I got this book today almost by chance (my GF bought for me a book by Erik Satie that I already had, so I went to the bookstore and I had to choose a book within a limited range of possible books, and I saw this one and I liked it... I also liked the fact that it had a note attached to it, explaining that the publisher made a mistake and the book cover was glued upside down... a mistake that I liked).

The author is quite Jungian (I'm not really among the Jung enthusiasts)... but it's a very poetic and academic essay that is interesting to read.

The book is not about practical alchemy, it is neither about inner alchemy... but an essay that abords a diversity of subjects from an alchemical perspective that is quite unusual (Shakespeare and Shamanism, Darwin and Alchemy, what happened to the Red Mercury -and an astonishing analysis of this "modern myth"... or even a brilliant analysis of the Greek myths and the Christian Myths).

http://www.harpur.org/PJCHsecretfire.htm