HISTORY OF MAGIC (PB)

Three great strands of practice and belief run through human history: science, religion, and magic. But magic - the idea that we have a connection with the universe - has developed a bad reputation. It has been with us for millennia and, even today, seventy-five per cent of the Western world holds some belief in magic, whether snapping wishbones, buying lottery tickets, or giving names to inanimate objects. In this book Professor Chris Gosden provides a timely history of the role it has played in shaping civilization, and how we might use magic to rethink our understanding of the world.