This charming book records a conversation that takes place on a train trip in Italy between Milan and Rome. The narrator of the tale is a 1,000-year-old monkey, Bhakta, who can identify the stars and constellations and who regales a passenger, Vaya – a much younger female dragon – with a discourse on the history of astrology. Bhakta speculates on astrology’s earliest roots, i.e., before written records. discusses some of the “dozens of stories about how astrology began,” and traces a wandering path from ancient cultures (India and China) into contemporary practice. The story is written as a fable; it is a fictional story infused with details from many cultures in astrology’s history.

Ness is a skilled writer; it is an interesting feat to have substantive content, that is, astrological history records (with some philosophical background) told casually in a tale full of vignettes and interludes from the many traditions being investigated. The astrological content is rich, and the delivery is intriguing. There were times when I wasn’t sure if I was I reading too much (or too little?) into the symbolism of different characters in the story, e.g., various animals and birds who get on the train and depart at different stops along the route, but the unfolding storyline kept bringing rewards in many delightful scenes and snippets from the astrological tradition.

The author evokes a reverence and respect for astrology in this recounting of many of its guises and forms, told as a lighthearted tale that also speaks to our modern dilemma. Towards the end of the trip, Bhakta encourages Vaya’s further travels: “It’s time for what is called Good Spirit. We are seeing the rise of social awareness, of humanitarian causes, and we see an Old Guard trying to put down these positive social movements. This is not my personal opinion. These are the characteristics of how the universe works, a system that was designed long ago by beings that you and I can only begin to understand.”

Native Americans, Tibetans, the Lascaux cave paintings, hypothetical planets, Rosicrucians, Aztecs, Druids, and Sumerians are some of the components of the story told on this somewhat illusive train ride. There are lots of illustrations (sky maps, medical charts, and drawings of ancient temples accompany the narrative), and 55 books are listed in the Bibliography. You will be taken into a beguiling story of astrology’s history with Timothy Ness’s The Astrological Book of Life.