Member Review

The title of "Superstitions" is actually quite misleading in this case. There are only a few scant paragraphs that go into detail about some of the well-known superstitions that people take part in (not walking under ladders, bad luck for broken mirrors, etc.). The real heft of the book is broken down into different countries and their folklore and gods. While this information was interesting, I felt like I was expecting something quite different. I would have loved for McElroy to go into much greater detail about where superstitions originated and how they're still used in our present times. Instead, I read a lot of info about specific gods worshipped by everything from ancient Egyptians to Inuits. This book is extremely well-researched and I appreciated how each section was divided into easy-to-digest sections. However, I did find myself skimming certain paragraphs that just didn't hold any interest for me. People looking for factual tidbits about superstitions will likely have to look elsewhere.