The Alchemy Reader: From Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton

by Stanton J. Linden

Ranging from the pre-Christian era to Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton at the end of the seventeenth century, this Reader covers a broad range of alchemical authors and works. Organized chronologically, it includes around thirty selections in authoritative but lightly-modernized versions. The selections will provide the reader with a basic introduction to the field and its interdisciplinary links with science and medicine, philosophy, religion, and literature and the arts.

Genres: Alchemy, History, Occult, Esoterica, Philosophy, Mysticism, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 2003

Reviews

[Jesse Whyte]

THE alchemy anthology. Most of the classic texts, with interesting commentary, introductions, and supporting notes. I don't know of another work out there that captures so much of the ancient material in such an accessible way. Not the place to end, but a wonderful beginning.

[Katrina Payne]

This was a bit of a challenging read

Mostly for the bits where it was written in an archaic dialect of English that was never actually spoken by anybody--but only existed to translate documents from other languages for people with academic interests. This is without even going with the large amount of documents in this reader written before Proper Spelling was invented, and the letters used were mostly suggestions than anything else

Still this is a very helpful set of works for anybody who is curious about the early origins of Chemistry and Particle Physics. Though reading it, one does have to keep in mind they had different ideas for how the order of the universe worked/operated

People say this stuff is "written in code"--but I'm not certain I'd agree. I've read plenty of stuff for CompSci topics, and those have issues with using Jargon all over the place. However, that Jargon is not used to confuse outsiders or hide information for authorities that might prosecute them. I mean, CompSci gets accused of that sort of stuff. Usually the Jargon just gets used, because those are the words that exist to describe what is being done the least inaccurate

The usage of Jargon (and I suspect incorrectly by some of the authors) does have me thinking I might not have fully understood the contents. I do plan to return after I've read other stuff on Alchemy

I will note that having magic systems based on Alchemy now seems about as silly as magic systems based around 1950s PSAs and documents about THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF THE ATOM--and other flawed understandings of Science from the 1950s

This is an earlier understanding of "The Natural Arts" (a fun old timey way to say "Science"), and is fun to know what people keep referring towards to look mystical and ethereal

[Nikki]

This is a very dense read. The 20 page introduction covers the lengthy history of alchemy. The reader then consists of 27 excerpts (with good, useful introductions) of primary source materials spanning from the ancient to the seventeenth century. The book is definitely comprehensive, and it gave a good overview of alchemy, but it was a lot to take in. Admittedly my weakness lies in historical context of source materials, and though this text provides background info, it introduced so many ideas and authors/alchemists/scientists/poets that are new to me, that it's definitely a lot for me to wrap my head around.

[Diana]

The Alchemy Reader: From Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton [2003] – ★★★★

"Alchemy was at the heart of thought and method of each of the pioneers of modern science" [Stanton J. Linden, Introduction, 2003].

I am interested in alchemy - both in its "practical" history and as a method for inner, spiritual transformation. This book edited by Linden introduces the reader to ancient works on alchemy, starting from the founder of alchemy, Hermes Trismegistus, and finishing with Isaac Newton. Though the book was intriguing, I also found the texts in the book as obscure and complex as early alchemical writings are said to be.