From publisher blurb: Discover the Power in True Names! A true name is a secret word that both grants and expresses the essence of the thing or being it names. True names grant form and reflect identity. Without a name, the creature or object would unravel, returning to the primordial chaos from which the genies made creation. Since true names are so integral to existence, learning a true name grants considerable power over the thing named. Merely speaking the name does nothing, but an investiture of magical energy allows the speaker to call forth the being or thing named, to force it to obey his or her commands, or to destroy the thing named by partly or fully unraveling the name.