An exhilarating journey into the mind and spirit of a remarkable man, a legendary teacher, and a masterful storyteller, conducted by TV journalist Bill Moyers for their acclaimed PBS series.

Program One: "The Hero's Adventure"
Program Two: "The Message of the Myth"
Program Three: "The First Storytellers"
Program Four: "Sacrifice and Bliss"
Program Five: "Love and the Goddess"
Program Six: "Masks of Eternity"

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Listening Length	5 hours and 33 minutes
Author	Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers
Narrator	Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers
Audible.com Release Date	February 21, 2007
Publisher	HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Original recording
Language	English
ASIN	B000NOIWGW
Best Sellers Rank	#2,466 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #26 in World History (Audible Books & Originals) #103 in Social Sciences (Audible Books & Originals) #142 in World History (Books)

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bardo

Has a lot of important material cut from the videos; well worth a read

Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2018

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This book is the transcript of the Bill Moyers interview series, but also contains much good and worthwhile material cut from the videos -- and which is still not included in the 25th anniversary reissure of the videos. It's also valuable because in the videos Campbell is so charismatic, so charming, so entertaining, and so articulate, that it's easy to miss the fact that while he makes many claims for the value of myth in living one's life, he never justifies those claims. Even when asked directly for an example of how a myth helped him at some time in his life, he evades the question. Reading the book at one's own pace lets you really examine his words, and reevaluate them.

49 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

So many issues with this book

Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2019

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I bought this book after watching 13 Hours because of the statement "All of the Gods, all of the Heavens, all of the hells are within you". I had heard somewhere that all religions point to Jesus, so out of curiosity, I decided to read this book. To make a long story short, Mr. Campbell equates Christianity to Greek, Egyptian, Hindu, and other religious mythology. Sadly, he fails to realize that the Bible is proof of the existence of God, as witnessed through Moses, Abraham, Jacob, etc. and the birth, preaching, miracles, death, and resurrection of Jesus as witnessed through his family, apostles, and disciples. I didn't find what I was looking for, and instead found blasphemy, denial, and dismissal. Good luck to mankind in saving itself!!!

30 people found this helpful

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John A.

Perhaps the Most Interesting Interview You Will Ever Read

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2020

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“The passage to fulfillment lies between the perils of desire and fear.”

This book gives the reader a taste of renowned scholar Joseph Campbell’s spiritual depth, breadth of knowledge, and profound insights into life and humanity. It is an interview of Campbell during his last two years of life by the journalist and political commentator Bill Moyers (who is also a Baptist pastor with a Master of Divinity degree). Campbell was a master of comparative mythology, professor of literature, and the creator of The Hero’s Journey: the idea that many myths throughout history have the same structure (monomyth) which he describes in his best selling novel The Hero with a Thousand Faces. George Lucas credited Campbell's work as influencing the Star Wars saga in 1977, and since then many other writers and filmmakers have acknowledged his influence, such as Disney’s The Lion King, Richard Adams’ Watership Down, and Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon book series (which includes The Da Vinci Code).

I normally would have found 287 pages of interview to be exhausting to read (and at times I did), but this conversation was uniquely interesting. Perhaps for some, it might even be life-changing. I am glad that I read it for insights like these:

“The conquest of the fear of death is the recovery of life's joy. One can experience an unconditional affirmation of life only when one has accepted death, not as contrary to life but as an aspect of life.”

“One thing that comes out in myths, for example, is at the bottom of the abyss comes the voice of salvation. The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light.”

9 people found this helpful

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Amazing Insight from an Amazing Man!

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2018

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Watched the PBS special many years ago which this book is based on and it was a mind blowing experience. Mr. Campbell was an amazing man and while I did not agree with some of his ideas, the vast majority were very thought provoking and insightful.

Mr. Campbell always amazed me in the way in which he spoke, it was never perceived as threatening or forceful and people who would normally throw a riot at the thought of some of his ideas would not only listen but engage in conversation. Amazing man and one of a few that I wish I could have met in person.

Should be a must read before Junior High.

14 people found this helpful

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Umer Vakil

Accessible read, keep an open mind and enjoy! Relatable to everyone by virtue of being human.

Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2014

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I was never really interested in mythology in school, coming from a far more mathematical/analytical frame of mind. Alas, I was fortunate to have two wonderful teachers teach me in undergraduate courses in NYU and make me dive into a completely alien subject two years ago. I felt that Joseph Campbell is very clear (and not to mention original!) in explaining the different conceptions of life that altogether constitute mythology. In the interview, he said that his autodidactism came from a ready access to books - and this is very evident from the large length and depth of literature he has studied.

It is pointless to go into the content of the book because that is what reading it is for. By reading this book, it helps you understand (or reaffirm) beliefs like viewing comparative mythology as a road to uniting tales and legends common to many cultures into a theoretical framework. Incredibly, you can find that most narratives created by human cultures have very common underlying themes: the most prevalent example is the idea of the 'hero', an ordinary person who lives in confusion, is met with an opportunity where he is forced to go on a journey that ultimately results in an inner reawakening leading him to return to his previous tribe and change it - a common theme in historical epics and religious texts. He mentions different conceptions of the hero, but this interview is a repetition of his ideas written with more detail in The Hero with a Thousand Faces (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell) '.

Campbell mentions instances from a large range of traditions, not only the large dominant ones but the smaller ones including those found in tribes isolated from civilization. For someone like me who is not well versed at all in this subject, the book's accessibility came to me as a great relief. He mentions great points about how the decline of classical education leads to a lack of spiritual reference point to self-reflect in the western world. Some ideas made me understand a few religious concepts far more clearly, such as the idea that people associate Jesus with love because he is more relatable as a human and not a perfect and overbearing figure like God.

However, the brilliance of his work is how doesn't dwell excessively on the grandiose and transcendent and instead focuses on the day-to-day challenges faced by us. He talks wonderfully about marriage and the importance of rituals. This same importance is why despite not being a particularly religious person, I keep all my fasts during the month of Ramadan - purely due to the experience itself and not due to the perceived validity of it. Campbell brilliantly expresses how a lack of myth results in spiritual bankruptcy as all cultures (including the scientific worldview that trace our descent from Darwinian forces) use narratives to create moral justifications: A Muslim would say that incest is wrong because it is prohibited by scripture, a person who holds a Darwinian view would say that our repulsion towards incest comes from cultural programming that survived because rules that prohibited inbreeding allowed for a reduction in the possibility of hereditary problems - allowing those subscribers to survive and carry on the tradition through a memetic process.

After all, myths are something that we live and die for regardless of our philosophical inclinations. An interesting comparison is how myths drive people towards the idea of sacrifice - letting go of the ego and possessions to integrate into the larger community, the family, then the tribe, country and against all possible odds, perhaps into humanity itself (e.g. Mandela, Abraham when ordered to sacrifice his son). Some of his ideas bare great resemblance to recent history, such as the anarchy created when modernity is imposed at a rapid pace on primitive (or rather less developed countries) by colonial powers - threatening people's myths and by extension their very identities. I think this book is a treasure and it is a good defense against the Dawkins-like Atheists who reject religion altogether by focusing on religions lack of epistemological basis while ignoring the fact that religion has survived for so long because it is an integral part of the human experience and carries useful heuristics ("don't take on debts") . Furthermore, the ideas in this book by extension challenge the view that the modern secular worldview relies on pure objective analysis of morality and social relations - after all, even modern cultures have a belief in some myth, be it progress, liberalism, futurism or the ability for economics to secure human happiness. I am not disregarding the validity of any of this philosophical viewpoints - simply that no culture can exist with the complete absence of a narrative that drives the community. It unveils the irony of atheist groups that reject mythology and group into their own cults, giving credence to the very ideas they claim to reject.

Campbell deals with a couple of other interesting ideas including the understanding that "the myth is a public dream and the dream is the private myth". For him, when the union of these two ideas is disturbed when one's private myth is not compatible with the larger mythology of a culture - it results in the birth of a 'hero' that reawakens a culture by molding his culture in accordance to his newfound personal convictions. This is the dramatic explanation of how cultural innovation is thought to take place and why tracing a tradition's history of itself, its birth comes from the journey of a hero. (Muhammad meditating in his cave, Moses seeing God in a tree in the Sinai desert during his exile).

Campbell also tackles a central tenet of mythology, the use of language to express the transcendental. He talks about how language stimulates the imagination despite its limitations of being reductive, powerfully reducing incredible inexpressible experiences into short tales and stories. However, the ambiguity of language could mean that it captures the metaphysical with astounding beauty by virtue of the use of abstract words, or not meaning anything at all in the first place. Someone with an analytical background might say that mythology has no epistemological bases and while mythologists might say that science itself doesn't have the power to determine morality and meaning. Both sides have their virtues and it wouldn't be wise to disregard either view without first pondering on both sides of the arguments.

Finally, let me start with my criticisms of the book or rather mythology in general. I don't like how Campbell always talks about dreams as meaningful experiences, not emphasizing the possibility that they don't mean anything at all. Yes, dreams are very important to fables, tales, stories and legends but while scientific method is testable through experiment, mythological explanations can be attributed in hindsight to nearly any narrative. Despite this, I firmly believe that the knowledge of common narratives and patterns can be used as an important mental tool. Again, the use of vague and overbearing language and terms often means that anything and nothing can be interpreted in mythological terms - hence making it unfalsifiable. However, giving credit to Campbell - he doesn't seem to believe in hippy or new age mish-mash and simply gives metaphor the importance it deserves. Lastly, I feel that Campbell should have openly taken the stance that while people may use experiences like drugs to journey into consciousness, these attempts are rather futile because self-knowledge arises from years and years of challenges and by immersing into knowledge and not through the hedonistic urge to consume a substance.

However, altogether I loved this book and it was a great read.
Kudo's to anyone who understands rather than rejects!

_____

PS: As a childhood Star Wars fan, I was intrigued to see that George Lucas actually took advice from Campbell while filming the movie, that not too surprising as I could not help but notice that mythological elements in the character of Anakin Skywalker myself.

42 people found this helpful

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Lizzie

Follow your bliss - a lesson for everyone

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 21, 2020

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This is possibly the fifth time that I have bought this book. I first came across it, and Joseph Campbell, in the late 1980s when his interview with Bill Moyers was televised. At the time, I was in my twenties, living in a very isolated house without mains water, electricity or a road, and in a bit of a mess. I watched this programme and as soon as I heard Joseph Campbell’s voice I knew that he was a teacher, in the true sense of the word, and that I would learn from him.
The interviews spanned, what seemed to be, all of human experience and belief and I suddenly felt connected to something fundamental and true, explained by someone with compassion and intelligence. Reading it is certainly an experience of standing on the shoulders of giants and Campbell is a colossus. I remember being left with this sense after the programmes had finished being aired but, due to my circumstances, I couldn’t find out any more about them or the man who had been at the centre of them. Then, to my relief, a friend found this book which is the transcripts of those conversations. I have had a copy of the book since then, read it regularly and have given it to friends. As an artefact, it is a good book to hold and look at as there are illustrations carefully chosen to support the important points.
I recently bought a copy for my son who was born 10 years later after I first came across it. He will no doubt find his own message within it and is already talking about the chapter about the hero’s adventure. When I talk with him about it and listen to the thoughts he has, I remember that all of us should be supported and encouraged to ‘follow our bliss’. Thank you, Joseph Campbell.

11 people found this helpful

adrianj.griffin

I'd never heard of Joseph Campbell (or Alan Watts) until ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 22, 2017

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I'd never heard of Joseph Campbell (or Alan Watts) until watching Elliott Hulse on Youtube who is a Strength coach /Strongman competitor who has embraced philosophy and a holistic lifestyle. Very enlightening but doesn't bring peace of mind. As Elliott says if your waiting for life to start at some point you'll run out of time.

10 people found this helpful

Ben Warden

Mind blowing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 1, 2021

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An extraordinary conversation between Moyers and Campbell that unravels and unravels and opens up the mind more and more to what is going on around oneself. The importance and necessity of stories is expertly pulled apart, repackaged and pulled apart again. Such as is the nature and explanation of one's consciousness and interpretations of form and non form. Brilliant stuff.

Shawn A

Beware of the size

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 15, 2017

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Deeply insightful book that grips you from the very beginning. I had bought a paperback copy before and lost it. When I bought it this time from Amazon I was disappointed that it wasn't like small to medium sized paperback I had. Instead, it's quite large, the size of a colouring book.

6 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

The Power of Myth

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 14, 2018

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Excellent book on mythology. Very readable and enlightening.

3 people found this helpful

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