This post is part of an ongoing series featuring items from the newly acquired Santo Domingo collection.
A surprising discovery when opening up the book Predicting the Future: An Illustrated History and Guide to the Techniques is who the author is. Although not a particularly famous person, Albert, S. Lyons is a surgeon. His extensive knowledge of the history of medicine, and how that intertwines with what is now thought of as occult practices inspired him to write this book.
This book includes sections on astrology, numerology, tarot, handreading, I ching, tea-leaf reading and dreams. In fact, with the help of another surgeon, Han-yu Shen, he has contributed a new translation of the I ching. 
Each section not only includes a history, but also a guide to some of the practices such as tarot card readings and how to do numerology.
Lyons chose to focus on predicting the future because of the importance of the prognosis to a medical patient. Even in modern medicine, although doctors no longer focus as much on prediction as they do on diagnosis, knowing what is going to happen is always on the front of a patient’s mind. If you are interested in Lyons’ other works, you can find Medicine: an illustrated history at Widener Library.
Predicting the future : an illustrated history and guide to the techniques / Albert S. Lyons ; with a literal translation of the I ching by Han-yu Shen and Albert S. Lyons. ; New York : H.N. Abrams, 1990. BF1751 .L96 1990 F can be found received at Widener Library.
Thanks to Emma Clement, Santo Domingo Library Assistant, for contributing this post.