Peter Huijs is a member of the Dutch (but very international) Rosicrucian organisation Lectorium Rosicrucianum writing for their magazine and booklets. I think this is his first book released by the Rosicrucians themselves, but aiming for a wider audience. It claims to describe the history of the gnosis and the title says: “As An Upstream River – The Hidden Barrage Of The Gnosis In Europe”. I thought that I would quickly read it to see if it is well-written. I have read my share of books about the gnosis, so…
Huijs proves to have a nice writing style and the good thing about this book is that he does not only describe the history of the gnosis, but gives a lot of hints and ideas of gnostic ideas and thinking along the way making this still fairly small book a very nice introduction for laymen, but also a deepening for those not entirely ignorant of gnosticism. Still the book is written very much in the lane of the Lectorium, mostly giving an idea of how the philosophy of this school developped and where the sources are than an all embracing history of the gnosis, so do not expect to know it all after reading this book.
Big pro though: Huijs gives original and in depth information on some subjects, like Paracelsus, Jacob Böhme and the founders of the Lectorium. Not the everyday info you can read everywhere.
A suggestion for everyone interested and able to read Dutch.