"Ocean of Theosophy" by William Quan Judge

This book is usually presented as the best introduction to the overall teachings and principles of Theosophy. As such it has it's value, as it spares the reader hundreds of hours in reading the Theosophical bibles like 'The Secret Doctrine' and 'Isis Unveiled'. Judge, who was the president of the Theosophical Society after the death of Blavatsky, is known to write more clearly than HPB, but shares her contempt for science, and the assumed superiority, bordering on snobbery, which can be annoying to the reader.

The book explains Blavatsky's ideas in more clear language, and the chapters were originally articles Judge wrote as answers to questions from theosophists. As most theosophical work, it draws mainly on Hindu scriptures and tradition, with lots of 'original' work by Blavatsky. It is openly resentful to institutionalized religion, mostly Christianity and Judaisms, while Islam is not even mentioned except as not worthy of discussion. The phantasmagoric tales of the 'Ascended Adepts' and races and continents preceding ours, which are offered purely on fate, or for 'examination' by people who can see the Astral Light, are intermixed by constant warnings and cautions about doing anything practical, as the powers you (seemingly automatically) get by any kind of practical work will immediately corrupt one's soul and mind, turning one into a power-hungry, super villain reminiscent of the ones in Marvel comics.

Judge tries to joke about the limited reach of science and how it doesn't have explanation for many phenomena, for which Theosophists have perfectly good explanations coming from the 'highest' source, i.e. Ascended Adepts, through their earthly mediators like Blavatsky and other high ranking Theosophists. He explain gravity as a form of electricity, and thus making levitation possible by 'changing the polarity' of an object or a person. Although it might have been common in the late 1800 to speculate about the electrical nature of gravity, such thoughts have been disproved soon afterwards, and it makes such statements laughable today. Judge tries to poke fun at science in many similar cases, basking in his imagined superiority of Theosophical thought, but the joke is ultimately on him, and on Theosophy, which hasn't updated its views of the world and science significantly in the last 120 years, while science has leaped forward in advances and understanding to the point where the Theosophical allegations and explanations seem like a relic from the past.

While Theosophy has had significant positive social impact, especially under the guidance of Annie Besant, and includes such cosmopolitan ideas like universal brotherhood of all men, the teachings and theories on which it is based, and especially the methods by which Blavatsky and other high ranking Theosophists claim to have obtained such knowledge, casts very strong doubt on its credibility, even questioning the basis for its existence.