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Rating: 
Summary: Lack of Creativity
Review: "The Magician's Workbook" by Donald Tyson contains 330 pages of repeated junk. The first thing I noticed about this book is that it also had the same title was Steve Savedow's book "The Magician's Workbook." I believe this is a great travesty & lack of creativity on behalf of Tyson & Llewellyn. Tyson's book also contains a good bit information that Savedow's book did. It appears as if Tyson is attempting to pilfer Savedow's idea & to make it better (Tyson did not succeed in making it better). Much of the information presented in Tyson's book is just repeated information from his last books. Tyson's book is split into six parts. Part one is called "Life Exercises" & tells the reader about destroying the ego & how the ego can be harmful. This is the basic information that tells the reader to not say I, my, me, myself, etc. This section is tersely written & does not go in-depth on the subject. The next section is called "Reclining Exercises," & it is about relaxing, elemental orientation, astral projection, Tattwa awareness, mantras, thoughts, daily recall, etc.. I was truly disappointed by this chapter because it contains so many exercises that deserve to be explained in detail however Tyson only gives about a 2-3 pages on each subject. The next section is called "Sitting Exercises," & mostly contains information on outward concentration where as the last section focused on the inward thoughts of the being. The consecutive section is dubbed "Standing Exercises," & again I was disappointed. Tyson presents the basic information that he presents in most all of his other books e.g. the middle pillar exercise, grounding, centering, kabbalistic cross, etc. The following section called "Moving Exercises," ended up filling my mind with melancholy. Sadly this chapter only contains basic information such as the LBRP, red rose ritual, cleansing space, etc. This information has been published time & time again in sundry books. The last section is very short & it is titled "Practice Schedule." This part is just a waste of paper filled with days & numbers that are not useful to the reader. Overall I believe buying this book was a waste of my money because Tyson shows a great lack of creativity in this piece of work. Not only did Tyson copy the titled of a book that was published before him on the same subject but there is really no new information in this book from his previous works. Tyson is also very "preachy" in this book with his commentary. Please do not waste money on this book. Not only are you flushing your money down the toilet but you're also supporting his lack of creativity.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: A great book, I have aquired many books on magic and magic systems throughout the years and none were quite presented in an easy to understand and practise manner. Tyson seems to have layed everything out nice and neatly even with a schedule on the recommended way to follow the excercises contained in the book. A small note on some of the negative reviews, the section on "ego destruction" is untrue, it has nothing to do with ego destruction, merely a mental excercise to help you learn a little bit of control. The excercises are stated simply with no fluff, just the meat. There are hundreds of books about magic that are extremely complex. So few are simple and well laid out, this book is a valuable resource for a beginner.
Rating: 
Summary: Exactly What It Claims to Be
Review: Donald Tyson's work is everything it is titled to be. Unlike many authors who attempt to produce similar works, Tyson doesn't obscure the material in the book with theory or opinion, but instead simply offers clear instructions on practical, and I would agree, traditional exercises and rituals. The commentary that does follow each exercise should be very useful for the beginner as are his study guide and suggested reading sections.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Beginners Guide To Western Magick
Review: I am in total disagreement to the first reviewer of this
book. It is an excellent and easy to understand beginners
guide to ceremonial magick, which is more than I can say
about Steve Savedow's book with the same title, which I don't
recommend at all for beginners. So what is the big deal about
there being a lot of material here that can be found in Mr.
Tyson's other books? The same can be said of several of Israel
Regardie's books, but no one complains about that! The BIG difference hear is that Mr. Tyson's takes this information and creates a step-by-step study guide, that is very pragmatic and
safe. If you have never owned a book by Donald Tyson and want
to learn about High Magick, this is an excellent place to start.
After studying and finishing the study program of this book, you
may then want to purchase his other books on magick and/or pick
up a copy of Donald Michael Kraigs "Modern Magick," which covers
a certain amount of material the Mr. Tyson does in "The Magician's Workbook," but goes a bit further into more advanced
techniques and practices. On a final note I'd like to add that there are many books on
the market with the same title, often covering the same subject.
The idea that Llewellyn is doing some sort of injustice to
Mr. Steve Savedow just because they released a book on magick
with the same title as his is absurd. Perhaps the first reviewer
of this book is upset because Mr. Tyson's book is a much, much
better beginner's guide to magick than Mr. Savedow's!
Rating:
Summary: Tyson is a genius
Review: I found this book extremely helpful. My level of expertise is from beginner to intermediate, and I found this to be written in a clear and concise manner. It has given me the foundation to begin to practice the type of magick that I have always aspired to be able to do.
Rating:
Summary: Tyson is a genius
Review: I found this book extremely helpful. My level of expertise is from beginner to intermediate, and I found this to be written in a clear and concise manner. It has given me the foundation to begin to practice the type of magick that I have always aspired to be able to do.
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