Reconstructionist books?

[Seren_]

Good thing or bad thing?

One thing I've been wondering, since CR doesn't (yet) have many books specifically aimed at CR types, is how other recon paths view books aimed at them?

The 'elders' in CR tend to say that any books aimed at outlining the practices and beliefs on the path will be difficult to publish, because a) CR is basically an umbrella term referring to a variety of cultures so one book would have to generalise a lot, or exclude a lot of people, and b) because publishers aren't interested in marketing to a specifically recon market, since the money is in more Wiccanesque style books, so tend to edit heavily for the wider audience...

I know the heathen paths have some books - not sure about any others - but do you think they've changed the nature of the path significantly, say because of the particular author's biases not necessarily reflecting the 'majority, or whatever? I've seen some heavy criticisms of some of these books on other boards, so what would you recommend for someone wanting to get a better idea of different paths?

[Fiamma]

Hmmmm.....I know that some folks are starting to publish Hellenic recon books. But I think that's a lot easier to do- there's so much surviving promiary information on the Greeks, and there's not the giant cultural spread to deal with.

Well, what about writing what you want to write in the way you feel it needs to be done and self-publishing?

http://www.lulu.com/

Good thing or bad thing?

One thing I've been wondering, since CR doesn't (yet) have many books specifically aimed at CR types, is how other recon paths view books aimed at them?

The 'elders' in CR tend to say that any books aimed at outlining the practices and beliefs on the path will be difficult to publish, because a) CR is basically an umbrella term referring to a variety of cultures so one book would have to generalise a lot, or exclude a lot of people, and b) because publishers aren't interested in marketing to a specifically recon market, since the money is in more Wiccanesque style books, so tend to edit heavily for the wider audience...

I know the heathen paths have some books - not sure about any others - but do you think they've changed the nature of the path significantly, say because of the particular author's biases not necessarily reflecting the 'majority, or whatever? I've seen some heavy criticisms of some of these books on other boards, so what would you recommend for someone wanting to get a better idea of different paths?

[S_Wodening]

Well, for Germanic Heathenry and Asatru there are plenty of books mostly published by print on demand publishers. I know my own books have sold well, so I think the publishers may be wrong. I know the sales of my first book which was POD was enough to convince a publisher to publish a friend's book. It in turn has sold well. I think the time will come for Celtic Recon books. My suggestion for now is that any CR authors out there to go POD. For as little as $100 you can get a book published, and you make that back the first month.

[Twinkle]

In terms of Hellenismos, I think it's a good thing. Up until recently there was only one a couple of books on Hellenic Reconstructionism. One is out of print and difficult to find, and the other was good, but only briefly covered Hellenic practice.

There is a new author on Hellenismos that has published two books that I personally think are excellent.

Hellenismos Today
and

A Beginner's Guide to Hellenismos

by Timothy Jay Alexander.

Both of these books can be found on Amazon.com

The trouble with Recon books is that there is a great deal of diversity in terms of thought and belief, and that's OK. Anyone that claims to be an absolute authority, I have issues with.