Campbell Books

For lovers of Bernese Mt. Dogs and very small children, "Hector Protector" is a wonderful introduction of this formidible looking dog to small tots. This book illustrates the wonderful temperament of the breed as well as the trouble it can get into because of its loving nature and large size! My grandson immediately imagined the 'Queen' to be Grandma and the man on the sofa to be 'Grandpa'. My grandson frequently brings me the book to read to him and at 15 months is now repeating some of the simple verses. I do wish I had a Bernie for him to cuddle with....

This is a truly wonderful book, which appeals to young and old alike. It is a simple book and very sweet. A little dog wanders around a farm saying hello to different animals. The illustrations are just beautiful, with so much character in the little dog. It is a great read-aloud book and kids love feeling the raised texture of the animals. Highly recommended.

This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities. This is a great book written by a very engaging storyteller. Joseph Campbell describes the monomyth in his book The Hero With a Thousand Faces as embodying all the necessary elements of the hero's journey in the many myths in human history. Campbell discovered through extensive research that humankind shares a universal monomyth in its various religions and legends especially pertaining to the creation of the world and humankind. Campbell borrowed the term monomyth from James Joyce's book Finnegan's Wake. Campbell's intuitive insight in human myth proves that for thousands of years these myths display a certain standard structure, which he summarizes beautifully in his book.

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a
region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there
encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back
from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons
on his fellow man (Campbell 30).

There are at least four major stages that a monomyth has however, in his book, Campbell goes on to describe seventeen stages that some monomyth's posses. The four stages making up the cycle of a monomyth are "passage: separation-initiation-return:" In the passage stage the hero is summoned to journey or embark on an adventure by some kind of event that takes place or from a message, he receives. The hero may embark on this passage willingly or reluctantly. During the separation stage, the hero meets with a mentor or wise man who gives the hero either an amulet or some words of wisdom to be of help to the hero on the adventure. It is during this stage that the hero will go through his first transformation, also known as "crossing the first threshold," as he crosses over to another world or dimension leaving behind the old world. In the initiation stage, the hero goes through several trials or tests. The hero often receives help in these ordeals along the way by allies or from a supernatural force. As the hero completes these ordeals successfully, he proves himself more worthy to continue the adventure. Most importantly, during this stage the hero must pass through a major ordeal that will expand his consciousness, and thereby change his character forever. Often, this ordeal entails the death of an ally or enemy. Once the hero successful accomplishes his ordeal he is rewarded with a gift, it could be intrinsic like the "holy grail, or it can be new found knowledge to better the world with. The last stage the hero travels is that of the return whence he came. Often the hero will undergo further trials on his return before he is permitted to cross the threshold back to the world he left. During his return journey, the hero will use his newfound wisdom or gift to make a safe return home. Once home the gift is used to cure some ill in the hero's home or to impart new wisdom to his neighbors.

Campbell points to the significance of the monomyth in the fact that it describes the cycle that Moses, Jesus, and Buddha had gone through according to their religious adherents. This is not to mention the hundreds of other monomyths told throughout human history. The monomyth proves that humankind shares a common creation DNA in a sense. The monomyth is the perfect vehicle for one to study the Humanities by.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, philosophy.

This book was well designed. The introduction by Phil Counsineau alone is worth the price. Instead of hidden away in some appendix, the Chronology of Joseph Campbell is up front before reading the details. The book is written mostly in a question and answer format.

Next striking thing is the pictures that accompany the text makes you feel that some one knew that Joseph was going to be some one of interest and sent a professional photographer to follow his life. He has pictures with and/or (Buffalo Bill Cody, Black Elk, James Joyce, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Thomas Mann, Karlfried Graf Dürkheim, Carl Jung, Linda Ronstadt...) of all kinds of people that you would think came from different eras, most impressive is his portrait University of Paris.

One thing you will notice of Joseph Campbell is that he has a way of looking at life that most people do not until it pointed out. Some times he will seem to be just telling you the most mundane information and all of a sudden ties it to a point that was overlooked.

Reading this book on his life will give you a better insight as to his works.

Twenty centuries of church history sounds like a lot to learn. Where do you start? Can you really get a handle on the whole scope of church history without reading giant reference books? The Rev. Dr. Iain D. Campbell has provided a wonderful new book for anyone who is interested in beginning to learn about church history.

As the author says, "Church history is important because there we see the outworking of God's truth in man's life, truth for life, theology that cannot be divorced from the events that shape our thinking and our living." (pp. 12). Dr. Campbell has provided a great resource for a believer to begin exploring this important area of study.

According to the author, the chapters were originally 1/2 hour Sunday School lessons done at his church. Each chapter covers one century of church history. The chapters are short, concise, and yet very interesting. Dr. Campbell has also included helpful user-friendly charts and graphs, and each chapter begins with a short list of key dates in that century. The book is relatively short (192 pages), and easy to read. The author also provides a list of books for further reading (with his comments about each) if someone wants to learn more about church history after finishing this book. If the old adage is true that 'those who don't learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them', than I urge anyone who cares about the Christian faith and the Lord's church to grab this book, and see how the Lord has worked through history (or more accurately, His-story).

Hidden Michigan was just selected as an Official State of Michigan Children's Book--its by the same author/illustrator combination that did Has Anyone Seen Christmas? (not only was this a great book, it was a great float in America's Thanksgiving Day Parade last year). Their work, with Detroit Free Press writer Janis Campbell makes this one of, if not the, best children's book I've seen for our great state. Its fun for kids, it teaches them about our state, its unique, the illustrations are incredible--and parents and grandparents and teachers will love it, too.
It is well worthy of it selection as a State Children's Book.

I thought the book was great. I think it is written more for the elementary to middle school crowd and I have recommended it to several friends who are teachers. Very insightful into the thought processes of an athlete competing on the highest level of competition. Flashback sequences were very well placed. The book made for a good read.

At the time Campbell died, he had completed the first 1 and 1/3 volumes of a massive 4-volume work. That this series will remain forever unfinished is one of the greatest tragedies of modern literature.

The intent was to trace the development of myth throughout history and throughout the world. The first volume (The Way of the Animal Powers) covers the most ancient themes of the Paleolithic Great Hunt and its survival into modern (mostly native) cultures which still live by their agreement with the animals they hunt. Volume 2 (The Way of the Seeded Earth) was to deal with planting cultures and the myths of agriculture an the plant world. Of the three main centers of agricultural development (the New World, the Far East, and the Middle and Near East), Campbell completed work only on the first and most recent.

Volume 3 was to cover the myth systems based on astronomical and astrological insight. Volume 4 would have dealt with systems recognizing the microcosm of the human soul as a reflection of the macrocosm of the Universe. A summary of his thoughts on these topics can be found in his classic "Masks of God" series.

The portions of the Atlas which were completed are beautiful books, brilliantly presented, with insights and storytelling worthy of Campbell's genius.

[Review written May 2004]

Series Review: Historical Atlas of World Mythology

Where to begin ?

Joseph Campbell, without exaggeration, is probably one of the 100 greatest scholars of the 20th century. He was a genius, a polymath, a world-travelling polygot, a brilliant teacher and a master storyteller - all in one. On top of that, he was also one of those exceedingly rare individuals who was able to stand astride the disparate realms of both academia and mainstram culture with equal aplomb ... and be warmly embraced by both. Take a brief glance at the list of his works (at the Joseph Campbell Foundation, or my own site) and you can't help but be amazed that a lone human being could cover such breadth, and such depth, in such a broad field in a single lifetime.

His influences have been far reaching and profound - George Lucas considers himself to be a student of Campbell, and openly credits him as the source inspiration for the whole Jedi Knight / Force motif in Star Wars.

Campbell's two most well known works (amongst the general public anyway) are "Hero with a Thousand Faces" and "The Power of Myth". However, among academics, his magnum opus is considered to be The Historical Atlas of World Mythology (henceforth 'HAoWM'). It is the crowning achievement of a long and incredibly prolific career - much of it published posthumously, shortly after his death.

It's a 4 volume book (actually it's 2 volumes, each with 2 parts) published in a single-spaced tri-column oversize 11" x 16+" softcover format, and it's packed to the gills with hundreds of numbered footnotes, endnotes and numbered illustrative photos & art ... all of them meticulously and exhaustively enumerated in the bibliography.

The HAoWM is stupendous in it's breadth, depth, and ambition - it is nothing less than an exhaustive documentation and analytical discourse on the entire sweep of Human mythology, across ALL peoples, nations and times ... all the way back to the earliest known traces of humanity's very existance. It's very dense, toothsome reading, and I'll try to give you a feel for why.

Campbell is a wonderfully patient and helpful mentor, but as I've already mentioned above, he's also very polymathic, and although he goes out of his way to help his students and readers to follow along by providing ample numbered endnotes and footnotes and explanatory digressions, the material is still VERY dense and far roaming ... and it requires a fairly decent amount of effort (and polymathy) on the part of the reader in order to keep up.

Taking just half (1/2) of one (1) page at random, the writer, while elaborating on some subtle & profound point or observation that he's patiently trying to get across to the reader, roams freely & comfortably amongst a huge array of topics and references ... from hardcore archeology & oral traditions (includuding his own persona travels to distant tribes in polynesia or northern japan), to philosophy (i.e., references to plato, aristotle, tribal eldars like Black Elk, etc), to world history, to psychology (i.e., references to Freudian & Jungian archetypes), to art history (i.e., paintings and commentary by people like Cezanne, and people who research and comment on said artists, like James Joyce), to epistemology, to philology (ex: hindu and buddhist terms given in Indian & Japanese terminology, just for completeness) ... and all of THAT is squeezed into HALF of ONE PAGE. It's toothy stuff, and it requires frequent pauses and re-readings and skip-aheads & skip-backs to & from to the footnotes and bibliography ... and sometimes to a dictionary. However, don't let me scare you off from making the attempt, because the effort is very rewarding and highly recommended - but it takes effort and commitment, and Campbell's exhaustive references give you most of the waypoints you need to follow along.

Like most of the more worthwhile endeavors in life & artisty, you get out what you invest in ... modest efforts are usually rewarded with modest results, and greater results usually require correspondingly greater effort. Reading Campbell is very similar.

It's a rich, fulfilling, and deeply illuminating journey of discovery.

The world would be a much better place if more people could spend the time to study works like this one.

[ADDENDUM: It's tragic that the author died before he could finish his 4-volume magnum opus.]

At the time Campbell died, he had completed the first 1 and 1/3 volumes of a massive 4-volume work. That this series will remain forever unfinished is one of the greatest tragedies of modern literature.

The intent was to trace the development of myth throughout history and throughout the world. The first volume (The Way of the Animal Powers) covers the most ancient themes of the Paleolithic Great Hunt and its survival into modern (mostly native) cultures which still live by their agreement with the animals they hunt. Volume 2 (The Way of the Seeded Earth) was to deal with planting cultures and the myths of agriculture and the plant world. Of the three main centers of agricultural development, Campbell completed work only on the most recent (the New World; the two earlier centers were the Far East, and the Middle and Near East).

Volume 3 was to cover the myth systems based on astronomical and astrological insight. Volume 4 would have dealt with systems recognizing the microcosm of the human soul as a reflection of the macrocosm of the Universe. A summary of his thoughts on these topics can be found in his classic "Masks of God" series.

The portions of the Atlas which were completed are beautiful books, brilliantly presented, with insights and storytelling worthy of Campbell's genius.