It will not surprise you to know that, as an astrologer and frequent buyer of part-work publications, for the last three years I have been subscribing to something called Learn and Understand Astrology, published by the French company Hachette.
I would estimate that about 60% or 65% is devoted to astrology - Western astrology mostly, but also Chinese, Hindu, Hebrew and even Egyptian. But there are also sections on the Tarot and other forms of divination, some of which are new to me. In addition there are sections covering myths, symbols, dreams, reincarnation etc.
Naturally in a massive and ambitious work such as this, there are bound to be errors and Hachette have already published one or two errata sheets. I am prepared to concede that many of the errors are of the typographical variety, such as the degrees in which the major Fixed Stars reside. Some of the stars' positions are "out" by several degrees, however, and it is only when one realises that the stars take 72 years to move just one degree that the enormity of the errors become apparent.
Yet there can be no excuse for errors of fact. Two of the earliest things new astrologers are made to realise are that Mercury can never be more than 28 degrees, and Venus never more than 48 degrees, from the Sun. But amongst the delineations for the aspects one finds four which simply don't exist: Sun sextile and square both Mercury and Venus. I wrote to the publishers about these errors more than a year ago, but never received a reply.
These complaints apart, however, Learn and Understand Astrology (and the Arts of Divination, to add the smaller subtitle) is a rather impressive work. Even though I have been a student of astrology since the mid-1970s, this publication has made me learn a little bit more about my birth-chart, particularly with regard to the Moon's Nodes and the retrograde planets. I would certainly recommend it to those who are thinking of taking up our cherished subject. One is also shown how to draw up a birth chart, a feature often sadly lacking from books for beginners.