By 
Like the Christian Bible, the Gothic Bible is disappointingly human. It serves as a acceptably good introduction to the goth subculture, but the information provided is not provided consistently. I do not recommend this book, unless you can get it for free; however, there is good information inside. In order to give a fair review, I’ll list the good points of the book before explaining my complaints.
The book is complete. It covers all the main areas of the subculture: styles of clothing, makeup, music, favorite books and authors, and the adaptation of the subculture to adult life. If you’re looking for further reading, each chapter has a list of web links at the end, to various clothing retailers, auction sites, and information sites.
The Goth Bible also features an interesting survey, ostensibly conducted on an Internet forum, of some 200 currently practicing Goths on everything from sexuality to the Columbine massacre to their favorite music. His opinions are interesting and shed some more light on the subculture. This poll is called “The † Section”, which is a bit annoying until you get used to it and appears along the margins of the page.
The book sheds some light on the evolution of Gothic style and philosophy. Many goths, for example, combine beauty ideals from different cultures: Egyptian, Victorian, Romantic, Celtic, Nordic, etc., to create their own ideal. You don’t have to wear black to be a Goth, either, although most Goths prefer black for any number of reasons, from “Memento Mori” to “It looks good on me.”
Each chapter begins with an image of an extremely attractive androgynous goth, making it worth skimming at least. And if you’re looking for gothic fashion magazines or gothic clothing retailers, this is a good book to start with.
One of the best parts of the book is an exposition on the favorite colors of most goths. Black, of course, comes first, closely followed by silver, popular because it’s the color of the moon, stars, and therefore night. I love color theory and understanding why people choose a certain color and not another.
However, the book lacks a coherent structure and contains too many distracting asides. The fashion sections, for example, feature many profiles of modern designers, makeup manufacturers, gothic jewelers, etc. Some of the stories are not relevant or interesting. A sentence or two describing how different retailers came to be in the 1970s and 1980s would suffice. This also leaves less room for a simple history of gothic fashion, which would be more interesting and comprehensive.
Transfiguration of the Dead by AngelhÄ(TM)ad. The author also interjects his own opinions as facts or quasi-facts. This is a serious flaw, especially in a book called “The Gothic Bible.” I would have liked more attention to history and detail, not only the background of the Gothic style (for example, the Victorian era), but also modern Gothic fashion.
How, for example, did the gothic style emerge from the punk and new wave movements? The author does not say so, although she lists some styles inherited from punk. How do goths relate to other subcultures, such as metalheads, punks, skinheads, hipsters, etc.? And in what direction is the movement headed? I left this book with more questions than when I picked it up. Sometimes that’s a good thing; a great book can spark your interest in a subject and make you want to read more. But this book is not such a book.