and many modernscientists have ironically incorporated the word into their vocabulary, with their ‘magic acid’, ‘magic bullets’ and ‘magic angles’.Since the so-called European Enlightenment magic has often been seen as a marker of primitivism, of a benighted earlier stage of human development. Yet across the modern globalized world hundreds of millions continue to resort to magic – and also to fear it. Magic provides explanations and remedies for those living in extreme poverty and without access to alternatives. In the industrial West, with its state welfare systems, religious fundamentalists decry the continued moral threat posed bymagic. Under the guise of neo-Paganism, its practice has become a religion in itself. Magic continues to be a truly global issue.This Very Short Introduction does not attempt to provide a concluding definition of magic: it is beyond simple definition. Instead it explores the many ways in which magic, as an idea and a practice, has been understood and employed over the millennia.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐A brief yet comprehensive introduction to magic. Davies takes the reader through the various definitions of magic as well as the different ways it has been practiced throughout the ages. Great for undergraduates taking philosophy, religion and anthropology courses or for laypersons wanting a solid primer. Recommended.Readers would also like “Jenna’s Flaw,” a novel about magic and witchcraft in the Midwest.

⭐Very interesting introduction. Some parts were a little dry, but in the end it was an excellent read. It also had a very well done “further reading” section that I used to find another excellent book on esotericism.

⭐very good condition.

⭐A very good, and to the point, history book.

⭐I was hoping for a little more modern in depth info on magic. This is basically a history book. My mistake. I was not too impressed.

⭐A little book that wets the appetite for more. The author tries to throw in as much as possible considering the small space given. He spends perhaps a bit much on the interpretations of magic, and not enough on the classifications of magic. For example: theurgy vs. natural magic. I also don’t quite get how the word magic could be loose enough to experience it today in an age where people like myself don’t even believe in occult forces.

⭐If you do not know anything about the historical development of ritual magic to the present day, this book will give you an informative albeit short introduction to the subject. Worth the price. I would also recommend Prof. Owen Davie’s other book ‘Grimoires: A history of Magic books’.

⭐Tells of different forms of magic, not a magic book in and of itself, more histories and kinds of magic.Worth getting if interested in Reference materials

⭐A fascinating read by an expert in the field. Prof Davies manages to explain his points clearly and concisely. An excellent introduction to the academic study of magic.

⭐Lots of interesting information on magic.

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