The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor LaVey

Published in 1969 it is more a collection of essays, observations and rituals than an actual religious ideology. While reading it I didn't find my expectations satisfied. Surprisingly, there is nothing demonic about Satanism, rather it is a humanistic approach towards life that serves to ensure calm and long-lasting existence.

I myself am an atheist by conviction, but reading through this collection of essays I found myself agreeing and nodding to most of the conclusions or advises in it. I would safely advise all mums out there who freak out over seeing their teenagers reading it "Fear Not!".  Satanism is completely different than Satan worship and frankly, this book might be of more help to answer his/her questions rather than turn him into the Devil itself.  If you ever read Nietzsche's philosophy you'd know that Satanism is a very safe rendition of most of his ideas. There is nothing scandalous about The Satanic Bible, which was I admit somewhat disappointing, but yes, all fanatic Christians out there would probably burst into flames.... *evil laugh*.

The first half of the book expounds upon his theories. This section is much more relaxed than I expected. He speaks off the cuff, using slang and humor. It's an interesting approach to the writing of a religious text. Definitely a relief from the stuffy Holy Bible. By the way, any Satanists reading this can relax. Yes, I'm bagging on your boy a bit here, but I also think Christians are ridiculous, too. I'm one of those people who has faith in themselves, that they will do the right thing. So far I'm doing all right. Haven't murdered any one yet!
Later The Satanic Bible gets into the whole "spell casting" thing, the reason I bought the damned book in the first place. Much is made of sex, blood essence, speaking accursed names aloud and none of it was as cool as I'd hoped. I did like that LaVey calls out the people who sacrifice animals as cowards for not having the balls to draw their own blood for these rituals.
The last half of the book is a very short, quick read. There's barely more than a dozen lines on some of the last hundred or so pages. Sometimes it's just a title page or one simple sentence and blank space on the back side. This was done for aesthetics and it's a big waste of paper. The book would be a lot smaller otherwise.