the social theory of magic.

i've been reading this book for my thesis and it's so amazing {and confusing}. it's full of marvelous sentences such as:

"magic actions are rituals that make or change something. they operate mysteriously and what they create is mostly mystical. they often create an object or change a state, usually by a transfer of a quality or an infusion of a power."

and semi-mindbloggling graphs such as this:

i can feel myself getting more magical by the page! i'd recommend it to anyone who's, you know, interested in the academic, philosophical and psychoanalytical dissection of the history and human understanding of magic.