The Book of Superstitions: Black Cats, Yellow Flowers, Broken Mirrors, Cracked Sidewalks, and More Cultural Behaviors and Myths Explained

by Shelby El Otmani

Learn the compelling cultural histories behind some of the world's supernatural beliefs with The Book of Superstitions . Friday the 13th; rabbit feet; knocking on wood; walking under a ladder; the curse of the evil eye. We all have a superstition or two. Unveil the origins of some of the most universal and little known superstitions that have influenced cultures around the world for centuries. Including beliefs that gained a foothold in African and European folklore, notions from ancient Greece, legends of the British Isles, and beyond, this is a captivating read for people of all ages and backgrounds. Inside you'll Discover why superstitions have bewitched us for centuries with The Book of Superstitions . Fingers crossed you'll love this book!

Genres: Nonfiction, History

192 pages, Hardcover

Published March 28, 2023

Reviews

[Hadas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool book, very entertaining and interesting

[Ella Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
3.5 ⭐️’s rounded up for the illustrations and the dashes of humor tossed in.
A short, but fairly broad intro to common superstitions across the globe combined with explanations (or guesses) for their origins. It’s a quick read with several entertaining historic and contemporary anecdotes speckled throughout.

I enjoyed the various illustrations and overall formatting. found it a good intro into the complex and often confusing realm of superstitious beliefs.

It’s hardly comprehensive (though that would be an immense task for a single book), and, at times, I might’ve liked a bit more info and less speculation. Still, I found it overall entertaining and informative. This would be especially good for those with just a casual interest in folklore and superstitions.

[Jordan Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool fun little guy! Superstitions I have never heard of, some of which were really cool to read. It was cool to read about why certain regions followed certain beliefs of nonsense. Not the authors fault but a lot of the why these even occur was lost to time. Which sucks.

[Gracie Elder · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting book to learn about our simplest traditions and habits in our day to day lives.

[Rachael Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a general knowledge/coffee table type book but it was right up my alley. I am not superstitious yet am fascinated by the stories behind why people do certain actions out of pure fear, like throwing salt over your shoulder. Well researched and good insights overall.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is fun to read. It simply talks about the origins of the most popular superstitions. The author appeared to have done some lengthy research putting this all together.

The reason I knocked it a couple of stars is there are parts where the Bible or Christianity is mentioned in what I considered a negative light. Some things mentioned were true. But one part said that in Biblical beliefs say that 12 is the number of completion. No, 7 is the number of completion.

Also, there was mention of Adam and Eve getting cast out of Eden because they ate the apple. Then said this was a myth!
Wrong because this is not a myth. And it wasn’t an apple they ate. The Bible simply says “fruit”. A lot of people like to say it was an apple, but nobody really knows what kind of fruit it was.

Finally, I feel like there was some feminism laced in there. Just read it, you’ll see.

Again, it was a fun read and I still learned some stuff. But some personal opinions (especially about biblical doctrine) and saying you didn’t like this particular superstition because it was “misogynist” made this book feel more like a blog than a book of learning.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

This author and publisher should be so ashamed and embarrassed! They didn't do a single ounce pf research! The "sources" in the back two books just 20 years old and a few WEBSITES! Those are NOT sources!

I have superstition books from every decade, including over 100 years old. I could write a better book than this "writer" in a week.

This is the laziest and most insulting book I've read in years.

Why write about a subject you know NOTHING about and aren't willing to research? She copied and pasted unverified junk from websites written by who knows who.

There are thousands of documents, old texts, and more available in archives and libraries. They sre open to the public with permision. They open them up to REAL writers all thr time and PHD candidates.

Shameful! This book doesn't even have 5% of the info available.

[Rayjan Koehler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read. Ended up stopping at the local library today, and this looked interesting so I borrowed it (and just finished reading).

I had read/heard before reading this some variations on some superstitions mentioned in the book, like knocking on wood would be considered blasphemy by German Catholics because it would represent knocking on Jesus. Opening an umbrella inside would cause a random family member to die (even if they didn't live in the house or the same one as you), and opening one inside would be like saying you want someone close to you to die.


Some of these were completely new to me, and I did enjoy reading & of course learning some new tidbits.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an interesting book. I learned about a bunch of new things and learned new facts about a few superstitions that I already knew a little bit about. If you are looking for an interesting read then I would recommend checking this out!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this. So amazing and fun

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun to flip through

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short read but pretty interesting! I learned something after each entry, and gave me more perspective on superstitions as a whole :)

[Chy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked that there were a wide variety of superstitions highlighted in this book covering multiple countries, however each description was pretty short and lightly covered.

[Erin Van Lyssel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting, quick read

[Bridget Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as informative as i’d hoped, but still a fun read to learn a little bit about superstitions all over the world

[Molly Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read

[Lorena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting

[Ciera Rybak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super cool and easy read for my city subway adventures

[Carol Dimitriou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting things in this book.

[magpie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was really interesting but the writing style was so obnoxious.

[Amanda Hatcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so neat . I loved hearing of early times superstitions and theories . Some are still very popular Today that are being passed to next generations.

[Stormie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A super interesting read, I liked learning about superstitions that I hadn't heard before. I wish there were more information on the origins of some of these superstitions but sometimes there just isn't any information available. I did love the theories behind on why some started, so it made for a short and sweet book to learn from!