Crofton Black's Pico's Heptaplus and biblical hermeneutics is a well-researched study of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's seven-chapter commentary upon the biblical creation story, entitled the Heptaplus. Itself cleverly organised into seven chapters, Black's study explores the many philosophical disciplines and religious traditions that combined to form Pico's allegorical reading of Scripture. Black effectively traces the roots of Pico's hermeneutics to the writings of early church Fathers, neo-Platonic traditions and Jewish mystical and philosophical teachings. He contends that Pico's esoteric hermeneutics are an indication of his participation in the Jewish studies of his day, since esoteric hermeneutics such as those of Clement and Origen had long been abandoned by Christian exegetes, though they remained popular among Jewish mystics and philosophers. The coupling of esotericism and elitism in Pico's work is further indication of his indebtedness to Jewish studies since that coupling, though a hallmark of Jewish esotericism, tended not to accompany Christian biblical hermeneutics. Black illuminates another aspect of Pico's biblical interpretation, namely the presence of neo-Platonic traditions such as those of Proclus and Pseudo-Dionysius in his work and his break from the dominant mode of Christian hermeneutics. Black's study therefore provides an important perspective on the development of medieval Christian hermeneutics more generally, that is its break from the earliest stage of esoteric readings in late antiquity, the development of a distinctly medieval Christian exegetical tradition and the emergence of a new exegetical discourse during the Renaissance. Black's extensive use of the manuscripts and translations that were available to Pico is a serious contribution. His examination of dozens of original manuscripts allows him to arrive at well-grounded conclusions regarding the texts and translations to which Pico had access, most significantly the translations from Hebrew by Flavius Mithridates. Black's sober conclusions regarding Pico's ability to work directly with Hebrew texts is refreshing in light of Pico's great fame as a Christian Kabbalist. Black's presentation of the neo-Platonic traditions that informed Pico's work is also highly informative and includes the notion that neo-Platonic exegesis was not only a mode of reading, but a mode of ascent, an action of the intellect. Pico's exegetical activity is therefore part of the magical and neo-Platonic activity of the Renaissance. Black's presentation of Jewish esoteric hermeneutics, however, could have benefitted from the more nuanced characterisations of Jewish esoteric hermeneutics presented most notably by Elliot Wolfson. Wolfson has emphasised that Jewish mystical hermeneutics were not predicated upon a dualistic notion of biblical language as comprised of a surface and its meaning, but rather upon the notion that the face of the text is continuous with its meaning. Overall, Pico's Heptaplus and biblical hermeneutics provides a thorough study of the many philosophical and religious debates within which Pico situated himself and his work.