The Encyclopedia of Superstitions

Rating:
Summary: Superstitions 101!
Review: I have always like to know what superstitions mean and how they came about. The old superstition to check whether it was going to be a boy or girl child was to schorch a shoulder of mutton and the first person whom enters after this cermony will represent the sex, i.e., if a woman enters the it will be a girl. The forward by Sir. John Hammerton is well written and the introduction by Edwin and Mona Radford is also a good read. At the end is a well developed bibliography; however, the index is missing and this makes the search a bit cumbersome. Overall it is an intersting little dictionary that is easy to use and a pleasure to read.

Rating:
Summary: Great read, doubles as a horror writer's resource
Review: This is a fun, rather small book (in respect to superstitions in general, this could have been a mammoth of a book) that includes various bizarre and funny superstitions both old and current. Some are given instances when the superstition held true. For example, apparently it is unlucky for a three cigarettes to be lit off the same match. Three men, after doing this, one remarked "One of us will die by the end of the year" in jest, and then died three days later of a monkey bite (that last line made me howl...a monkey bite, of all things). Also, if you're a horror writer there's plenty of material here to help you base a story around. Four stars only because I wish it were longer, but it's a bargain and if you're into this kind of thing highly recommended. Very easy and fun to read.