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Summary: The Truth Revealed
Review: An excellent overview of Modern Satanism from the one who invented it. Dr. LaVey describes the theory and practice of Satanism, including Satanic philosophy, how to perform Satanic rituals, why the magical ceremonies work, lesser black magic, and the Enochian Calls. A superb and bold piece of work!
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Summary: sketchy and contradicting...but interesting
Review: satanism is open minded, yet it is also close minded the way he shuts off all other religions. i am not religious at all, and i think that they're all silly ways of having something to follow. however, the philosophies in this 'bible' were definately either inspiring or the opposite. whatever which way, i always had some opinion on it. that's why it's a book worth reading. the only question is: is it worth seven bucks to read??
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Summary: I think it was one of the best books I've read so far...
Review: This book is a good one. I was told how Satinistic people warshiped the devil, but reading this book gave me a grater understanding of the religion. In fact this book go's through all the details. There is no Devil warshiping involved. You have to read it to get the details. I thought it was good!
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Summary: Watered-down bull.
Review: The 9 Satanic Statements are derived from Ayn Rand. The book of Satan, part one of the "bible", is from Ragnar Redbeard's "Might is Right", almost verbatim. Half the book is Enochian calls from the Golden Dawn. I have read elsewhere that LaVey's wife wrote a lot of it, along with different church of Satan members. The philosophy is sort of a dry Nietzsche-meets-Butthead. There are about 500 exclamation marks!!!! trying to spice up the rather mundane style. This 8$ book is going to make you a superman? Elitism doesn't work--why? The strong cut out the weak, OK, there is a new base of weakness. Cut that out, OK, now there's a new set of weakness, on and on, ad nauseum. This book is for people uneducated in philosophy and unhappy with their lack of success. Although dated, I DO like its directness as opposed to the overly corny fluff of new age and feminist wicca. END
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Summary: A great book for anyone who wants to know about Satanism!
Review: This a a great book if you want to know the basic philosophy brought to us by Anton LaVey. This book covers everything you might wannt to know about what satanist believe!
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Summary: A Colorful and Interesting Point of View
Review: Anyone who believes in the literal existence of Satan is delusional, just as anyone who believes in the literal existence of God. Both are creations of the human imagination. As such, they are both charged with symbolism. Symbolism is useful, and as ritual is the acting out of symbolism, the rituals presented in this book could be considered useful for those who agree with the philosophy of this book. The philosophy is sound in that it points out the defects of Christianity and its repressive tendencies, and offers a colorful alternative. Readers should make up their own minds. Recommended.
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Summary: Good book
Review: The Satanic Bible was written in 1969 and so isn't totally up to date on certain things. The rituals in it are only an outline, and most Satanist write their own these days. The Enochian keys are a waste of paper to me, I never use them. But, the key part of the book, the most importan part, are The Book Of Lucifer (part 2) and The Book Of Belial (part 3) as these are the parts that truly describe what Satanism is. The rest is basically page filler. Those 2 parts of the book aren't very long, but when I first read them, I relialized who I was and it changed my way of seeing the world forever. R.I.P. Anton Szandor LaVey, the evil mourn your passing.
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Summary: I never thought someone could make Satan look stupid.
Review: This book is not fit to be torn into pieces and hung on a nail in an outhouse. The basic "Satanic" premise in this book is to hold dear the flesh rather than the spirit. Clearly a takeoff on the Gnostic belief that Spirit is Good and Flesh is Evil. His "magic" is an almost blatant plagurization of the Enochian keys of Aleister Crowley, but he at least made the effort to replace the names of the angels with some Satanic-sounding names. If you're looking for an idiotic rationalization to do what you want, then this book is for you. If, however, you are interested in Magick or Satan, look elsewhere. I can't believe this book has stayed in print as long as it has.
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Summary: Give the Devil his Due (Review!)
Review: This book is unexpectedly thought provoking and suprisingly good -- "suprising" to anyone coming to the topic with no prior knowledge of the subject. First point to be made to those wanting to get a preview of the book: This has nothing to do with "worshiping" or some malicious little man in a red suit with horns and a tail; nor is it about "being bad". La Vey's message is rational and compelling. And, to those who would argue that it isn't 'real Satanism' or that he is some kind of phoney because he doesn't advocate killing virgins or molesting children, I would suggest that you have problems more immediate than religious/philosophical concerns you need to deal with before concerning yourself with any of this. 'Satan' is a concept of Judaeo/Christianity symbolizing it's 'Evil' (That Good and Evil are relative terms is the fundamental underlying concept). Therefore REAL Satanism is NOT about absolute contrariness, performing anti-social acts, gratuitous harm inflicting -- and all for absolutely no purpose other than "to be 'Evil'". That is not Satanism -- that is Moron-ism. That is performing actions for no reason which is the the definition of irrational behavior. As Judao/Christianity is itself an eclectic and often contradictory meandering hodge-podge, with a LONG and winding history (both in its ideological development and in its institutions) -- and as its concept of 'Evil', 'the Devil' etc. is at LEAST as ecclectic, meanderind and complex as it itself -- it is only fitting that LaVey's Satanism takes on the freedom to empoly this ecclecticism in organizing and defining itself. This does not make it "phoney" -- on the contrary, it adds to its legitimacy. Satanism as the book illustrates, brings religion out of the realm of power-wielding authoritarian institutions, corruption, politics, un-human & un-natural codes of behavior, hypocracy, and in general being a totalitarian-minded BURDEN upon the individual -- to its proper function: being an agent of FULFILLMENT TO THE INDIVIDUAL! Satanism as the LeVey suggests, is all about freedom. Freedom of the individual, and breaking off the chains of an oppressive, and not on the whole beneficial or 'Good' established religious establishment in our society. As you can see, I was impressed with the book and would recommend it. It takes what is seemingly a non-topic and very compellingly and rationally brings it to life! If you are a druggie kid who's into killing cats or wants to see what stabbing a person is like and is looking for a book that glorifies his idiocy and pointless behavior, you are not a Satanist: You are a Butt-Head-ist, and you have serious emotional problems. This book will not provide any cofort to you. Similarly if your idea is to "sell your immortal soul" to some little ill-tempered goat-boy with a pitchfork for whatever reason -- you are just wacky.
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Summary: Interesting, but a little flawed.
Review: I found this book a fascinating read, and agreedwith far more of its points than I do about Christianity generally (not that that's much ofan achievement). However, I get the impression that Lavey has gone about not promoting a positivereligion, but rather discussing the completeantithesis to Christianity. I feel that thereare some good points to the Christian ethos,and in my opinion Lavey has decided simplyto oppose outright any views that are expressesby the church, rather than giving them a fair evaluation.At times, I found the book sliding worryinglyclose to the views of the political far-right,ideas seemed to be corresponding to dogma expressed by neo-nazi groups. I also foundsome elements of hypocricy, in that the bookat one time expressed views promoting individualfree will (fair enough), also about the strongestdoing what they want (not so fair enough), andthen ensuring that a satanist does not do anythingharmful to innocent's, like children, which couldbe interpreted to not fit in with the second point.At times, it did seem to fall into the trap ofpreaching satanic truths in much the same wayas the christian church which it so rightly condemns.Nonetheless, a fascinating version of a trulymaterialistic outlook on life.
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