Gary LachmanAleister Crowley: Magick, Rock and Roll, and the Wickedest Man in the World

I've encountered Crowley in a limited fashion over the years, and knew, dimly of his influence on rock in the 60's and 70's. However, this book opened my mind up to some fascinating connections to some very unexpected people I never knew The Great Beast had interacted with. A truly fascinating ride through the 19th and into the 21st century!

Interesting book on an interesting person but in a few spots I found it very slow and very hard to read but overall I found this book to be enjoyable just had a few slow hard spots

Lachman explain the man and myth. He explain Crowley history and what he was about. He was selfish man and closet bi sexual man. He came from money only to end just about poor and homeless.

Gary Lachman has done it again, with another outstanding occultists biography!It is always most interesting when a Writer and Biographer outside of the "bubble" of Thelemic Philosophy and Art writes on Crowley. Not drinking the Kool-Aid of Crowley hero-worship allows Mr. Lachman to even-handedly review the uncovered facts and new theories of other recent Crowley biographers, and his position in Rock Music as Blondie's "Gary Valentine" gives him unique insight into Crowley's influence on Popular Music and Modern Culture. Not as detailed as Richard Kazynsky's "Perdurabo", Mr. Lachman's biography will be a good alternative for the level-headed reader.

I would enjoy this book a lot more if I was fluent in the occult and had some base knowledge going in but being a newbie to the scene, I'm a pretty lost. I'm forcing myself to finish it and just taking in whatever sticks. Also, not much "rock and roll" but I still have 100 pages left. I might reread this book in a few years after I become more familiar with all the players and vast terminology.

Crowley books are either pro or con. There are some excellent pro books like _Perdaubo_ or _Overthrowing the Old Gods_. But until now there has never been a con book that got its facts right, had an objective (yet not unsympathetic) viewpoint until now. If you have three books about Crowley on you shelf, this MUST be number 3.

Love this product

I like the authors unbiased approach, he is quite neutral neither for nor against Crowley. This is exactly what you're looking for when trying to gain a basic understanding of any subject.

If you want to read this thinking it is devoted to one third of its title i.e music, specifically rock - forget it. Pages 316 to 346 are about Crowley AKA the most boring man in the world's "influence on popular culture" (quoting the blurb) - the rest of the book is simply a straightforward biography about the man and his sad life, and has nothing therefore to do with rock and/or popular culture. And those meagre pages - specifically only pages 325 on deal with music - encompass such "rock" icons as.... rapper Jay-Z, Kayne West, and Lady Gaga. Definitely a HIGHLY misleading title, and definitely NOT worth the vastly overinflated price.

Really good starting point if you have found interest is Crowley. World's most interesting man.

L'auteur connait à fond son sujet, ayant lui-même évolué dans ces mouvances. Il décrit l'homme de façon honnête, avec sa dimension de pervers narcissisme et aussi avec son génie.

Having read a couple of biographies of Aleister Crowley in the past, I wasn't sure if buying Lachman's book would be money well spent. However, his objective analysis, from a previously neglected angle, makes for compelling reading. Few other books look at the impact Crowley had beyond fellow Occultists, and most of them really focus mainly on Satanists. Lachman takes a more panoramic view, dissecting the Great Beast's considerable impact on wider culture - the repercussions of which can still be seen today, if you know what you are looking for. Unlike most Crowley biographies, Beast isn't presented here as a virtual caricature, and Lachman doesn't fall into the trap of simplistic demonising or defending the indefensible. There were far more influences on, and aspects of, Crowley's spiritual journey than is generally perceived. Lachman's esoteric knowledge is both wide and profound, the insights of which he brings to bear on the life and legacy of Aleister Crowley - but he does not dispense with the reality check where necessary, and remembers the importance of context and belief, not to mention the more difficult, but very relevant, issue of evidence, not only in relation to what exactly constitutes Magickal theory and practice, but also the enormity of the task of separating fact from fiction about Crowley himself, the parameters of which the Great Beast worked hard to blur.

Book came damaged. Not very pleased about that.