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It is a quick and concise read. It lives up to its premise, and approaches 70 questions about Paganism with short, readable chapters - but also with academic attention to detail (including cited sources). Some questions are common from the wider public ("Is Satanism and Paganism the same?") while others are unexpected yet intriguing ("How do Pagans use fiction and film?"). It can be equally good for beginner Pagans, and beginner academics who want to study Paganism. For the former, it is a good review of the larger picture and some specific branches of Paganism (and related traditions that reject that label). For the latter, it offers a good starting selection and overview of scholarship, with more sources to explore. There were quite a few chapters that intrigued me. I enjoyed the overview of Romuva from Lithuania, and this tradition's struggle for official recognition. The chapter on Hellenic polytheists rejectig the term "Pagan" was also a fascinating addition to the whole. I also appreciated very contemporary topics such as WitchTok, cultural appropriation within Paganism, or the role of Pagans in the Ukraine war.

Polymath Reading Challenge, Book 1 Once again, a species I have heard about before but never really explored the full story. I knew the great auk was a marine bird driven to extinction by humans sometime in the 1800s. That was all. This book did not only reveal the extent of the story, but it also connects the great auk to its afterlife: 14 years after the last sighting, two British scientists arrived to Iceland to find the great auk. They were late. But since they already there they conducted a series of interviews with the last people who had seen, and hunted, this bird. The book focuses on this expedition, the interviews, the last hunts, and the way all of this inspired one of the scientists, Alfred Newton, to come up with the concept of human-caused ("Newtonian") extinction. The book goes into detail about how evolution and extinction evolved (heh) as concepts, and how this one expedition informed that process. We also learn about the significance of the great auk today, as well as Alferd Newton's life work of environmental protection. Since the author is Icelandic, the book contains sources not translated or considered before. Well put together, and an informative, deeply thought-provoking read.