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 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 But much of the information is grossly out of date.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. ( )