To write an accessible and scholarly overview of religion, science and magic in early modern Europe is a daunting project. It involves two central tasks: to introduce readers to a collection of beliefs that are deeply unfamiliar and therefore require an effort of imagination to grasp; and to synthesise the various currents of pre-modern thought into a readable text without sacrificing too much nuance in the process. Mark A. Waddell succeeds admirably in the first task. He demonstrates persuasively that many of the preoccupations of early modern divines, natural philosophers and magicians involved recurring human questions, several of which are still pertinent today. His account of a world shaped by unseen forces, and the various attempts to understand and harness these forces, is presented with a vivid awareness of the common experience of early modern people and ourselves. He is, perhaps, less successful in the second task. Some of the discussion in the book – for instance, on the experimental approach to the supernatural developed by the English philosopher and churchman Joseph Glanvill – would gain depth from reference to more recent scholarship. The account of witchcraft sails close to some popular but problematic ideas about the subject: that venerable village healers and midwives were commonly accused of the crime, for example. None the less, this book will provide readers with a first step into a complex and rather beautiful world of lost ideas.