[8][9] Described as "breezily irreverent" by John Banville in The New York Review of Books,[10] it formed the basis of a BBC Four television documentary, presented by the author, which was broadcast in 2006.
"[14] Philosopher Ray Monk in his review for Standpoint magazine commented that Waugh, in his account of a substantial portion of the Wittgenstein family fortune ending up with the Nazis, uses "much hitherto unknown documentation" and "Waugh's version is more authoritative and fuller than previous accounts" and he wrote that concert pianist Paul Wittgenstein holds the largest share of the text and much of the book is written from his viewpoint.
"Ranging through religious, classical and renaissance scholarship, it blends past beliefs and theories, often in gently subversive ways, with more recent scientific thought.
[21][22] Of one example which gained coverage in October 2013, Shakespearean scholar Professor Stanley Wells told The Sunday Times: "I'm mystified that an intelligent person like Alexander Waugh can see any significance in this kind of juggling with letters.
[25] In late October 2017, The Guardian reported that Waugh believed the title and dedication of the William Aspley edition of Shakespeare's sonnets of 1609 hold encrypted evidence of the final resting place of the author: de Vere's grave in Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner.