adam_mcphee 's review for:

Magus: The Art of Magic from Faustus to Agrippa by Anthony Grafton

2.0

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Interesting. Didn't realize so much was known about the real Faustus, will have to look more into him at some point. Bit of a problem with the book is that it's so diffuse, I felt it sort of went off the rails a bit when it got into engineering. The author does connect it back to the art of magic but at times why he was taking certain paths. 'Why this guy in particular?' I kept asking myself. That's not to say the book is ever uninteresting, there's a lot of weird little freaks in here, inventing cryptography and carving designs on turnips so no one can steal them when they rot, and all kinds of stuff.