Need guidelines, trying to familiarize myself Options

Hello, people.

I won't waste many words on introduction Actually, I hope you don't mind if I proceed straight to the topic.

I'm really new to stuff of this sort - occultism and such - but lately I've been having a desire to educate myself in this field. Not really in-depth; what I had in mind was more of a general knowledge, which I could then deepen according to the means available. I guess it probably wouldn't be a good idea to try to learn everything from the web, anyway. It's also worth noting that it's not my goal to become a wizard or mystic or anything of the sorts. You could say my interest is based partially on sheer childlike fascination (or what's left of it, sadly) but mainly it's a consequence of the psycho/socio/anthropological leanings of my present, adult (well, kind of), mind.

Now, what I had in mind was if one of those who are versed enough in this field, could compile a list of books (preferrably those available online) which would serve as a basis of sorts; which would provide me with a general knowledge of various magical systems, schools, history, etc. I have, for instance, pdf copies of the three books on occult philosophy by Agrippa somewhere on my drive, and I must admit they have me defeated (you would have thought, from the title, that they were more of an introduction, heh), so what I'm looking for is much more basic. The kind of book that you would perhaps expect to find in a window of a new-age store. Occultism 101 sort of thing. But it has to be relevant, non-mainstream - meaning not watered down, and most of all - non-biased. I don't want to read preaching.

That's about it I guess. I hope you have at least a vague idea of what I'd like.... I'm not an english speaker and my english can be, at times, unintentionally over-elaborate, for a lack of a better word (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) .

That's it for now. Thanks in advance.

I find The Magician's Companion by Bill Whitcomb an indispensable starting-point. It's a work of reference rather than a sit-down cover-to-cover read, but it's very comprehensive and, I find, admirably unbiased. There's an excellent introductory section on magick theory, followed by a large compendium of information on many different systems. Each chapter comes with a reading-list, which is perhaps the most useful part, and there's a directory of organisations in the back. It's also very well indexed.

Personally, it's where I begin when I want to get the 'basics' of any new system; but it's so well-organised that I also still use it as a desk reference for systems I know very well. It's not online, but in my opinion well worth the cover price.