After waiting a year while the paperback version was backordered/unavailable, I decided to get the hardcover. For me, this was a waste of $20. I was hoping to find some mathematical insights into the phenomenon of magic squares, but Mr. Simpson's self-published book is just a rehashing of well-known paper-and-pencil techniques of construction. While I was waiting for the book, I was able to search the Internet and find free algorithms developed by others that more elegantly describe construction principles, and in such a way that one could program them fairly easily (which I did). I'm hoping a competing title, "The Zen of Magic Squares..." etc. by Clifford Pickover, will have more meat to it.