Customer Reviews

In Search of Myths and Heroes: Exploring Four Epic Legends of the World

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Unlike most of his previous books and TV series, Wood goes to a variety of locations to examine four particular myths and legends. The four he picks are: the legend of Shangri-La; Jason and the Golden Fleece; the Queen of Sheba; and King Arthur.

The book opens with his search for Shangri-La. Wood feels the legend is rooted in the 17th century journey of the Jesuit Andrade from Delhi to the kingdom of Guge in southern Tibet. Wood dutifully retraces his path and provides an overview of the today's countryside.

His search for Jason and the Argonauts takes one from Greece and along the Black Sea shores of Turkey to modern day Georgia. Like his In Search of the Trojan War, Wood visits the sites linked to the legend/myth and describes the antiquity of each site. At times, Wood seems weary in his journey and only mechanically writes about the places he is visiting. This chapter is also a bit of a mess, with Wood raising questions and promising answers that do not appear later in the chapter. One example would be the alternative explanation for the Golden Fleece-while there is the specter of a pagan ritual being suggested, Wood doesn't really answer the question on what the fleece was.

His third quest takes him to Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia as he looks for the Queen of Sheba. Wood ends up in both of these places since Sheba could have been either predecessor of Axum or the kingdom of Saba. While he doesn't give any firm answers, he does illustrate the need for archaeological research in both of these areas.

The final chapter of the book deals with King Arthur. And while he doubts that Arthur ever existed, he does provide a concise overview of the legends concerning Arthur and gives a solid review of the sites associated with the legends.

While Wood's writing is not up to his usual standard, its quite readable and enjoyable compared to many other popular writers dealing with these topics. (The three star rating means its average.) This volume also contains numerous illustrations and photographs.

A good accompaniment to the TV series with the same title. In four 1-hour programmes Michael Wood explores the human need for stories that contain magical elements, set in the past, 'once upon a time'; stories that at the same time appear to contain episodes from the earliest history of the peoples concerned. Wood is a great explorer and each film takes us (the viewers) into marvellous parts of the world: the Himalayas (Shangri La); the Black Sea (Jason and the Argonauts); Bronze Age Britain (King Arthur); and the ancient Middle East (the Queen of Sheba).
The series has neither the depth nor the breadth of earlier 'In Search of . . . ' series and books, and I regretted the lack of a detailed list of Further Reading. But it was a most enjoyable series, very well backed up by this book.

I watched the episode about Jason and the Argonauts on Netflix. Then I watched the Arthurian legend later. My wife is a Medieval scholar and teacher and has studied Arthurian legends in graduate school.
I enjoyed reading the companion book. My wife is a literature and writing teacher and I thought she could use the video and books in her classes. and that the videos would excite a certain set of students that aren't usually excited about literature.
Michael Wood conveys just a great sense of joy, excitement and wonder along with great research and a clever way to tell the back story to go along with the conventional wisdom of a legend. I really think this book offers an unparalleled approach to enter in teaching the Joseph Campbell classic hero and gives a variety of legends that deliver the grounding in truth and allow the student to see how the story evolved over time and with localized variations that have historical bases for their departures from the storyline.

Great photos and well written. The author being English assumed in the King Arthur chapter that I knew more about English history than I did. Great value.