Mythology and Folklore Books

I thoroughfully enjoyed this book. It changed my view on reality. And it made me appreciate myths and scriptures for what they truly are: bridges between our mundane lives and the Transcendent. They are not to be taken factually, but they have the power to structure and inspire our personality and our society at large.

This book also contains an interesting introduction to Jung's work.

This is a strange book. For one thing it's really a series of lectures, but for some reason the cover and jacket don't say so. You have to read the notes at the end to find out why the presentation rambles so.

Secondly, the title and subtitle are misleading. The reader has to get through four lectures--two on the history and purpose of myth and two on Jungian psychology: that's half the book--to get to the discussion on personal transformation. The lectures might be useful to beginners, but I bought this book because I lead classes and workshops on finding one's personal myth (not one's archetype: there's a difference), and all this was was old hat to me.

Although Campbell was a man of his time, as all men are, his biases really show in this book. His grating stereotyping of "the Orient" as authoritarian and so forth recalls Edward Said's penetrating criticism of Western fantasies of Orientalism: Orient as mysterious, backward, and despotic. Campbell's comments about women's psychology are especially culturebound, as when he says women tend not to follow the call of the Hero because of the "natural" and "inevitable" call to duties like childbirth. This sounds less like mythological inquiry than like Republicanism's ongoing obsession with dynasty and reproduction. Maureen Murdock has answered this in part by writing her book The Heroine's Journey.

Here and there, though, we see the Campbell most of us admire. "I think one of the great calamities of contemporary life is that the religions that we have inherited have insisted on the concrete historicity of their symbols" (p. 88). He also remarks that although he admires Abraham Maslow (I do not: I've read his journals), his list of survival values--security, prestige, self-development--"are exactly the values that a mythically inspired person doesn't live for." What does such a person live for? "A calling, a dedication," what seizes us, what drives us beyond mere considerations of comfort or biology or "the values for which people live when they have nothing to live for."

He also gives a number of important suggestions for finding one's personal myth; we are finding, however, that the myth is often a good deal more specific than previously thought. Campbell mentions Jung's quest to understand his myth but does not mention Faust. In Freud's case it was the story of Oedipus, even down to following his daughter Anna out of Vienna just as the old king followed Antigone out of Thebes. On the web is a piece I wrote about Steinbeck living the story of Lancelot. What we do with these stories, how we learn them, deepen them and elaborate them: that is the fascinating part, built on the foundation left by Jung and Campbell.

Everyone with the slightest familiarity with Joseph Campbell, of course, knows the famous catch-phrase: "Follow Your Bliss". And everyone pretty much knows what it means, as well: Figure out whatever your passion is, and responsibly and diligently move forward, and pursue it... for the rest of your life... above and beyond anything else.

Sounds like words of wisdom from a worthy and knowledgable teacher.... but how exactly does one go about following their bliss?

That's what this book aims to answer.

Joseph Campbell, of course, died in 1987, yet this book didn't appear on store shelves until 2004. That's because it has been assembled posthumously by the Joseph Campbell Foundation from many of Campbell's unpublished notes/lectures/interviews/drafts/etc... Their aim is to bring the great mythologist's unfinished works into a form suitable for public consumption. With that as their aim, the Foundation had the inspired idea to organize a whole book around the premise: How To Follow Your Bliss.

So, it's the usual brand of Campbell's 'Mythology as Psychological Resource', albeit this time around in the guise of a sort of 'mythological self-help book'. A satisfying one nonetheless.

As ever, Campbell's basic premise is that the grand purpose of mythology is to ground an individual in relation to an order of being that is larger than himself. Through metaphor and through ritual, an individual is brought into accord with:

1. The great mystery
2. The physical world
3. The societal order
4. The appropriate stage in one's own development as an individual

(These you may recognize as Campbell's four functions of myth.)

The book starts by laying out all four of these as the foundation for the overall theme, and then focuses on the fourth one, the 'personal development' function of myth, throughout the remainder of its pages. A typical scenario where the fourth function of myth may be considered is the following:

All is well, of course, when an infant lives in a dependency on its mother. It is not alright, however, when a thirty-year-old man depends on his mother for decision-making capabilities. Obviously, at some point between infancy and maturity must come the realization that the correct value is to become an autonomous being. Often these realizations that come at specific transition points in the lifecycle are challenging for a developing ego to embrace.

And myths are often stories that show us, through metaphor, that it is possible to negotiate these thresholds-- often they even point a way as to HOW these thresholds may best be negotiated. In a nutshell, what the great stories tell us is this: let the you that you are now DIE so that something new can be born in its place. Let your current incarnation go.

Following the development of the above ideas, the book continues on into the territory of Jung and the idea of one's personal myth. Each of us may become sensitive to one particular myth over another because it has something essential to tell us specifically about our own unique particular journey.

Finding one's own myth, and living it, in essence, is one's pathway to bliss. Campbell gives suggestions to his students (and to us readers) as to how to find, identify and live one's personal myth.

So, here you get the flavor of the book. If you like the ideas behind The Power of Myth and/or Hero With A Thousand Faces and find them to be a nourishing resource in your own life journey, here's a book that attempts to express and focus on those ideas in a way that makes them seem much more immediately relevant and applicable to one's own life journey.

So, if that's what you're into, you'll find it in this book. Because 'mythology as resource for one's psychological development' is what primarily compells me above all else when it comes to myth, I devoured this book and then cried like a little baby when I finished the last page because I was sad it was all over. Those who can't stomach Campbell should move along move along, because they'll find more of the same here as to what they're used to.

* As a bonus, for everyone out there who finds Campbell's ideas of the Hero's Journey to be somewhat not inclusive of women, this book tries to address that as well. The final chapter is a transcript of dialogues in which many of Campbell's students (male and female) challenge him to broaden the conception of the Hero's Journey to include women in a fuller way. It brings what many consider a sour omission from Campbell's writings to light and is definitely worth the read for anyone who follows that discussion closely.

- Phil Robinson
http://www.PhilRobinson.net
"Paint the walls of your cage with a dream."

If you are looking for something more in depth than the Moyers interviews and something less intimidating than Campbell's more academic works- this is a great one to read.

This is a collection of lectures which cover most of Campbell's fascinating work in comparative religion, but in a way that is accessible and entertaining. The editing is fantastic, so it reads very natural and you'll find some of the most complex ideas are clear and easy to understand. Highly recommended for anyone new to the idea of religion as myth.

I am grateful for having read this fantastic piece of work that brings together mythology and personal transformation in such a profound and articulate manner. I could notice how it strikes multiple harmonics in my mind as I read on, very much along the lines of Jung's view on the unconscious.

Pathways to Bliss provides both a framework and an inspirational context for anyone interested in the Self as Hero. As such, I have utilized it as a prime reference for my forthcoming work in designing board games and processes that would be useful for furthering the usefulness of the Hero's Journey archetypical metaphor as a tool for personal and group learning, growth, and advancement.

Perhaps it is best to bring forth this excerpt from the book: "There's nothing you can do more important than being fulfilled. You become a sign, you become a signal, transparent to transcendence; in this way, you will find, live, and become a realization of your own personal myth." (Last paragraph, page 108). In this book, Campbell offers a rich ground for constructing that personal myth, one that would enhance the wisdom, love and inner beauty of a person's Self to mythical proportions!

I am currently taking an Old English class. This semester we are translating Beowulf. This book is very helpful because on the opposite side of the Old English page is the translation into modern English. This is most helpful because some of the grammar when translating is tricky. This book would be interesting if you were reading Beowulf, but wanted to see how it was originally written. The translation by Chickering is usually spot on, although he does use poetic license and adds a few of his own words to make it more clear to the reader. I would have given this 5 stars, but there is no glossary in the back and for anyone who has ever tried translating Old English, a glossary is a must!

I am happy to report that buying this book has been one of those rare occasions when I have enjoyed the pleasant surprise of actually receiving MORE for my money than what I had been expecting.

I bought this book because of its containing the full text of Beowulf plus the running modern English translation on facing pages. In addition to this, I expected perhaps the usual brief introduction which such works are frequently accompanied by.

But instead, the book turned out to be about twice as thick as what I had anticipated. Yes, the first 50 pages or so are indeed the type of introduction and pronunciation guide I had expected, followed by the 200 pages containing the actual text and translation. But above and beyond this there is also an additional almost 200 pages to the book, and it is this portion which has made me doubly happy with my purchase.

Included in the second half of the book is a very helpful chart of the royal genealogies dealt with in the work. This is then followed by literally page after page of absolutely wonderful and extensive background material and analysis which deal with everything from the history of the manuscript and theories as to its authorship and dating, to broader background material on Anglo-Saxon society, its way of life and traditions. I found hours of fascinating and rewarding reading here which I never expected. It's almost like getting an extra book!

And as if this was not enough, to top it all off they have concluded the book with a section which gives full glosses for all the words in the 8 most key sections of the text. -- No need to spend hours frantically flipping in the dictionary, it's all here done for you!

Being a newcomer to the field of Old English, this book has been everything I have been looking for. And considering the modest price of this volume, I feel I have gotten a real bargain and am happy to give this book my highest recommendation to all.

I had to read this book for school and let me tell you...I adored it. It brings to life picturesque characters and mysterious beings that are truly fantastic. Reading this book I felt a true excitement in my heart, which I don't get with many other books. I suggest that people read this book, because its not only for the older generation its for us younger generation as well.

Brittanie Chisum

I fell in love with Beowulf when I read Seamus Heany's facing page translation. I also fell in love with Anglo-Saxon Old English and decided to teach it to myself. I then bought John Porter's word for word facing page translation, which is good for learning Anglo-Saxon, but not for enjoying Beowulf as a rip-roaring adventure. I wanted to read another translation, to see how someone else would handle it, and the variety of translations available is amazing. Prose translations I hated. Even a modern poem turned into prose sounds wrong. Translations that ignor the alliteration and poem structure also bother me. I liked Howell Chickering's version. It's close to original feel of the poem. But the best thing about this book is Chickering's Commentary in the back. All the extra explanations were very helpful in understanding the poem. Questions that I had thought of are brought up and discussed. There are not always answers, but a thorough discussions of all the various theories. I thoroughly recommend this version.

If you read the Penguin edition (or any other modern translation) and wondered what all the fuss was about, this is your answer in a form accessible to the motivated reader. This monk-produced epic in an age when Christ challenged the devil at every turn and monsters and witchcraft were accepted as fact was crafted in language that rolls like a viking boat in stormy seas and cracks like lightning splintering a glacier. Here is a nuanced tale of life in a remote Germanic outpost haunted by a trinity of monsters and blessed by an able if flawed and mortal savior, a princeling knight errent compiling a couple of resume stuffers on his way to kinghood and then capping a great career with a final, defining epic deed.

The reader is provided with an intralinear translation, old english verse on one page, modern verse translation on the other. Vocabulary, pronunciation guides, and annotations are all provided. The sounds of this poetry are raw and powerful in a way that can only be weakly imitated in modern English, rich with wry, textured prosody. I found this book based on an offhand mention by a professor when I was in college, a two year search of university and second-hand bookstores without result, followed up over ten years later with an Amazon alert entry that finally bore fruit many years after that. A luminous accomplishment.

This is a really fun book that everyone can enjoy. There are a lot of hidden meanings. The author makes you feel in the end that how you make money is probably just as or even more important than how much you make. I think this is a book for every one.

SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
I love this book! It is so awesome. Singh really leaves you hanging. You never know what will jump out at you next.

You wanna laugh, don't miss this one. I don't know about what the others are talking about, I didn't get any deep meanings out of this. But what I did get was great entertainment. get this one for your collection. Also nice to add to your collection are: Aesop for Children (Winter), Grimm's complete fairy tales (Grimm), Great Children's stories (Richardson). There are many other great children's books out there, but these were the ones I enjoyed the most. Oh, and I almost forgot the two classics that no children should ever be deprived of: The Little Prince (Exupery) and Charlotte's Web (White).

A brilliant story of contemporary philosophy which draws upon fable, fairy tale, and mythology-as well as modern aesthetic and mathematical thought. Even more brilliant is the style in which it was written, a literary equivalent to Cubism with all sorts of pleasant repetitions and poetic phrases. If Picasso had been a writer, I imagine him writing something like this, although he probably would have stayed away from caterpillars and butterflies, especially pink and blue ones.

The only writer who has made me laugh and cry in the same book. It can be slow at times,but trust me, stick with it! I have recommended it to many others who have told me how they laughed out loud and even cried in cafes, getting a whole lot of other people interested in the book. Now I see why so many people are enjoying and talking about what is but a simple tale of a caterpillar searching for its food plant. I think my only problem with the book is that the author didn't give the caterpillar a name. I think this bothered a lot of people. Poor thing needs a name. Instead she is always referred to as THE BRAVE LITTLE CATERPILLAR. It's tedious and tiring and I wish he had given her a name, any name, couldn't have been that hard. Personally I would have named her. But that's not reason enough to bash a book that has won the heart of so many young Asians. And if great art bears true witness to an experience, I think Singh has quite honestly captured the ambitions and anxieties, the experience, of second generation American Asians, be they Indian, Korean, or Japanese. Myself I had a dad who ever since I was a child would sneak into my room while I was sleeping and whisper, in my ear, 'Doctor, doctor, I want to be a doctor,' in a sad and futile hope to subliminally mold my dreams and desires. But when he saw that wasn't working, it was sort of forced upon me and sadly this was for his own ego. So now for his ego I truly believe I'm wasting my time studying something I really don't want to be studying. But, slowly but surely, I'm summoning up the courage to leave the 'Silk Palace' and pursue my 'food plant' whatever it may be. I admittedly don't know yet. But that's more because I regrettably let someone else define my life. In writing this, I see and feel how powerful this book is and I look forward to anything else this author has to say.

Anne Cameron's account of Native Americans of early Vancouver Island is beautifully written and combines history of the area with Native American lore. Most of us are ignorant of that lovely island and it's history before the Europeans arrived.
I learned a lot and enjoyed the writing. I read Daughters of Copper Woman for a graduate religion class and was very impressed.

This is a story that will touch your heart and you will never be the same.

This is a story that will touch your heart and you will never be the same.

This is a story that will touch your heart and you will never be the same.

A great book, it has more than just mythology. The stories show how we are all one people of different tribes.

When I was in 5th grade (25 or so years ago), our teacher, Mrs. Smith had a reward system where if the class got enough checks, we could redeem them for various treats. Time after time, once we got enough checks, we'd beg her to read to us from this book. I don't recall our class ever asking for anything else. I'd strongly recommend this one to parents of kids of any age. This, to me, is as good as American fairy tales get.

This book is very dear to my heart. The stories told in this book came from my family, R.M. Ward. I grew up hearing my grand parents, father & Richard Chase tell these tall tells. I read them to my kids now and I hear my relatives in my head so I begain tellin-um like they told me.My hope is that these stories live on through the generations of my family as well as other families.I love hearing my daughter ask for just one more just like I did.

I remember reading an earlier version of this book as a child. The collection of folk tales is as enjoyable to read as an adult as it was years ago. In fact, I can now bring my children the tales of the Appalachian Mountains and let their imaginations run wild with giants, witches, talking animals, and a witty little scoundrel like Jack. The tales are preserved in a very close "mountain vernacular" language. There is a noticable difference between some stories in the use of terminology, but this helps me to envision another storyteller spinning the yarn in his/her own fashion, which is part of the fun of listening to folk tales. My only complaint is that the collection is not larger.

I had this book as a child, and loved it so much that I bought it for my own children and read them a story out of it every night until they had heard all the stories it offered, and they loved it, too.

I heard about this book from a teacher who used to sub. in inner city schools. She said kids always remembered her for it. It's a compilation of short stories that are supposed to be told orally. They use HEAVY Appalachian dialect and I had thought that might be a problem for my second language learners, but THEY LOVED THEM. The stories tell of how Jack (from the beanstalk) outsmarts giants in different situations. His tricks often have a violent description, but because he's doing it to giants, it's not very traumatizing. A terrific oral language developer, and a whole lot of fun!!

Keep Going: The Art of Perseverance This peaceful reading on a CD is inspirational. The stories and lessons are worth listening to whether you are in the midst of life's problems or not. One step at a time. We can all do that.

Excellent book, espcially for one who has lost a loved one, or one who realy wants to think about life. easy to read. Lots to think about.

I really loved this book! Wonderful stories, and perfectly written wisdom. I felt as if I was sitting there with Jeremy and Grandfather. I will definitely read Marshall's other books now. This is a book I will share with many, but keep my own copy for a yearly re-read. Genuine what life is all about, and why it's worth living. Simple, yet profound. Value yourself and make time to read it.

Excellent. Guide for achieving personal goals. Should be on students "books to read" list. Thought provoking!

This is one of the most inspirational books I've had the privelage to read. I find that it has applications in my daily life and plan to re-read on a continuing basis. Spectacular!! We have given away 12 copies to friends and family and all of their appreciation and gratitude speaks highly for the book.

As to why the literature we know today as the Holy Bible came to be assembled as it was, one can only speculate. Compiled from jewish texts and scrolls, a series of main books emerged as the finished work. In its grand history, it has only been recently that other writing and chronicles of central characters were discovered. For whatever reason,they were deemed APOCRYPHA (related to but not included in the main text). When the author first brought me the "Lost Stories...", I admittedly had to work through a bit of personal prejudice. Down through the years many self proclaimed Apostles have had religions to themselves founded on their own unique publications, Joseph Smith and Mary Baker Eddy to name examples and I quite frankly, thought it a little pretentious.

I'm happy to say it falls nowhere in that category. It exists as an abridged compilation most notably of writings by Enoch and a few letters of the Imperical government of Rome in power at the time of Jesus' life on Earth. It struck me that current anti-semitic prejudices of today might well be founded specifically on the myopic views expressed in the letters to Pilate from Tibeius-Caesar. As much as it overshadows Gethsemane, these writings may well be an accurate translation of Roman views. And do I really need to know how suicidal Adam was in dealing with his exile?? The first chapter alone for whatever reason is a sloggy soap-opera of a read, but the same can be said at many points in the Old Testament.

The question of translation accuracy is also a valid concern especially in the wake of Babel. Have past scribes given us a clear picture of God's message in ANY available texts?? That issue is for the heart alone to judge and with no concrete guarantees, I rated the book as I did. I don't know whether I would've used the insights of Gene Scott who has always impressed me more as an old Texas Carnival Barker than a man of biblical letters, but with the Swaggarts and the Hargises and the Bakkers muddying up the waters I suppose he's none the worse for wear and even in the face of re-printing known material as opposed to many other apocryphal sources that hold historically conflicting views, "Lost Stories..." boils down to a good snack for an open mind.

Someone has finally taken the time to find the "Lost Stories" behind the stories of the Bible.

It is obvious that the author has spent countless hours researching, and had the good sense not to clutter up his pages with "Be-Gats" and the double-talk of an ancient language. His tales are in plain English.

A Job Well Done Kent Smith!

George K.

Lost Stories For All Ages is a charming book. It consists of 3 interlinked stories discovered in an ancient manuscript in 1768.
The first begins at the time when God began to create and when he created Adam and then Eve from one of his ribs. They live a charmed life at first, enjoying all the delights of the Garden until their first encounter with evil in the form of Satan. This is what leads to their expulsion. Following this they must endure living in a cave as well as all sorts of temptations and tricks played on them by Satan. But God makes a promise to them . . .

The story unravels very cleverly and leads into Fire and Blade, a story about Nimrod, the first to dare rebel against God after the flood, and Abram. The story starts just after the flood and tells of how Nimrod became a great warrior and fought his way to becoming King. He builds a kingdom Shinar, and a Palace. His power became so great that his name spread over the entire world and the population began to speak in one language.

This is shortly followed by an example of the quote, "Men are not evil in themselves, it is what they do that is evil . . ."

Abram is born soon after this and his birth heralds a spectacular omen in the night sky witnessed by Nimrod's sages, who clearly understand it's meaning but attempt to keep the king from finding out. But self preservation prevails and they all go to the King to give him the news so that they cannot be accused of hiding the truth if he ever finds out.

Upon hearing what the Omen signifies he summons the child's father, Terah, and offers him great riches in exchange for his son's life so that he may never pose a threat to Nimrod. . . You'll have to read the book to find out what happens next.

As well as being an excellent storyteller, W.Kent Smith paints an enlightening picture of times then with some powerfully ivocative passages.

God's promise is carried through to the final story, Trial by Fury, which reveals the tribulations of Pontius Pilate in a place called Canaan, the ancient name for Israel.

Pilate receives a letter from Herod in which he begins by explaining that all is not well with him since the passing of Jesus, and why he believes that it is God who is punishing him for his evil deeds. His family are sick as he is himself with dropsy and
he asks Pilate to pray for him and encourages him to praise Jesus too.

Following this the details of the crucifiction come to light during Pilate's trial and W. Kent Smith will keep you turning the pages right to the epilogue, as he did me.

Lost Stories is both refreshingly entertaining and enlightening.

Ray Smith [No Relation]

Mr. Smith's book blows apart some misconceptions about mankinds origin and destiny. Some people walk around in life saying to themselves, "Why was I ever born?" Or "Am I living only to die?" These questions have an answer in Mr. Smith's book. What really happened between Genisis 1:1 and 1:2? At one time, was the earth populated with angels? Did a "civil war" in heaven occure that wiped-out the earth at that time? Could it be that mankind is the replacement for those rebelious angels? It is well written; three acts with the same theme - rescue fallen mankind (1) the garden of Eden (2) the story of Abraham (3) the death and resurection of Jesus Christ. Redeeming lost mankind is the greatest drama to ever unfold on this earth.

You may have heard these stories in Sunday School, but you most certainly never heard them the way W.K.Smith tells 'em. His approach is modern, clean and easy to understand. His characters are more human than in most tellings. But detail is his ultimate forte. Smith has certainly done his research - as he has embellished and rounded out the "lost" stories, from Adam and Eve to Abraham to Pontius Pilate, with a rich tapestry of information you'll never hear from you Sunday School Teacher.

A most enlightening read!

I bought six of my favorite childhood books for my great-grandson..."Little Black Sambo", "The Three Billy Goats Gruff", "Henny Penny", "Chicken Little", "The Three Little Kittens", and "Classic Tales of Brer Rabbit". My great-grandie is 2-1/2 and I can't wait to read these wonderful stories to him.

Timely delivery. The book was great. My great grandson loved it.

I bought this book on an impulse, simply based on the brightly colored illustrations and a brief refrain that that appears when you look inside the book. I couldn't be more delighted with this purchase. The book is a wonderful addition to my fairy tale library and my kindergarten kids absolutely LOVE listening to and participating in the retelling of the story, especially the rhyming refrain..... "I'm a troll from a deep dark hole - my belly's getting thinner. I need to eat and goat's a treat - so I'll have you for my dinner!".

PS - I agree: How lame that Amazon has mixed together reviews for all these various versions of "Three Billy Goats Gruff." They are all so different and all by different illustrators and authors!

Anyway, this is a comment about Marcia Brown's 1957 version, which I found to be incredibly gory. Rather than merely knock the troll off the bridge, this billy goat gruff graphically dismembers him, poking out his eyes and reducing him to "bits, body and bones." Yuck! There are other, mellower version out there... This one's not a favorite. (ReadThatAgain!)

Cute book with pictures that keep their attention. My boys walk around all the time saying "who is going over my bridge" in their gruff little troll voice! "Don't eat me... I too little," they say. I am so glad I added this book to our collection.

This book has some of my favourite illustrations (in stiff competition with 'Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like' also by Mayer).
It is perplexing to me why we don't see more works like this from him. Instead, we are apparently meant to suffer thru such works as 'Little Critter: Merry Christmas, Little Critter!.' It's not that they are so bad, but when you have books like the former, they seem like kind of a waste.

As a child, this book was my favorite. At the time, I was too young to realize that among all its virtues as a storybook (a mythologically-gripping plot and breathtaking illustrations) was a finely woven thread that spoke of the bravery it takes to right a wrong, how adversity reveals character, and how perserverance, fearlessness, and strength are characteristics valued in girls, as well as boys.

Like any great fairytale, the morality is subtext and wrapped in beauty and magic. If I had to choose only one fairytale to give my daughter, this would be it.

This was a book that I received at a very young age and has been treasured for many years. Now that I am shortly going to be a mother I can't help but want to pass this magical book down to my daughter. Today, I purchased as many books illustrated by Mercer Mayer that I could and hope that his works are never forgotten and live on, at least in my family.

This is a telling of love and promises. You will be transported to a place of beauty and harsh reality. i read this story to my daughter for many years. The excellent drawings set a picture in the mind. I have told this story as a spoken tale to rapt audiences, at such diverse settings as an extended family thanksgiving dinner, to an on the job construction crew ( having to use a very loud voice ) none of whom ever would let me not finish the entire telling.
This story transcends the boundaries of child-adult prose.

Hi! My name is Elizabeth. East of the sun and west of the moon is a very sad but wonderful book. THis book is about a faird maiden whom is so beautiful but yet so intellegent. All of the men would like to be wed to her. later on her life takes some sad twists and turns and now she must travel east of the sun and west of the moon. When she gets there she already knows that she will not find a warm welcome within. But soon everything changes and she meets the man of her dreams! And now any traveler wil know that " Eaast of the sun and west of the moon... where you will find a warm welcome within!"

Even though I have read a number of books about ancient Mesopotamia, many of which are focussed on political and economic history rather than on beliefs and religious practices, I am was still very confused about who were the principal gods and goddesses, during what period of time and where they became prominent, and why they were worshipped. The uniformly positive customer reviews of this 192 page book were what persuaded me to buy it , and I was not disappointed.

When I buy a book, however, I do prefer to read it from start to finish, so reading a dictionary in this way is somewhat difficult and it is probably not the best way to read this one. The "gods and goddesses " entry in this dictionary indicate that more than 3000 names have been recovered, and while the book doesn't attempt to describe all of these, it does provide a significant amount of interesting reference material about the beliefs and religious practices of the peoples of Ancient Mesopotamia. Perhaps it would be better to use the term "ruler" or "the elite" rather than the term "peoples" since it is clear that nearly all the available information about the gods, demons, and symbols comes from inscriptions which were either from the rulers or from the priests of the religious institutions.

At the beginning of the book there is a useful author's note on the variant spellings of ancient names which explains the scholarly consensus on the probable pronunciation of the Akkadian and Sumerian languages. This is followed, by a concise introduction which provides summaries on the places and peoples of Mesopotamia, their mythology and legends, their art and iconography and the periods of the various dynasties and a helpful one page chronological table. At the end of the book there is also a short bibliography listing books recommended for further reading.

The bulk of the book consists of about a thousand entries (I didn't count them) on the different deities, religious objects, icons, symbols, and practices, of the peoples of ancient Mesopotamia. Most of these are quite short, although there are a few which run to three or four pages. At least half of them refer to one or more illustrations which are liberally sprinkled throughout the book, and this approach definitely enhanced my understanding of what I was reading. I did get the impression, though, that much of the information about the earlier period comes from the Assyrian kings of the 1st millennium, and while they were heirs to the Sumerian and Akkadian traditions, it is still not clear to me how much of a bias they brought into their inscriptions in order to better serve their own interests

There are 159 illustrations in all, which are a mixture of drawings and very clear black and white photographs. The drawings by Tessa Rickards, the illustrator, are beautifully done, elegantly simple, and in my opinion, bring out the essence of the object of the illustration. While most illustrations are embedded in the text close to the most relevant entry, there are a number which are referred to by several different entries. I found it was quite time consuming to flip around the book to find the references of those which were not close by, so I ended up by using book markers to speed up my search for the most important, which were the groups of illustrations on demons, monsters, and symbols for the gods, and the genealogical table of gods and goddesses. Perhaps there is no way around this, but I think it would have been helpful if there had been an index of the illustrations referenced by time period and page number. It may also have been easier to refer to them if they were included one place, perhaps at the back of the book.

Notwithstanding these minor quibbles about the organization and content of the book, I found that reading it the way I did, was an effective and time efficient way of increasing my depth of knowledge about this aspect of ancient Mesopotamia. It will serve as a useful reference tool for my other books on the civilizations and dynasties of Mesopotamia, and I certainly recommend it to other students who are focussing their studies on this particular subject.

This illustrated dictionary is excellant, and informative. The authors have a knack for noting out of the ordinary tidbits, which enhance their profiles. Unfortunately, they do not recognize that Mythology is 95%
Propaganda. Thus, Ea, called "favorable to man", is in fact the Ultimate
Architect of Evil, who along with his "two-faced" minister Usmu, and the
scribe Nabu, propagated a Revisionist Mythology, that has subjugated and
subverted the 5% Truth, ever since.

"Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia" (An Illustrated Dictionary) is the best resource on the Gods of the different cultures from that region that exists. Though they call it a dictionary, Jeremy Black and Anthony Green (editors) have put together an encyclopedia of knowledge on the subject. They cover Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Hurrian mythologies, and touch on several more as well. This review is based off of the fifth edition of the book, which was published in 2003 by the University of Texas Press.

There is a lot of material here, and it would be easy to give this book five stars based on what it does provide. However, as I use this resource I often think about what more they could have done to make it more useful. One big thing would have been more visual resources. I would have liked to see a map section where it shows the various eras and empires and the extent of their control. There is one map near the front of the book, but it provides only a limited view.

A big area of improvement would have been to provide sections instead of including all the material together from A to Z. For example the maps mentioned above could have gone into a geography section which could have also shown the evolution of the city names as they spanned eras, including the modern names for those which still exist. Another section could have covered the kings, queens, and heroes for each of the empires. The section on deities could have covered the evolution of deities as they were adopted by the later empires, as well as the new deities which arose during the passage of time. You will find that some of this material is scattered throughout the resource, but it is not complete, and it is difficult to find unless you already know where to look.

Despite all the things I would have liked to have, I still think this is a very good reference, and one which anyone who studies the ancient history of that region will want to have in their library. It is easy to come up with ideas of ways to improve things, but the work that was done in putting together this reference was exceptional, and as with most things which whet one's appetite, it leaves the reader wanting more.

Excellent resource listing much more than the title would suggest. Black really knows his stuff and generously shares his knowledge. Much better than I thought it would be. Includes all kinds of definitions in great detail. Well written. Highly recommend.

I am saddened to see that this is no longer available. If you are interested in ancient Mesopotamian religion, then this book is needed. It is a perfect resource to get quick information, and provides enough information to conduct further research in the areas. If you are a student taking a class on Mesopotamia, a religious historian, or a Reconstructionist, then this will give you the facts you need at your fingertips.