Rating: 
Summary: Not the Wisdom of the Pharaohs!
Review: "...I, Thrice-Great Hermes, the first of men to attain All-Knowledge, have inscribed the secrets of the gods, in sacred symbols and holy heiroglyphs, on these stone tablets, which I have concealed for a future world that may seek our sacred wisdom."Fast-forward 5000 years, to that 'future world'. These sacred writings, among many others, have been returned to us, presented in a poetic manner which invites revisiting again and again. The teachings of Hermes, although ancient, reveal a Divine Order beneath the noise and bustle of our present world. Get quiet. Put some Space music on. Tuck in to this little book, and let it work on your mind and heart and Awaken you, too.
Rating: 
Summary: This little book will shake you awake.
Review: "...I, Thrice-Great Hermes, the first of men to attain All-Knowledge, have inscribed the secrets of the gods, in sacred symbols and holy heiroglyphs, on these stone tablets, which I have concealed for a future world that may seek our sacred wisdom." Fast-forward 5000 years, to that 'future world'. These sacred writings, among many others, have been returned to us, presented in a poetic manner which invites revisiting again and again. The teachings of Hermes, although ancient, reveal a Divine Order beneath the noise and bustle of our present world. Get quiet. Put some Space music on. Tuck in to this little book, and let it work on your mind and heart and Awaken you, too.
Rating: 
Summary: More uninformed onesided favortism
Review: Although this book is a subset of the Corpus Hermeticum, it covers the essentials in a nice format with author synopses at the beginning of each section. Being a Christian, I found this book fascinating due to the many parallel teachings of the Bible. I found myself having a much deeper appreciation and respect for the Egyptian religious system (at least the first Egyptians). One cannot help but wonder where the two cultures strayed from each other considering the fundamental similarities. Although polytheistic, there is plenty of good, solid wisdom within these pages.
Rating:
Summary: An eye opener about early Egyptian religion
Review: Although this book is a subset of the Corpus Hermeticum, it covers the essentials in a nice format with author synopses at the beginning of each section. Being a Christian, I found this book fascinating due to the many parallel teachings of the Bible. I found myself having a much deeper appreciation and respect for the Egyptian religious system (at least the first Egyptians). One cannot help but wonder where the two cultures strayed from each other considering the fundamental similarities. Although polytheistic, there is plenty of good, solid wisdom within these pages.
Rating:
Summary: Useful insight to source of religious thought
Review: I found this an interesting book. It begins with a history of the Hermetica, which is an ancient Egyptian religious/philosophical work, which gives an insight into the nature of God Man and the Universe. The analogies are very easy to follow and understand and give a new insight into what it's all about, and often fills many blanks left by other religions. The history also relates how the Greeks adopted the teachings and how during the last several thousand years the work has resurfaced from obscurity many times and each time caused a renaissance and advancement of mankind. The original Hermetica is then presented in a condensed form which is designed to be easily read and accessable. This is a good method as it gives the reader the main ideas and if they like this form of philosophy they can then read the entire book Corpus Hermetica which is the whole teaching. Despite being Egyptian texts, they predate the Isis/Osiris religion and are monothesist. It is surprising that few people are aware of the Corpus Hermetica which also predates the bible and old testament. Many ideas in more than one religion can be attributed to having roots in Hermetica. It is only beaten into first place as the oldest religious texts by the epic of Gilgamesh. Whilst many occult groups are referred to as being Hermetic, this does no justice to Hermetic thought which is easily compatable with most religions. 5 stars for making Corpus Hermetica easily accessable to the reader.
Rating:
Summary: Misinformed
Review: I have not read the book itself, but by reading the description on the back cover it is obvious that the publishers, if not the author himself, are misinformed. The Hermetica is not an ANCIENT Egyptian text, as the description indicates, but was rather written in late antiquity, in the early centuries AD. That said, it WAS written in Egypt. The writings were highly influential, and many Renaissance Humanists and Neoplatonists studied them closely--Ranaissance scholars DID believe them to be of Ancient Egyptian origins, however as stated previously, this is not the case. That said, the book itself might be useful and relevant, but the back cover description error throws the rest of the book into serious question, even as a popular as opposed to scholarly take on the subject. I would strongly recommend that interested people purchase a different translation--there are a number of translations that come up on the search, any one of them would probably be more accurate and useful than this one.
Rating:
Summary: Misinformed
Review: I have this super-power, you see.... It's called biblio-optical-gnosis....that means that I can judge a book by it's cover. If you guys can't tell this book is a new-age money maker to scam the gullible from just looking at this cheesey, too-bright cartoon cover...then, well, you don't have the same magic power that I do... sorry friends.
Rating:
Summary: Exercise your powers
Review: I have this super-power, you see.... It's called biblio-optical-gnosis....that means that I can judge a book by it's cover. If you guys can't tell this book is a new-age money maker to scam the gullible from just looking at this cheesey, too-bright cartoon cover...then, well, you don't have the same magic power that I do... sorry friends.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Thought Made Accessible
Review: I was wary of this book when I first purchased it, but to my delight it turned out to be the best introduction to the Hermes/Thoth literature available. Beyond the value of its clear and readable presentation of some of the oldest wisdom tracts in the Western World, the authors also briefly touch on the provinence of the works. Because the Hermes Corpus was declared a fraud in the 17th century, the heavy lifting required to point out that they are not is simply beyond the scope of this volume. But any reader who is intrigued by the material can go on and discover for themselves the story of Hermes and make their own judgement. I place the rediscovery of the Hermes Corpus on the same level as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts, so this fine introductory volume should be considered by anyone interested in ancient literature and spirituality.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Thought Made Accessible
Review: I was wary of this book when I first purchased it, but to my delight it turned out to be the best introduction to the Hermes/Thoth literature available. Beyond the value of its clear and readable presentation of some of the oldest wisdom tracts in the Western World, the authors also briefly touch on the provinence of the works. Because the Hermes Corpus was declared a fraud in the 17th century, the heavy lifting required to point out that they are not is simply beyond the scope of this volume. But any reader who is intrigued by the material can go on and discover for themselves the story of Hermes and make their own judgement. I place the rediscovery of the Hermes Corpus on the same level as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts, so this fine introductory volume should be considered by anyone interested in ancient literature and spirituality.
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