Review of The Riddle of Alchemy
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Balshinma Dagang
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Review of The Riddle of Alchemy
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Riddle of Alchemy" by Paul Kiritsis.]
"The Riddle of Alchemy" by Paul Kiritsis is an almost impossible condensation of timeless knowledge, delivered at a pace so fast and effortless; it may seem like sulphur to the untrained mind when it is, in fact, gold. Published by Mantra Books in 2024, this piece is a must-read for the average "wisdom seeker" interested in the complexities and intricacies of existence, human nature, and everything in between.
In the first part, the author carries us in a literary trance from Ancient Egyptian civilizations to the Renaissance era and drops us off at a juncture, expanding on the interconnectedness of Christianity (Theosophical) and modern psychology with the aforementioned concepts, just to enlighten us on the history of alchemy. When Stephen Jay Gould said, "The sciences and humanities are not separate magisteria, but interconnected domains of human knowledge," our author takes it very seriously, as he reunites these disciplines by creating a sandwich of the social and natural sciences in the second part of the book. He provides his interpretation for some alchemical works of art (The Splendor Solis Plates), postulates a highly integrated theory of the self, delving into its hard and soft sciences, and finishes the segment off with a rich and compact summary of the Pistisophian allegory on the authorship of existence.
In the third part of the book, our author goes into the history and development of metallic transmutation (Ars Aurifica): the part I was really looking forward to, because it entails turning base metals into more expensive metals like gold. He rounds the third segment of the book up with a mind-boggling dance, a strong raw cocktail of quantum physics and pseudoscience. This could be perceived as a satisfactory end to the book for many readers. I, however, proceeded to consume the appendices. The appendices of this book happened to be my best morsel of the cake. They explicitly state the histories, developments, and relationships between the celestial bodies of the solar system, mythological gods across different cultures, the Aristotelian elements, and significant medieval periodic elements and compounds.
This book is a high compression of information into the figurative red pill; there is no going back to ignorance after ingestion and thorough digestion. I appreciated the conciseness of the publication, even though I subconsciously wished the book didn't finish so fast.
Reference: "Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life" by Stephen Jay Gould (1999)
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The Riddle of Alchemy
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
"The Riddle of Alchemy" by Paul Kiritsis is an almost impossible condensation of timeless knowledge, delivered at a pace so fast and effortless; it may seem like sulphur to the untrained mind when it is, in fact, gold. Published by Mantra Books in 2024, this piece is a must-read for the average "wisdom seeker" interested in the complexities and intricacies of existence, human nature, and everything in between.
In the first part, the author carries us in a literary trance from Ancient Egyptian civilizations to the Renaissance era and drops us off at a juncture, expanding on the interconnectedness of Christianity (Theosophical) and modern psychology with the aforementioned concepts, just to enlighten us on the history of alchemy. When Stephen Jay Gould said, "The sciences and humanities are not separate magisteria, but interconnected domains of human knowledge," our author takes it very seriously, as he reunites these disciplines by creating a sandwich of the social and natural sciences in the second part of the book. He provides his interpretation for some alchemical works of art (The Splendor Solis Plates), postulates a highly integrated theory of the self, delving into its hard and soft sciences, and finishes the segment off with a rich and compact summary of the Pistisophian allegory on the authorship of existence.
In the third part of the book, our author goes into the history and development of metallic transmutation (Ars Aurifica): the part I was really looking forward to, because it entails turning base metals into more expensive metals like gold. He rounds the third segment of the book up with a mind-boggling dance, a strong raw cocktail of quantum physics and pseudoscience. This could be perceived as a satisfactory end to the book for many readers. I, however, proceeded to consume the appendices. The appendices of this book happened to be my best morsel of the cake. They explicitly state the histories, developments, and relationships between the celestial bodies of the solar system, mythological gods across different cultures, the Aristotelian elements, and significant medieval periodic elements and compounds.
This book is a high compression of information into the figurative red pill; there is no going back to ignorance after ingestion and thorough digestion. I appreciated the conciseness of the publication, even though I subconsciously wished the book didn't finish so fast.
Reference: "Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life" by Stephen Jay Gould (1999)
******
The Riddle of Alchemy
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The Riddle of Alchemy by Paul Kiritsis
