Customer Reviews

The Origins of Tolkien's Middle-earth For Dummies

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Having read many books about Tolkien and the themes he so richly presents in "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings", I have been eagerly awaiting the release of this book for several months. I was not disappointed ! Greg Harvey has taken a very complex trilogy, and along with "The Hobbit", managed to put together an enjoyable and easily readable book which explores all the many facets of Tolkien's world and the characters in it. In the humorous and entertaining style of all the "Dummies" books, we are treated to detailed explanations of the places, beings, and beasts which inhabit the very imaginative mind of the greatest author of the 20th century. If this wasn't enough, Mr. Harvey goes into great detail about the underlying themes in the books, the motivations of the characters, and how the story is relative to our modern world. Touching on philosophy and religion, themes of friendship, good vs. evil, love and loyalty, human frailty, lust for greed and power --- it's all here, and in an intelligent, unbiased presentation. Not too hard to understand or follow, and not "dumbed down" for the lowest common denominator. A superb book that will entertain and provoke you to think. Not at all for dummies ! You'll be glad you bought a copy --- you won't be disappointed. Money well spent for the Tolkien fan !!!

The well-established Dummies format, with its lists and charts and boxed tips, is fine for negotiating your way around a computer program, but to treat Tolkien this way makes his work as bloodless as a computer program. It also falsifies Tolkien's subcreation to treat it so dogmatically. This book, like Michael Perry's "Untangling Tolkien" and Michael Stanton's "Hobbits, Elves and Wizards" before it, is all "Lord of the Rings" and a little "Silmarillion"; it doesn't engage with "The History of Middle-earth" at all. The obligatory cartoons by Rich Tennant are amusing, though Patrick Wynne could have done much better, both in art and humor.

Fortunately Harvey has a better grip on the internal facts of Middle-earth than either Perry or Stanton, his speculations though somewhat wayward are less voluminous than Perry's, and he's also by far the best writer of the three. So this book will do the reader very little harm, especially as nobody to whom its facts would be plot spoilers could possibly get through its doggedness. Harvey does shine in his final chapter, where he lists ten differences between the book and the first two Jackson films, astutely noting how these affect characterization and plot emphasis.

If you have read and thoroughly understood *The Lord of the Rings* and *The Silmarillion* and have already delved into the origins of Tolkien's world, then you probably won't find this book very helpful. However, if you are fairly new to Tolkien's world and are looking to get deeper into the mythology of Middle-earth, this is a great place to begin. Greg Harvey brings his own background as a scholar of language and myth to provide the reader with a solid (if somewhat sketchy) look at how Middle-earth came into being as well as a handy guide to places, characters, races, and events.

I did find a few errors along the way, and some of the author's interpretations may surprise you as they conflict with what other Tolkien scholars have written over the years. At any rate, contrary to what some might feel, there is a lot to know about Tolkien's creation that can't be gleaned from "just reading the books." A basic grasp of the story's real-world mythological and historical roots is endlessly valuable if you want to increase your enjoyment of the novels.

Buy this book if A) you loved the movies and are getting ready to read the novels, B) you've read the books and were confused by some of Tolkien's literary and mythological allusions, or C) you own a copy of *The Silmarillion* and couldn't get past the first twenty or so pages.

I agree with the various reviewers below who say this a wonderful book, especially for beginners. It has been very useful to me in a number of ways. However, I have a major caveat:

THERE ARE ERRORS IN THIS BOOK. Just one example, to keep this review short: Harvey says on page 92 that the name "Aragorn" means "Lord of the Trees" when Tolkien's letter #347 says specifically that it does NOT. (Similarly, on Harvey's website, he also says that the sword "Narsil" means "Red Flame," when in the same letter Tolkien says that while "nar" is fire, the "sil" refers to a white light). When I find a very obvious error like this, I worry about how many more there might be and indeed there are other mistakes as well.

I feel sad about this criticism, because Harvey is such an open, generous writer, completely respecting Tolkien's Catholic faith (and any reader of the whole corpus, including the Silmarillion, letters, etc. will see how deeply Catholic the work itself is) while not holding it himself - very refreshing.

So three stars for being an awesome resource for beginners, but for those care deeply about Tolkien and are looking for accuracy, readers need to know that they need to double-check the facts before taking anything Harvey says as "gospel."

What a fascinating approach to the great depth of Tolkien's wonderful world! I grew up reading and rereading Lord of the Rings. His works inspired me to a great love of the Histories and Mythologies of Great Britain. But it has been many years since I have had the leisure to pour over his detailed histories, and indeed, some of the Lost and Unfinished Tales can be heavy reading. Therefore, I was intrigued to find a quick reference book in the familiar "dummies" format. And after reading through it, I am pleased to find any concerns that this might trivialize Tolkien's books were unfounded. On the contrary, Mr. Harvey approaches these works with great knowledge and respect. His observations are often informative and open more doors of ideas and learning. Yet all of this is presented lightly with deceptive ease and humor. Over all, a good companion book to add to my Tolkein and Lewis shelf.

The author seems more interested in things like "what does the ring mean to you?" than "what the ring meant to Tolkien". More postmodern literary interpretation run amuck...

On the bright side, this book has some really nice charts and timelines (although I disagree with his map where he superimposed Middle-Earth over Europe - I believe it should be far more to the west than he has it).

If someone wanted to write a book about Tolkien & Middle Earth, they should have researched a little better. Not *this* garbage! Tolkien was a CATHOLIC -- & a hard-liner at that. Catholic. Not Buddhist, not Pagan & certainly NOT Gnostic (sheesh! Some of this stuff in this book was hard to read because it was so WRONG)! Yes, he got some of his ideas from mythology (the myth part of the book is ok, I guess. But, there are so many *other* *better* books about myth out there than *this*... I know I've read better). But, the books are basically Catholic. Just read the Sil & you'll see what I mean! There's hardly *anything* in here about Tolkien's Catholic upbringing as it pertains to the books. If I want the *real* story on Tolkien & what he believed & wrote, I'll stick w/Tolkien's Letters & Joseph Pearce.

I shouldn't have bought this book, but... well, I'm a sucker for anything Tolkien.....

I was rather dissapointed in this Dummies book. There are tons of editing mistakes. In one chapter about the Vala, the author refers to a section about Melkor repeatedly. When one seeks out this section it is nowhere to be found. He completely forgot it!
What I feel is the biggest problem with this book is the authors choice to analyze the text of the The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings apart from what Tolkien wrote about the books in other texts and letters. How can we write an accurate book about the origins of Middle-Earth and completely ignore Tolkien's opinions and thoughts? Especially considering that Tolkien put so much of himself and his Catholic faith into the books. Is Tolkien himself not the ULTIMATE origin of Middle-Earth?

I sat down in Borders and read this in half an hour. I am a huge Tolkien fan, and know all his works backward and forward, and this was such a terrible thing to see shelved in the bookstore. It mistranslates names, gets dates and events screwed up, and is simply a terrible reference material. If you want to know about Tolkien's Middle-earth, pick up Tolkien's books and *read* the things.

Don't take this crappy short-cut.

This is a special book for Christians and Tolkien fans. The author, Greg Harvey (a committed Buddhist) not only reveals the mythological Origins of Tolkien's Middle Earth but is just as faithful to Tolkien's beliefs to reveal the Christian origins of Tolkien's Middle Earth. Even as a committed Buddhist the author without a hint of any skepticism reveals the central role of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection to not only the life outlook of Tolkien but to the world view of the inhabitants of middle earth. I think his best verse that describes the common angst shared by the people of middle earth and us can be found on pg. 231 of Chapter 16: "Tolkien may be trying to give us a way to hear the Music of Creation and thereby know its Composer. In ennobling his characters and showing how some of them can maintain hope in the darkness of their pre-Christian world, he may be signaling a possible way for us to follow in our post-Christian one." The book is also written with a good grain of humor, wit, reverence and fondness. Highly recommended reference.