The Secret Doctrine

The reason for the sudden explosion of coverage about HPB is due the publication by Tarcher/Penguin of the abridgement by Gomes of The Secret Doctrine. Taking the book down from 1500 pages to a modest 255 page book (with index!) is an achievement in itself. But when the end result gives such a readable outline of the book, this is even more worthy for commendation. We are still going through it and hope to offer a comparison of this edition with previous ones. In the meantime, here are a few reviews that are out already.

Katinka Hesselink has a review online.

I do think what he created is one of the best introductions to The Secret Doctrine one could wish. He starts it out with a historical introduction that's factual yet easy reading. Throughout you'll find notes and references that bring this work into the 21st century. After all, the study of religion has come a long way since the 19th century when Blavatsky wrote The Secret Doctrine. There is, as one would expect of a scholar like Michael Gomes, a good index. Also, he checked the whole text against the oldest versions of Blavatsky's original text, so none of the spelling mistakes of the first edition had a chance of staying in.