Do What Thou Wilt

By Lawrence Sutin,

Book cover of Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley

Book description

Do What Thou Wilt: An exploration into the life and works of a modern mystic, occultist, poet, mountaineer, and bisexual adventurer known to his contemporaries as "The Great Beast"

Aleister Crowley was a groundbreaking poet and an iconoclastic visionary whose literary and cultural legacy extends far beyond the limits of…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Do What Thou Wilt as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The most serious and culturally informed of the modern biographies, but still enthusiastic and enjoyable. Sutin is particularly good on Crowley’s religious and political aspects, and it reads unmistakably like a book by what a friend of mine would call “a real grown-up,” which isn’t always the case with books on occult subjects. Sutin makes a strong case for Crowley’s importance and larger significance, and the book’s wider perspective can be gauged by the spread of his solid, quality books on other subjects, including Buddhism and Philip K Dick.  

From Phil's list on the beast.

If you love Do What Thou Wilt...

Ad

Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Want books like Do What Thou Wilt?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Do What Thou Wilt.

Browse books like Do What Thou Wilt

Book cover of The Great Beast
Book cover of Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley
Book cover of A Magick Life: A Biography of Aleister Crowley

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,990

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like Do What Thou Wilt, you might also like...

Book cover of A Last Survivor of the Orphan Trains: A Memoir

A Last Survivor of the Orphan Trains by Victoria Golden,

Four years old and homeless in 1930, William Walters climbed aboard one of the last American Orphan Trains, and, without knowing it, embarked on an extraordinary path through nine decades of U.S. history.

For 75 years, Orphan Trains transported 250,000 children from the East Coast into homes in the emerging…

Book cover of Norvel: An American Hero

Norvel by Kenneth F. Conklin,

NORVEL: An American Hero chronicles the remarkable life of Norvel Lee, a civil rights pioneer and Olympic athlete who challenged segregation in 1948 Virginia. Born in the Blue Ridge Mountains to working-class parents who valued education, Lee overcame Jim Crow laws and a speech impediment to achieve extraordinary success.

He…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Buddhism, occult, and zen?

Buddhism 306 books
Occult 96 books
Zen 93 books