Vivian E. Robson (1890–1942)

I found this book to be more of historical interest than something I would recommend to someone who wanted to learn astrology. Although Robson was writing in the 20th century, his astrology has elements of both the traditional and modern approaches, although it falls more on the traditional side of the spectrum. There's very little psychology in this book, and the author uses Uranus and Neptune (the book was written before Pluto was discovered), but leaves Saturn and Jupiter as the rulers of Aquarius and Pisces. I think the part that has held up the best are his chapters on chart interpretation: how to take into account the different factors and balance them to get useful information out of the chart. But most of the book is on creating the chart and working out the basic meanings for the planets in the signs and houses. Today, it's easy to have a chart calculated for free, and there are clearer explanations available for those who want to do it manually. Most of the cookbook meanings feel out of date: again, historically interesting, but limited for use today. Since basically everything in the book has been covered in more depth elsewhere, including Robson's own A Student's Text-Book of Astrology, I'd say read this only if you're truly interested in Robson's work.… (meer)