Secrets of the Waite-Smith Tarot by Katz & Goodwin?

Lee

A good chunk of the book can now be read online with the "Look Inside" feature at the book's Amazon page.
 

Cocobird55

Still up in the air about this one -- waiting for more reviews.
 

TaliTarot

First Reviews of Secrets of the Waite-Smith Tarot

Hi All

There are now several reviews of "Secrets of the Waite-Smith Tarot" available on Amazon, thank you for your interest in our research and the book.

Tali x
 

starlightexp

Still up in the air about this one -- waiting for more reviews.

I'm with you. The over the top reviews on there now are by members of the author's own organization for tarot readers so I'm going to wait till there are more balanced ones. I've been burned before buying a book just on Tarot Professional (TM) members reviews
 

shadowdancer

I have to agree.... until it has actually been in the hands / been reviewed by buyers I will be a bit cautious. Early reviews like this are rarely unbiased, and are often from those who were given pre-releases purely so that they could write these reviews.

I am intrigued by the book. The one thing that could put me off is if it is too bogged down in academia, overly deep esoteric spiel etc. I don't want to be lost after the 2nd page, where my brain puts up the shutters.

But I do take my hat off to Marcus and Tali for giving the chance to learn more about what went into the imagery by Pixie. It will be a great opportunity to learn more about her, and why she portrayed the cards the way she did.


Either way I know a lot of work went into it, and it will have a place in the Tarot world for sure.
 

TaliTarot

Secrets of the Waite-Smith Tarot

Hi All

Thank you again for your interest. The book sold out of its first printing prior to publication so was reprinted whilst the existing stock was shipped out to buyers.

We like to think that whilst there is research in the book and Kabbalah, etc., we have sectioned out those bits for anyone interested, and tried to tell the story of the deck in a more lyrical manner than we would write for anything academic.

We do believe we have told Pamela's story as much as we can for now, and the photographs will give you a new insight into her as a real person. As ever, Waite remains even more enigmatic, although we came to a new appreciation of his complexity and peculiarly unique faith.

The reviews we are delighted with, and only one of the nine already posted was from an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) which was Angelo Nasios. We recognise some of the other names, for sure, but a couple we do not, and as the book is now out in thousands of peoples hands, we are pretty sure over the coming weeks and months we'll see many reviews from complete strangers, which is always welcome too.

Again, thank you for your interest in this project, which was so close to us for so long.

Tali x
 

rwcarter

Not a review cause I haven't read it, but from thumbing through it when it arrived, the first part of the book is seemed to focus on the history. The second part of the book examines the symbolism in each of the cards. Kinda like Fiebig and Berger did but not in that horrid Top Ten format.

Not sure when I'll actually get to read the book, but I'll report back once I do. If folks have specific questions that I can research in the book, I'm happy to answer.
 

Cocobird55

rwcarter -- looking forward to your review.
 

Abrac

I had decided to get this book when it came out regardless. I've learned a lot from it though it doesn't quite live up to the hype (do they ever? :laugh:).

One thing I found particularly interesting was the Blue Cat painting by Pamela. It's referenced a few times in the book but there's no picture, at least I haven't found it, and if it is it's not in color. But it's easy enough to find online. Here's a link:

http://willigula.tumblr.com/post/13126369904/blue-cat-by-pamela-colman-smith-1907

This was undoubtedly Pamela's inspiration for the sphinx on the Wheel of Fortune. It may be old news to some, but I've never heard it discussed here and I'd never heard of it.
 

Abrac

Was just thinking, another thing of interest was how close Waite and Smith were to each other. I've always wondered about that. It never occurred to me they could've just picked up a phone to talk to one another. Seems obvious now, but I never thought of it. :)