This is not a how-to, but rather an encyclopedic compilation of all kinds of methods of scrying (psychic visualizations utilizing some kind of object). There's certainly nothing that engages the imagination as much as a crystal ball, but as it turns out, people have been staring into all kinds of things seeking cues about the future and answers to their questions, such as staring into water, into ink, into the reflection of a fingernail, and of course, staring into crystals.
Whether you're a fan of psychic phenomena or of folklore, this is an edifying book to spend time with. The author researched and catalogued a vast number of different methods and traditions from different times and places around the world. Some of these techniques make the crystal ball seem positively mundane, like staring at a handful of ink or the reflection in an oiled thumbnail!
The book is divided into chapters based on the technique, culture, famous historical scryers, and so forth. There's also some scientific discussion of the process and it's veracity.
In the first part of the 20th century, there was a great deal of serious research into things like clairvoyance and crystal gazing, and the British Society for Psychical Research was one of the most dedicated. Why a movie has never been made of the place is beyond me, since its members included some of the greatest scientists and public figures of the day, and they were passionately divided between true believers and adamant skeptics (in some cases, such as the curious Miss X, Ada Freer, one person was both an expert scryer and a debunker).
Theodore Besterman was a skeptical member of the society for a number of years before going on to a career as a noted bibliographer and writer. This book is an impressive bit of scolarship, especially since he wrote it when he was only 20 years old!
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