Books like The Satanic Bible

I grew up on the same block that Anton LaVey lived on. To me as a kid he was, "that old guy who only wore black leather, drove a black Jaguar, and lived in a big, black house with an equally big fence in front of it." Can't say I ever recall seeing him talk to anyone, though my mother would occasionally chat with his daughter and his girlfriend at the corner store. My parents also told me that in the '70s he had a pet lion, but the neighbors complained about the noise so the zoo took it away, or something. After he died, his house remained untouched for a few years, but was eventually torn down—which was a real shame, especially since that building was allegedly an old speakeasy. Then, for a few more years, the lot stood vacant until someone without any taste built an ugly—yet nondescript—prefab piece of junk there. I'm also pretty sure that either the building directly adjacent to his, or one or two houses away, had a beauty parlor on the first floor and a brothel on the top floor. Anyway, him being a local celebrity and all—in addition to being a neighbor—I figured the least I owed the guy was to check his book out.It was pretty much what I heard it'd be, namely that "Satanism" as he saw it was more or less a philosophy based on the power inside of people as opposed to prostrating yourself in front of religious icons or praying to the image of some anthropomorphic god. He also rejects the old notion of "do unto others as they would do unto you" and instead says "do unto other as they do unto you." That is, if someone's a real jerk-off to you, don't forgive and forget, get them back. And twice as hard. On a purely grammatical note, I think he went a little over-budget in his use of exclamation marks, but other than that, the book is well written and fairly easy to follow. I highly recommend reading this on the bus or in a very crowded coffee shop for maximum effect.