Rating: 
Summary: Try before you buy
Review: Scarcely have I ever seen a book (or should I say pamphlet, since it can be read in less than an hour) that has such widely divided opinions on it.
Is it dictation from an extraterrestrial being? Is it a rare glimpse into the uneditted subconscious? Or is it the rantings of a madman?
Do yourself a favor and read a copy of the text online before you buy the book. Then at least you know what you're getting yourself into.
It says something about mankind that we constantly search for "secrets" to success, when most of them are posted in plain view, but are just too unpalatable for 99% of people to handle.
Or you can ignore my advice and "Do what thou wilt". ;)
Rating: 
Summary: "the fool readeth this book of the law and it's comment; &
Review: he understandeth it not."
The nature of the method of communication of this book is such that
while it is hard to understand and commentaries may be helpful, I think any intelligent person will be able to grasp certain of its truths on first reading(ex. "There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse."). therefore my advice is use whatever parts of the book you feel an intuitive understanding of to help you discover the meaning of the other parts in somewhat of a circular fashion. If you think you understand beware, but follow your inner light.
This book is of inestimable value for those who wish to "know thyself" and balance thyself with the cosmos "as above so below"
Hadit, my light
who art life
hallowed be thy name
thy kingdom come, thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven(or space)
forgive us as we forgive
let us love and worship NU
with the almighty force of Ra-Hoor-Khu
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
Love is the law, love under will. (I like to say Do what thou love. since 93=love=will=93)
Rating:
Summary: To be studied, not simply read...
Review: All the other reviews here express how I feel about this book. I would only like to add one more detail:
The Book of the Law requires serious, scholarly study. You will not understand it on the first read. Not unless you have Crowley's comments at hand, which is indeed a necessary companion to this text if you wish to understand it. Many people have put their lives into studying this book and still have not uncovered all of its hidden meanings. This is not a book that you can simply pick up and read one time through. Consider it as being similar to a full college course, because it will likely take that long to get a substantial understanding of it.
Crowley's comments on this text are published in "The Law Is For All," although I believe it's out of print. However, here is a link to a site with free electronic versions of various comments to this text, one of which is Crowley's own --> http://www.hermetic.com/220/index.html
I'll end this review with one of my favorite passages from Liber AL (the technical name of The Book of the Law):
"Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains."
~2:9
Rating:
Summary: Crowley's genius at evocation of a New Age
Review: When I first read this book I had not been practicing magic nor shamanism, only studying the occult and learning all the knowledge I could feed my eager mind. Now that I have been practicing for a few years, and taken a few more glances at this book....hrmmm, trouble. Crowley is a VERY powerful magician, albeit not to clean. This book is magic in itself. It lays down laws and guidelines for a new age, with beings Crowley tapped into which told him they were the heralds for the golden times...those will come. If you buy this book, please don't burn it unless you would like Crowley's ritual magic to be completed..if enough people complete the ritual it must be so. Read carefully and really tune into the intent of this book. Do not tread blindly.
Rating:
Summary: The Bible of Thelema
Review: This is the bible of Thelema. All a Thelemite must technically do is accept this book as their way of life. This is why there are more Thelemites than O.T.O. members. From what I've seen, it takes a lot of readers, uh...a lifetime for one book. Either I'm brilliant or these people aren't very good readers. At even only 10 pages a day, this book can be read in less than one week. The only Crowley it took a long time for me to read was Confessions; it took me almost one year. I stopped to read other books instead it was so long I thought I should brush up on other stuff first. Anyhow, if you don't get this book to become a Thelemite is a nice collector's item for those who have heard of Crowley in pop culture or think it looks cool in the store. Blasphemos prose from Aleister Crowley in his prime. Whether the book was dictated by the intelligience known as Aiwass or not is debatable. It is better than Crowley's own other poetry but I studied Islam in college classes and most or all those who study the Quaran are pretty sure it was Mohammed's own words. I haven't heard much from those who study Crowley and as a Thelemite don't take it too seriously to where I'd care if it was Crowley's own words. I look to things like Aleister Crowley and the occult lifestyle that accompanies it as an alternative to the "macho man, houswife, kids" lifestyle so common in today's world. I would like to marry and maybe kids but the occult is the main fixation for the occultist and the spouse is secondary. Frankly, most girls where I live in the upper Midwestern United States don't interest me that much to the point where I would want to marry them and I don't recall being in love but I have found alternatives such as sex and safe sex. Thank god for the rubber! This is a classic.
Rating: 
Summary: My opinion on the Book of the law
Review: Various belief systems are meshed together in the Book of the law. Around 400 or so years ago we find francois rabalais
envisioned an abby of thelema as noted below with Do as thou wilt as a part of it's philosophy. Was Aleister Crowley impressed with the concept to the point of borrowing it.
Or was the book really written by aiswass. Well my opinion is that IF crowley's story is as he represents it that the book probably came from his unconscious mind. Chapter 3 disappointingly sounds alot like the old testament which wouyld probably appeal to Crowley's at times delusional / grandiose personality. Overall interesting but i'm far from envisioning this as a divine text and question if aiswass was anything more then a concept personified.
The Abbey of Theleme As excerpted from The Portable Rabelais: The Uninhibited Adventures of Gargantua and Pantagruel, (Viking Press, 1960), in the lively modern version by Samuel Putnam and with his revealing introductory essay: How Gargantua Had the Abbey of Theleme Built for the Monk There remained the monk to provide for. Gargantua wanted to make him Abbot of Seuilly, but the friar refused. He wanted to give him the Abbey of Bourgueil or that of Saint-Florent, whichever might suit him best, or both, if he had a fancy for them. But the monk gave a peremptory reply to the effect that he would not take upon himself any office involving the government of others. “For how,†he demanded, “could I govern others, who cannot even govern myself? If you are of the opinion that I have done you, or may be able to do you in the future, any worthy service, give me leave to found an abbey according to my own plan." This request pleased Gargantua, and the latter offered his whole providence of Theleme, lying along the River Loire, at a distance of two leagues from the great Forest of Port-Huault. The monk then asked that he be permitted to found a convent that should be exactly the opposite of all other institutions of the sort. “In the first place, then,†said Gargantua, “you don't want to build any walls around it; for all the other abbeys have plenty of those.†“Right you are,†said the monk, “for where there is a wall in front and behind there is bound to be a lot of murmuring, jealousy and plotting on the inside.†Moreover, in view of the fact that in certain convents in this world there is a custom, if any woman (by which, I mean any modest or respectable one) enters the place, to clean up thoroughly after her wherever she has been â€" in view of this fact, a regulation was drawn up to the effect that if any monk or nun should happen to enter this new convent, all the places they had set foot in were to be thoroughly scoured and scrubbed. And since, in other convents, everything is run, ruled, and fixed by hours, it was decreed that in this one there should not be any clock or dial of any sort, but that whatever work there was should be done whenever occasion offered. For, as Gargantua remarked, the greatest loss of time he knew was to watch the hands of the clock. What good came of it? It was the greatest foolishness in the world to regulate one’s conduct by the tinkling of a timepiece, instead of by intelligence and good common sense. Another feature: Since in those days women were not put into convents unless they were blind in one eye, lame, hunchbacked, ugly, misshapen, crazy, silly, deformed, and generally of no account, and since men did not enter a monastery unless they were snotty-nosed, underbred, dunces, and trouble-makers at home â€" “Speaking of that,†said the monk, “of what use is a woman who is neither good nor good to look at?†“Put her in a convent,†said Gargantua. “Yes,†said the monk, “and set her to making shirts.†And so, it was decided that in this convent they would receive only the pretty ones, the ones with good figures and sunny dispositions, and only the handsome, well set-up, good-natured men. Item: Since in the convents of women, men never entered, except underhandedly and by stealth, it was provided that, in this one, there should be no women unless there were men also, and no men unless there were also women. Item: Inasmuch as many men, as well as women, once received into a convent were forced and compelled, after a year of probation, to remain there all the rest of their natural lives -- in view of this, it was provided that, here, both men and women should be absolutely free to pick up and leave whenever they happened to feel like it. Item: Whereas, ordinarily, the religious take three vows, namely, those of chastity, poverty and obedience, it was provided, that, in this abbey, one might honorably marry, that each one should be rich, and that all should live in utter freedom.
Rating: 
Summary: PURPLE PROSE FROM A PSEUDO SUMERIAN DEMON
Review: Aiwass sounds rather like the bad poet Crowley was. Also, the "Do what thou wilt" was done better by Rabelais in Gargantua and Pantagruel. Nothing really original here, but it never hurts to take strange drugs and drink wines that foam, and all of the other stuff Crowley did without having to become logos of the aeon. Crowley was a massive failure in three dimensions, so he cooked up some "credentials" for the credulous in the fourth dimension with the Book of the Law. Strange that this Sumerian demon just happens to speak English, with some Latin thrown in, and does it in the purple prose of the demon poet Crowley.
Every man and woman is a star? Ever been to a shopping mall, Aleister?
If you want the real deal in magick, get thee to Franz Bardon's Initiation into Hermetics, and P.E.I. Bonewitz's Real Magic.
Rating:
Summary: Hmmm...
Review: THIS is the book. Is "Aiwaz" talking about a Crowley, a coming prophet, prophets, or describing the universe itself? OR BOTH? That my friend is up to you to decide. This book is for most part a synthesis of the most important aspects of the spiritual systems and religions of the world... regardless of what else it is. This will keep you busy for a while.
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