Top 20 Tarot Book Recommendations!

Alright! I've complied a book list from all of the recommendation threads here on Aeclectic in the Tarot Books & Media section. I've tallied them all up from each thread that was for GENERAL tarot book recommendations from the past 25 Pages dating back to 2009. There are 20 books in all, ranked 1 - 16; all books had 10+ recommendations. Next to each title and author is the count of how many times I saw it recommended.

1. 78 Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack, 76
2. 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card by Mary K. Greer, 55
3. Tarot for Yourself by Mary K. Greer, 47
4. Tarot Plain and Simple by Anthony Louis, 41
5. Mystical Origins of the Tarot by Paul Huson, 35
6. The Tarot: History, Symbolism and Divination by Robert Place, 33
7. The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals by Mary K. Greer, 32
8. Tarot Wisdom by Rachel Pollack, 29
9. Learning the Tarot by Joan Bunning, 27
10. Tarot Tells the Tale by James Ricklef, 26
11. The Tarot Bible by Sarah Bartlett, 19
12. The Complete Tarot Reader by Teresa Michelsen;
Forest of Souls by Rachel Pollack;
Pictures from the Heart by Sandra Thomson, 15
13. Understanding the Tarot Court by Mary K. Greer, 13
14. Tarot and the Tree of Life by Isabel Kliegman, 12
15. The Easiest Way to Learn Tarot – Ever!! by Dusty White;
Tarot Your Everyday Guide by Janina Renee, 11
16. The Quabalistic Tarot by Robert Wang;
Spiritual Tarot: 78 Paths to Personal Development by Echols and Thomson, 10

Thanks Eeviee! That's the kind of thing I would do had I thought about it!

I own all of the books listed except the Dusty White one. I've read all or most of;
Tarot Plain and Simple
21 Ways
Mystical Origins
The Tarot: History, Symbolism and Divination
Tarot Wisdom
Tarot Tells the Tale
The Complete Tarot Reader
The Qabalistic Tarot (which was way over my head at the time)

Tarot Plain and Simple is the one I return to again and again.

Rodney

I am missing a couple of those, but I am surprised that the Alfred Douglas isn't there... maybe it is too old It was a book that was given to me when I was a young teenager and I have loved it ever since.

I have been put off the Dusty White one by the site and the cover of the book and the general commercial feel of the whole thing... I tend to believe that good books sell themselves...

rwcarter said:

Thanks Eeviee! That's the kind of thing I would do had I thought about it!

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Welcome! Great minds must act alike! ;]

I own and have read through 78 Degrees of Wisdom; Mystical Origins of the Tarot; The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination; and Tarot and the Tree of Life, which I was really glad to see made it to the list! It really helped my understanding of the minors.

I own and thumb through 21 Ways; Tarot for Yourself; Tarot Plain and Simple (one of my first books!); Tarot Reversals; Tarot Wisdom; I am working through Learning the Tarot, right now, actually; Tarot Bible; and the Tarot Court.

...But I am a book freak and play host to a miniature occult library. =X

Winterchild said:

I am missing a couple of those, but I am surprised that the Alfred Douglas isn't there... [...]

I have been put off the Dusty White one by the site and the cover of the book and the general commercial feel of the whole thing... I tend to believe that good books sell themselves...

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"Tarot" by Alfred Douglas had 4 recommendations. I'm assuming that to be the "Tarot: The Origins, Meaning and Uses of the Cards" which appears to be OOP as per Amazon US.

I had the same feelings towards The Easiest Way myself. Only, I was put off by the hypenated ending and double explanation-pointe punctuation... o.0;

Hmmm...

Sold it, own it, sold it, never had it, own it x 3, sold it x 2, never had it x 5, want it, own it, never had it x 2, own it, never had it.

I have, or have had, most of the books on the list. The ones I've let go are good, but I wasn't going to look at them again and again. As I have a small house and more than 500 books in it already, I have to be selective about what sits around.

Winterchild said:

I have been put off the Dusty White one by the site and the cover of the book and the general commercial feel of the whole thing... I tend to believe that good books sell themselves...

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I don't remember what made me overcome my aversion to hype-in this case truly over the top hype-and get Dusty's first book. Maybe the examples on his site? Anyway it was the best thing I have ever done for myself tarot-wise. And he responds to posts on his website and emails quickly and thoughtfully. His second book is as good, or better and I think that belongs on the list too but maybe it hasn't been out long enough. If you can overcome your aversion to snake oil quality salesmanship, they really are an asset to your tarot library.

Thank you for taking the time to do this! I'm not among those who can say I own all but one ... I have two or three of these, and about a dozen on my wishlist, but there are several here I hadn't heard of. The problem is always making the next decision between "classics" (I don't allow myself a new book on any particular subject of study until I've thoroughly finished with the current one), and now I can just use your list and work down it.
mm

ann823 said:

I don't remember what made me overcome my aversion to hype-in this case truly over the top hype-and get Dusty's first book. Maybe the examples on his site? Anyway it was the best thing I have ever done for myself tarot-wise. And he responds to posts on his website and emails quickly and thoughtfully. His second book is as good, or better and I think that belongs on the list too but maybe it hasn't been out long enough. If you can overcome your aversion to snake oil quality salesmanship, they really are an asset to your tarot library.

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Thank you for this ann, I love your snake oil description, that is just it. I never cease to wonder why people do this. I immediately get turned off when I scroll through a paragraph or two telling me why I need something... let alone three to four pages. There are so many people who believe this selling works so I guess it must. Especially the self help, inspirational, Goddess type people. But they all sound the same, and have little to say imho.

Maybe we should drop a hint to Dusty... last time I looked at his site was after seeing a recomendation on AT and I got lost in the mess I shall try again!

Ok, I hope I am not going too OT here but I did check Dusty Whites book out on google and the list of titles I came up with put me off even more! Do read the whole list... So Dusty is either a teaching God or more than one person? Would like to hear more reviews.
Fascinated!


Advanced Tarot Secrets [New/Used]

Dustified: Tall Tales from a Tired Old Trollop [New/Used]

How to be a Sexual God: (In 3 Easy Lessons) [New/Used]

How to Get ANY MAN to do ANYTHING You Want!: How to find the ones you REALLY want.How to GET them. How to get them to buy you stuff!! [New/Used]

The Easiest Way to Learn Na'vi--EVER!!: Volume 1 of 8 [New/Used]

The Easiest Way to Learn the Tarot-Ever!! [New/Used]

The Easiest Way to Meet and Pick Up Girls - EVER!!: The little black book of dating [New/Used]

Advanced Tarot Secrets: 2 (Aphrodite's Book of Secrets) by White, Dusty (2013) Paperback [New/Used]

How To Be A Sexual God (In Three Easy Lessons!): Books 1 And 2 In One Volume [New]

The Easiest Way to Learn the Tarot-Ever!! by Dusty White (Mar 20 2009) [New/Used]

Winterchild said:

Ok, I hope I am not going too OT here but I did check Dusty Whites book out on google and the list of titles I came up with put me off even more! Do read the whole list... So Dusty is either a teaching God or more than one person? Would like to hear more reviews.
Fascinated!


Advanced Tarot Secrets [New/Used]

Dustified: Tall Tales from a Tired Old Trollop [New/Used]

How to be a Sexual God: (In 3 Easy Lessons) [New/Used]

How to Get ANY MAN to do ANYTHING You Want!: How to find the ones you REALLY want.How to GET them. How to get them to buy you stuff!! [New/Used]

The Easiest Way to Learn Na'vi--EVER!!: Volume 1 of 8 [New/Used]

The Easiest Way to Learn the Tarot-Ever!! [New/Used]

The Easiest Way to Meet and Pick Up Girls - EVER!!: The little black book of dating [New/Used]

Advanced Tarot Secrets: 2 (Aphrodite's Book of Secrets) by White, Dusty (2013) Paperback [New/Used]

How To Be A Sexual God (In Three Easy Lessons!): Books 1 And 2 In One Volume [New]

The Easiest Way to Learn the Tarot-Ever!! by Dusty White (Mar 20 2009) [New/Used]

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Reading Tarot turned me into a sexual god years ago, if it hasn't happened to you yet maybe you should learn a few advanced secrets. Or how to speak Na'vi.