Booknote: Around the Tarot in 78 Days

Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin, Around the Tarot in 78 Days: a Personal Journey Through the Cards. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn, 2012.  ISBN: 978-0-7387-3044-8.

Genre: nonfiction
Subgenre: Tarot, cartomancy
Format: trade paperback
Source: Berea branch of the Madison County (KY) Public Library


To be honest, I wanted to like this book more, but the book was not easy to get into.

The book is arranged as follows:

• "Introduction" and "Let's Get Started." The introductory material. 
• Ten thematic "gates." Book chapters where cards are grouped by the authors based on a theme. 
• Wayside lessons. Additional lessons or side notes. 
• Conclusion. 
• Their website links, basically the authors self-promoting their sites (note some include pay elements). 
• Further links, a bit more promotion, this time friends and partners. 
• A reading list, which is fairly lean. 
• Three appendices. 
• A small list of endnotes.

Though the book has a structure, once you get past the introductory material, you can study the cards in any order that you wish.  You can follow the authors' structure or study the cards at your pace and order.

For me, the authors spent a bit too much time in the introduction and the whole getting ready to travel frame. Some of the material was interesting, but a lot could have been interspersed throughout the book, maybe in those wayside lessons.

After the introduction you finally get to the cards. Each card page includes:

• Card title with a key phrase or two. 
• Resonances with things like astrology and numerology. The authors mention the concept of resonances in the introduction but minimally. This means I see the numbers or such but without an explanation they mean little. Though the authors claim this can be a book for beginners, given the lack of substance or clarity on this and other details, saying this is for beginners is not totally accurate. 
• Text with lessons from the cards, applications of the card in life, keywords, and affirmation. 

Overall, the quality of the book can be inconsistent. A few things are very well explained, but other elements are not developed well enough. I get the impression the authors want to cater more to readers like them who are advanced and highly experienced. In the end, the book may work well for a reference book on the cards, maybe to supplement any standard and/or favored Tarot reference book you may already have. I found the idea of following the structure intriguing, but I think the book works just as a reference book. I liked it, but I would consider it as an optional selection for readers.

3 out of 5 stars.