Customer Reviews

Noah's Flood: The Genesis Story in Western Thought

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As a Geographer and an Anthropologist I am thrilled by that book. Norman Cohn's historical analysis of the Deluge interpretations leads to a better understanding of Science, and how the conditions (i.e. contextualization) of its production shapes knowledge. I will put it in my graduate students'reading list, and in my "best books"bookshelf

Norman Cohn never fails to dazzle and his history of the reaction to story of Noah is an interesting and compact dissection of a pivotal myth in Western culture. He traces the myth from before the bible and sets its place in Western Imagination.

Norman Cohn has the superb ability to bring together obscure pieces of history and thought in a readable way. This book follows well on from his other books in showing how a particular episode in literature can be viewed differently over time. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in where their current thinking might be coming from.

I can remember being told by a close family member in my childhood that the folded, rounded mountains around my home in Appalachia had been eroded that way during "The Flood." The Rockies, Himalayas, and Andes ranges apparently were never covered by this "worldwide" event. One year in vacation bible school, the theme was centered on the Noah story and that was all we learned for a week.

This myth that is thousands of years old still captivates many people in our world today. It inspires fundamentalists to deny science or build a life size replica like Ken Ham is doing in Kentucky with the "Ark Encounter" theme park.

While it is obvious to anyone with scientific learning that this story is a myth or at most an embellished regional event, the point is that it both speaks about something deep in the human condition to many and to others it can be used to "explain" much of the world if taken as literally true.

Cohn, in this excellent book, contextualizes the story from its inception borrowing from other myths in the Middle East, to its modern day place in popular thought. Along the way, we see how it has been viewed across the centuries and utilized as an explanatory device by the intellectually influential.

I'd recommend this book to anyone with interest in the subject. The book is also beautifully illustrated in full color (at least in the hard cover version I have).