Well, I have not read the Peterson version, which they say themselves is the definitive version thus far for whichever manuscript it is based on. In this they look at how the Goetia was probably actually practised by the Elizabethan "Angel Magicians". All of Rudd's papers are reproduced with the exception of the Notoria, and they include excerpts from other manuscripts of a similar period that belonged to other magicians in the appendices for comparative purposes. Since my main copy of the Goetia was the Mathers edition for reference and a De Lawrence version for practice (because it is small and handy for the temple) I have found it it to be very useful, and one could certainly construct an approach to Goetic operations based on the material which would differ in several ways from approaches based on the Mathers edition.
They have included a lot of correspondence tables in the appendices, either new ones or ones taken from the excellent Complete Magicians Tables. These help to increase the ease of use for the old manuscript material that is reproduced. They have also corrected some of the inconsistencies in attributions in the material which were probably introduced by copyist's errors, but when they do this they always include the original text too so the reader can make up their own mind whether or not the corrections are an improvement. There is a cogent argument as to the validity of Rudd's work with the Shem angels, and it would certainly be possible for a reasonably competent magician to make use of this approach from the information provided. There is also lots of information on the possible relationships between the Lemegeton and other grimoires, particularly the Heptameron, and this becomes important in terms of such things as the construction of the circle; again this differs a lot from the construction in other published versions, with extra consecrations etc as well.
The Pauline Art is very easy to understand. There is essentially only one basic astrological calculations required before one can get down to work on the ritual. It is the kind of thing that might take half an hour if you are doing it with pen and paper, but nowadays there is the joy of the internet. I have a program on my computer that would give me the information I needed with one click! (IMG:
style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
My housemate doesn't understand astrology, but I explained the relevant concept to him in 2 minutes using the coffee table as a "flat-earth" and getting him to imagine the circle of the zodiac moving around it. It is simple stuff.