Customer Reviews

Mythology

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It's astonishing that Edith Hamilton's MYTHOLOGY outsells this book on a regular basis. I think most educators just look at the publication date. Since Hamilton's book was published in the 1940s and Bullfinch published in the 1800s, they think Hamilton's book must be much easier to read: not so.

While Hamilton's MYTHOLOGY is confusing, redundant, and just plain inadequate in spots, Bullfinch's MYTHOLOGY provides clear and often exciting renditions of the much-loved myths. While Hamilton summarizes, Bullfinch is an excellent storyteller, who pulls you into the story in the same way that the original authors did. Even though Hamilton wrote sixty years or so after Bullfinch, her diction is much more confusing than his. For educational purposes, I heartily suggest giving Bullfinch's MYTHOLOGY a try.

The only gripe I have with the text is that it uses the Latin names for the gods only. Modern mythology has seen a return to the original Greek names. This can easily be overcome though.

Thomas Bulfinch taught at Harvard College in the mid-1800s. He saw a need to collect myths and legends of the classical and later world, as these were important parts of the Western culture. Three books ensued: "The Age of Fable," "The Age of Chivalry," and "Legends of Charlemagne." Edmund Fuller is the editor of this volume.

First, there are nice introductions to each of the three component works. These provide useful context for what follows.

"The Age of Fable" includes some well known episodes, such as Prometheus and Pandora, Midas, Monsters (e.g., Giants, Sphinx, Griffin), the Golden Fleece, adventures of Hercules, and so on. "The Age of Chivalry" focuses upon the legends of King Arthur. Here, we see segments on Sir Gawain, Launcelot of the Lake, Tristram and Isoude, Perceval, and the death of King Arthur. The final work addresses legends of Charlemagne. The tale of "The Battle of Roncesvalles" and the heroism of Orlando is well told.

All in all, a nice version of this collection of works by Bulfinch.

I bought this book so that I could understand the symbology in my Kabbalah studies. I ended up reading the whole book front to back because the stories are so interesting. I also learned the symbolism I was wanting and much more. I used this book to help me with The Shining Paths

I liked this book better than "The Masks of God." It is more entertaining and I didn't feel as compelled to skip pages and/or paragraphs just to make the reading go by faster. The stories go by nicely and they're easy to read just before bed. As far as reference books go, you won't be disappointed with this one.

It was a gift. The recipients listened to the tapes during a long drive of many days across many states. Adults and children alike enjoyed listening to the myths.