The Mammoth Book of Superstition

Name: The Mammoth Book of Superstition
Price: 59.93 AUD
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ISBN: 9781472137487

From Rabbits' Feet to Friday the 13th

Roy Bainton

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English

Robinson Publishing
08 November 2016

Reference; General & world history; Social & cultural history; Popular beliefs & controversial knowledge; Sociology: customs & traditions

Series: Mammoth Books

An amusingly entertaining exploration of omens, rituals, premonitions and general superstition in every part of the world.

Rather than providing a dictionary of superstitions, of which there are already numerous excellent, exhaustive and, in many cases, academic works which list superstitions from A to Z, Bainton gives us an entertaining flight over the terrain, landing from time to time in more thought-provoking areas. He offers an overview of humanity's often illogical and irrational persistence in seeking good luck and avoiding misfortune.

While Steve Roud's two excellent books - The Penguin Dictionary of Superstitions and his Pocket Guide - and Philippa Waring's 1970 Dictionary concentrate on the British Isles, Bainton casts his net much wider. There are many origins which warrant the full back story, such as Friday the thirteenth and the Knights Templar, or the demonisation of the domestic cat resulting in 'cat holocausts' throughout Europe led by the Popes and the Inquisition.

The whole is presented as a comprehensive, entertaining narrative flow, though it is, of course, a book that could be dipped into, and includes a thorough bibliography.

Schoenberg, who developed the twelve-tone technique in music, was a notorious triskaidekaphobe. When the title of his opera Moses and Aaron resulted in a title with thirteen letters, he renamed it Moses und Aron. He believed he would die in his seventy-sixth year (7 + 6 = 13) and he was correct; he also died on Friday the thirteenth at thirteen minutes before midnight.

As Sigmund Freud wrote, 'Superstition is in large part the expectation of trouble; and a person who has harboured frequent evil wishes against others, but has been brought up to be good and has therefore repressed such wishes into the unconscious, will be especially ready to expect punishment for his unconscious wickedness in the form of trouble threatening him from without.'

By: Roy Bainton
Imprint: Robinson Publishing
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 159mm, Spine: 32mm
Weight: 530g
ISBN: 9781472137487
ISBN 10: 1472137485
Series: Mammoth Books
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 08 November 2016
Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , ELT Advanced , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Unknown

ROY BAINTON, author of Honoured by Strangers and The Long Patrol, served in the Merchant Navy and has travelled around the world three times. He has written extensively for newspapers and magazines and is a regular contributor to Radio 4.

Reviews for The Mammoth Book of Superstition: From Rabbits' Feet to Friday the 13th

Praise for The Mammoth Book of Unexplained Phenomena: Bainton is a very good writer . . . excellent and witty . . . confident and clear . . .Hooray for Roy Bainton! - Fortean Times