The Forge and the Crucible

Mircea Eliade is an amazing writer and scholar. His encyclopaedical knowlage of history, religion and ancient culture and civilization is unparalleled - for context I can say its rivalling individuals like Oswald Spengler and Evola.
Book provides extremally comprehensive view of what was alchemy, and the philosophical view that stood behind it. How it relates to modern times ect...
** spoiler alert ** We can learn for example that alchemy, even though its often portrayed as a precursor of chemistry, had a completely reversed idea of the significance of matter in the world. (chemistry bases on division and extraction while alchemy unites and bonds together - they are vertically opposite to each other)