Bygone Beliefs: Being a Series of Excursions in the Byways of Thought

"Bygone Beliefs: Being a Series of Excursions in the Byways of Thought" by H. Stanley Redgrove is a set of essays that looks at different ideas from the past related to how people think and what they believe. Written in the early 1900s, the book explores topics like old-fashioned superstitions, ideas from the Middle Ages, and how these ancient beliefs still affect us today. The author wants to show how important these beliefs were and how they changed over time, even looking at strange ideas with a scientific mind. The book starts by explaining why the author is exploring these old ways of thinking, talking about how beliefs grew from simple ideas like animism to more complicated systems during medieval days. People like Pythagoras and traditions like alchemy are mentioned, and the book discusses how these old beliefs connect to what we understand now, encouraging us to see how historical ways of thinking have shaped our modern views on science, philosophy, and what we believe.