by Edred Thorsson
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Good book, but not a "first book" to read on the subject, 2008-06-22
I want to add a few points which have thus far not been made by other reviews about why you may want to read this book, and where my own style differs.
Thorsson is to be credited with bringing quality scholarship into the community of those who work with the Elder Futhark. He has largely pioneered a method of approaching the Runes in both theory and practice through etymology, historical material, and comparative studies. For any serious student of the Runes, this work is important.
In my opinion, the most important section of this work to study for a Runic magician is part 1 (historical runelore). Part 2 largely involves commentary on the Elder Futhark and is thus secondary. The only complaint I have about Part 2 is that there is something of a lack of transparancy as to where he gets his ideas. Most of them are sound conclusions but without this transparency it is hard to review them by oneself. This is, however, a minor complaint.
One of the important features of this book (when paired with Futhark and At the Well of Wyrd) is that it includes translations of the major Rune Poems.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 A REVEIW FROM A BEGINNER FOR BEGINNERS, 2008-04-29
DON'T BUY THIS BOOK JUST YET!!!
I am new to Rune Studies and ordered the whole set of the author's "Series" on Runes. I got this one 1st and as anybody would hypothesize, I didn't enjoy reading it at all.
1. I don't know if it's just me or the author really does keep on repeating the same things he writes throughout the book. I'm not sure if he is doing this to refresh your memory (if you need this "refreshment" you'd probably be suffering from memory gap since you'd read the same thing in 5 to 10 minutes of going through the book). I feel like if some of the things he kept on repeating over and over would be cut-off, you'd end up with the book being 1/3 thinner.
2. The structure of how the book was written isn't reader-friendly for a beginner. To understand some of the things he's written on the first few chapters (and increasing in each chapter you get to), you'd have to look at the glossary and appendixes by the end of the book just to understand (or even just have a vague idea) what he is saying.
3. As a beginner, the first thing you'd probably look for is the chapter which describes each stave's meaning, since you bought the book to understand those peculiar signs right? With this book, you'd end up being either confused of tired. It gets a bit too wordy and even if you have Einstein's IQ, you'll feel like some of the things he say on the same paragraph just don't connect to each other. You'd probably need more experience on Runes to be able to get what he's trying to say (or not).
4. There are some portions where you'd feel like flipping to the end of the book just to see if you'd find a raffle coupon for a free membership to his Rune Gild. I can't help but feel that he is actually advertising the group.
5. For people familiar with the Cabbala Tree, one section of the book seems a bit "off" as his diagram of Yggdrassill (diagram 10.7) is strikingly familiar. The only difference being - Cabbala has 28 paths while the author removed 4 paths (Missing are: Vanaheimer to Niflheimr; Niflheimr to Totunheimer; Totunheimer to Muspelllsheimer and Muspellsheimer to Vanaheimr) to end up with 24 paths = number of Elder Futhark Runes?
All in all, the "historical" part of the book really helps for beginners like me (but since I'm a beginner, I don't know if all those historical "facts" are actual facts).
I guess I got the book at the wrong time and surely my knowledge isn't enough to grasp the ideas he is trying to put out. In short, if you are a beginner, don't buy this yet.
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Update: May 8, 2008:
I received the other books and my suggestion on how to go through his series is:
1. Runecater's Handbook - The Well of the Wyrd
2. Futhark
3 ... then this book ...
7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
 a GOOD book, 2004-04-24
Runelore is a compendium of the basic historic and fact-file knowledge of the runes as a whole. With a good solid base Thorsson explains in understandable words the big world of runes. With a first seccion based on historical facts, a second one wich takes deeper onto the meaning and stiles of runes and lastly one seccion of esoteric knowledge it takes you deep with a slice of literacy not seen everywere. A masterpice for the not-so-initiate and a pretty nice source book for the i-know-a-little-about-that guy.
16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
For the Vitki, 2002-12-31
This one maybe a little too complicated for the beginner. But the true Vitki will love this one i bet. There is nothing satanic in this book as a few others have claimed. This book goes into the rune and gives you the inner vision of the power of each rune. This is a great companion to his other book Futhark. Both are great and accurate. Edred Thorsson is a true master of his craft.
29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
Great, 2002-05-27
This book is divided in two parts. First part, Historical Lore, presents a history of the runes in a more realistic, scientific view using examples form archaeology to support certain hypothesis of how the runes where invented (examples of runic writing with explanations are found throughout the book especially in the first part). The first 5 chapters of the book are chronologically organised and present the rune evolution from the oldest findings to the most recent ones (modern age actually). Chapters 6, 7, 8 try to explain the utility of runes for the old norse (or for other civilisations who took the runes from the old Norse) and also give written examples which try to explain the runes. Especially useful are chapters 6 and 7, which try to explain the runes and the runic inscriptions. The second part, Hidden Lore, uses a philosophical and psychological approach to explain the runes. Chapter 9 is especially useful and probably the most important chapter within the book because here all the runes are explained in great detail (beginning with page 114 and ending with 141 is a very essence of the book). Chapters 10 is also useful because it shows the cosmological view of the Old Norse and the connection with the runes (24 pathways between the 9 worlds, 24 runes). Chapters 11, 12 display even more information about the runes and the way of thinking of the Old Norse. The last chapter, 13, has a nice description of the gods of the old Norse but this chapter lacks the great detail which is found in the other chapter (this last chapter give some helpful hints but is more like a conclusion of the book, the good ending).
This book is pretty good, and that's why I gave it 5 stars but in truth it deserved 4 stars because it lacks the really deep explanations of the Old Norse's way of thinking.
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