Catherine MaccounReseñas

Having read several self-help and personal-improvement books over the past few years, the recent trends are hard to ignore. Most of the books on the market covering these themes tend to simplify life changes and introspective reevaluation to the point of claiming it is as easy as saying ‘Yes I Can’. With the popularity of The Secret and guided imagery, even talking to yourself is taken out of the equation, and simply wishing or imagining personal improvements is supposed to be enough to bring about radical change.

So reading Catherine MacCoun’s book, On Becoming an Alchemist: A Guide for the Modern Magician, is a much needed breath of fresh air in what has always seemed a cliché and uninspired genre.

MacCoun’s title and subject matter may at first put some readers off with its references to arcane alchemical arts and magical properties. But what she has actually managed is to offer a fresh perspective into how people make choices, perceive the world around them, and live their lives. She does so by introducing us to an innovative blend of spiritualism and psychology, in much the same way that Alchemy itself blends scientific observation with objective mysticism.

Granted, chapters like the one that uses scenes and terminology from Harry Potter to illustrate a point may take the magician aspect of the book a tad too far for some people. But the message within is much more grounded in reality than some of the ‘guided imagery’ feel-good books cluttering the bookstore shelves these days.

The true test of any book of this nature is the ability of the reader to glean something constructive and useful from its pages, even if they do not buy into the author’s overall message. Readers of MacCoun’s latest will undoubtedly have no trouble walking away wiser and more aware, no matter their take on becoming a Modern Magician. And that, as they say, is magic.

Generally I liked this historical novel about a nun and a troubadour in 14th century England. It includes witchcraft, Oxford, and the plague. I found the rape scene off-putting.

Couldn't get into it. The worst of pretentious wicca mixed with pop self-help.

*sigh*

I'd posted a review of this when I first received it, but then I gave the book away and removed it from my library, as this was prior to the 'Collections' capability.

Of course, my review went away, and now LT wants a review from me because I received this as an Early Review copy. I can't recall what I wrote in my first review, but I can recall enough to post the following review:

This book has nothing to do with alchemy. It has nothing to do with the evolution of science. This has nothing to do with modern practices. It has nothing to do with changing any material into any other material. The title is a lie. This is a poorly written self help book, which only embraces the work alchemy as an allusion to transformation. The book itself is filed with platitudes and poorly conceived pop culture references. In some ways this is like a web page that drops hundreds of terms at the bottom of the page in an attempt to get more search engine hits. I read this book because I promised to read it and review it, and then I gave it away to the first person who expressed any interest at all, and the shipping was on me.½

I didn't find this book all that interesting. It really just seems like a re-hash of many other books of it's ilk. If you haven't read endless books on the subject, you may really enjoy it. I would recommend it to those who just want to know more about the subject.

This book changed my life and opened up for me ways of seeing differently. It helped me along some paths I had already started down, opened up some new paths, and showed me some paths better avoided. I highly recommend it for anyone wishing to improve and grow.

This book is a self-help guide that is based on "seven traditional principles of alchemy." I found that the book has no meaningful basis, as it is built around mysticism and an imaginary "science". Some of the psychological advice and conclusions she offers are helpful, but overall, I would not recommend this book.

To be fair, however, I was not interested in this book from the outset. I received it from Early Reviewers (probably because of some of the excellent self-help books in my collection) when the Early Reviewers program had just begun, but at the time I was more interested in how early reviewers worked than I was in this particular book. So if this sort of thing suits you, you are likely to enjoy it more than I did.

Well, I already reviewed this book previously since I'd received it through the early reviewers program. But then when I got rid of the book and thus removed it from my LibraryThing, it also removed my review. So I re-added it so as to re-add a review, seeing as how the site annoyingly prevents me from leaving a review unless I claim the book in my library.

In any case, please disregard my apparent grumpiness. A lot of that could be attributed to this book. I don't even have the energy to re-write my full previous review. On Becoming an Alchemist is just plain bad. It rehashes ideas that have already been rehashed enough. True, you could argue that "there's nothing new under the sun" and whatnot, but really -- in this day and age you could still write a new-agey self-help book that doesn't sound like it was just culled from metaphysical websites written by people with pen names like "Moon Dancer." New under the sun or no, you could at least repeat the old in a new way. There's nothing at all original about this book in my opinion. It didn't teach me anything or convince me of anything except to put it down.

I'm as crunchy granola as the next guy, but trust me when I say don't waste your time on this. Forgive me for not having more specifics in this description -- the book was muddled, vague, and awkward so I figured my review of it should be, too.½

I received this book from LibraryThing as an Early Profiler. I hate to review this book, because self-help is not the type of book normally read at all. I think LT must have matched it to me based all the books I have tagged "magic", but those books are primarily fiction. I tried to read it anyway, but I found it very rambling and boring.

I am greatly interested in alchemy. I enjoy the thought that science and spiritualism are not so far removed. In fact, it’s the closest thing to a belief system I have. I feel, additionally, that one can ‘control’ most of the conditions of their fate with the mind. I suppose I was a good choice to review this title.

However, this was a particularly difficult book for me to read and review. Though written in a conversational tone, the book’s concepts were muddled. There was some form of dropping the ball, where ideas piqued my interest, but waned quickly once the author began her explanation. I appreciated the scientific edge to the theories and felt the book a fairly easy read. The exercises were fine (if a bit simplistic). I just kept feeling a sense of deficiency. Perhaps this is, in effect, the whole of the author’s point. Perhaps that we are to search for and find our own Philosopher’s Stone, that she can’t send us there, that she’s just a guide.

By the end, I’d put the book down several times over several days, giving my mind time to blend. It didn’t help. I still felt the book lacking.

Review first published on Many A Quaint & Curious Volume ½

(Alistair) So, this is a book I got quite some time ago from the LibraryThing early reviewers program. Unfortunately, in this case, it's quite a late review - my initial thumb-through of the book was a little off-putting, so others ended up taking precedence for quite a while.

As some of you may know, I occasionally dabble in the waters of occult, usually hermetic, philosophy, alchemy, and so forth, sometimes purely because it's quite an interesting intellectual construct to play with, and at other times because even shorn of the metaphysics which I'm disinclined to believe in, its practitioners often come up with worldviews, methods of classification, etc. that are useful "mind tools" in their own right.

Unfortunately, while I was hoping for a fairly sophisticated treatment of the analogy between classical Western (and maybe even Eastern) alchemy and spirituality, On Becoming an Alchemist is regrettably too "light" and "new age"-y to fit that role, and the conversational "pop-culture" style - Harry Potter references included - didn't fit the topic very well, in my opinion; nor did the various attempts to link it to scientific theories bent to suit. I fear I like my hermeticism a bit more, well, hermetic, if you will.

While I'm sure it probably has appeal for people closer to its target audiece, if there is such a book out there to satisfy me, this book is not it, alas.
( http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/cerebrate/2008/02/on-becoming-an-alchemist-ca... )½

For those interested in alchemy but with very little knowledge about it, ON BECOMING AN ALCHEMIST, takes the reader on a journey through the basics with good-natured humor and insightful information. Sure, this isn't the end-all be-all book on alchemy. If you're someone with a little knowledge or background on the subject the book might seem a bit, beginner-ish. However, if you're looking for good solid information complete with tools that will help you transform your life, this book deserves a place on your keeper shelf.

I found the author's style engaging, though her constant talk about "I will leave things out" and on not giving the reader the complete story seemed a bit tiresome and served to undermine her authority. If this is alchemy, speaking in riddles and forcing the person to figure out things for themselves, it seems little different from life itself. The author's warnings, however, did serve to make the reader constnatly think about the book. This isn't a beach read. It's going to require reader participation and thought to complete, but once completed, the reader may find tools to help him or her find spiritual growth.

First I must say that I was delighted with this book, it was everything I had hoped it would be when I selected it. Ms. MacCoun has presented us with her version of Alchemy, not transmutation, lead into gold, but a way to lift yourself to a higher plain by getting to know your inner being. The author tells us how to identify our moods and feelings and gives us methods to control these feelings. The book is presented in a conversational way which is understandable and easy to read, not like many of the stuffy texts I have read in the past which tended to put me to sleep. I have no doubt that if one were to practice Ms. MacCoun’s teachings as presented in this book it would allow us to face life’s trials with understanding and tranquility. I can highly recommend this self help book to anyone who wishes to learn more about themselves.
I plan on reading this book again when time permits.½

I can honestly say that I know exactly why this book was chosen for me as an early reviewer's copy. Beyond being a voracious reader, I have several pieces in my library that would suggest an interest in both self-help or guided texts and esoteric literature.

I will admit to be good bit of surprise when I started in on this book. I had no suspicions what so ever that this would, in fact, be a self-help text. While I do feel that MacCoun's theories and intentions were quite solid, I do find myself agreeing with other reviewer's comments on the loose writing style of this book.

The conversational tone, which is taken on immediately, is contradictory to the type of language used throughout the book. The mixing of pop culture references (i.e. "Muggles") and scientific terminology bring on a sense of confusion for the reader. While a second pass through this work while taking notes could bring more clarity to the processes suggested, I’m certain a casual reader going through it for the first time will find themselves grasping for the connections from one paragraph to the next.

I will not pass this book off as a poorly written text, instead I will give it another try and hope the editors can clean up the language barriers that will undoubtedly turn away future readers.

Clearly I am not the demographic intended by this author. I scrutinized my library to understand why the mighty Library Thing algorithm chose me for this book. Was it my self-help books, the enneagram, the Zen collection or the ghost stories that caused this book to come my way? In any case, hermeticism confounds my curious, pragmatic, slightly cynical scientific mind, but I tried to reserve judgement as I made my way through this book. Tried and failed. I apologize for the negative energy that ensues. According to the author, this negativity is about me, not her. Perhaps so.

On Becoming An Alchemist: A Guide for the Modern Magician begins with a parable, then is broken into two parts, Principles and Procedures, in whch the reader, or magician, learns how alchemical transmutations allow you to embrace what is bad and work with it until it is transformed into good, by abetting the magical tendencies of nature itself. Calcination, Dissolution, Separation, Conjunction, Fermentation, Sublimation and Radiation are the seven steps outlined in part 2. Many examples, illustrations, Biblical and poetry quotes are used to illustrate the author's points, most merely confused me further. Now, if I were a person who believed strongly in the spiritual world, angels, ghosts, magic or mysticism, this book may have made more sense to me. Frequently, I longed for evidence to support some of her claims, particularly when she dicusses the natural world. Sadly, our conflicting paradigms of reality and spirituality are insurmountable, so I could not connect with this book.

I would not be inclined to recommend this book to readers in the intended demographic for several reasons. I found the conversational tone a detriment to the scientific approach the author was trying to achieve, and I felt the author dove too quickly and deeply into too many topics, referencing literature and pop culture examples at every turn. A good editor might have tightened the presentation, helping the reader grasp the author's concepts. An editor might suggest an introduction, providing background and context for the author's message. Sometimes writers are so far down the rabbit hole, they forget that the readers are not there with them, that they need a little clarification to take the same trip. An editor might have steered the author away from questionable prose like "Perhaps in Spain he would find a Jewish priest who would clue him in on the Cabballa." or "St. Francis has become a rather hippy-dippy figure.." Call me picky, but I loathe colloquial writing in a reference or informational book.

Lastly, as I reread the book jacket, I was left feeling cheated somehow. I still wished for some insight into "the power of our creativity and our relationship to the laws of the universe."

When I received the book and looked at the title, I expected a novel on using ancient techniques for modern medicine. However, the book was focused on using those techniques to get what you want out of life. The overall tone of the book was more of a self-help, but it was lighthearted. MacCoun used good examples to make her points, which made the book even easier to read. I can say that a lot of what MacCoun said was helpful; some of it, however, was common sense ideas rewritten in a different theme.