I will say this only once (Mythology for Dummies - Christopher W. Blackwell)

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Product:	Mythology for Dummies - Christopher W. Blackwell
Date:	16/09/04 (558 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to read

Disadvantages: Lots of names to remember

Having never benefited from a classical education mythology was a bit of a mystery to me, years spent watching open mouthed as some spotty faced student on University Challenge not only got the starter for ten but the main course and pudding to had served to emphasise this gap in my knowledge. What I did know about mythology was provided by watching Jason and the Argonauts on a Sunday afternoon.

One day while loitering in Ottakers trying to stretch out my lunch break I noticed this book, I had heard of the Dummies series mainly because of the computer books they published but I had never actually tried them, however the back cover promised explanations in plain English with a dash of humour and fun. Given that all I sought was a basic understanding of the main mythologies Greek and Roman, the fact that this book also promised to cover the lesser-known mythologies of Asia and Europe it seemed ideal.

The joint authors are an American husband and wife team, (no need to share the royalties then) Dr Chris Blackwell and Amy Blackwell. Chris is a professor of Classics at Furman University and Amy is a freelance writer so it is my guess that Chris provides the facts and Amy converts it all into plain English and makes the book a fun read. The excellent Rich Tennant provides the cartoons that are used in the book.

The book is divided into an introduction, six main parts, with each part containing anything from two to seven chapters, and an index at the end.

Introduction

This section covers briefly each section of the book and sets out the conventions that have been used in pulling the book together. It also provides an explanation of the icons used throughout the book that serve as helpful reminders for the reader. It is certainly worth reading this before starting the book as it explains the dates that are used and some of the terminology.

Mythology and the Cradle of Civilisation

This section is extremely useful for any beginner as it begins by defining what actually constitutes a myth and the many ways in which myths have been adopted into mainstream culture.

What I found very useful was the warning that due to the nature of mythology many versions of stories exist with characters bearing many different names. It also served to highlight how many nations adopted the mythology of others either after invasion or just because they saw it as having value. This was particularly apparent in the sections on Roman mythology and helped explain some of the confusion I used to have with the difference between Greek and Roman Gods.

I would recommend a reader to also read this section before any of the others, as it will certainly help your understanding.

Greek Mythology

This section has a umber of chapters and is very comprehensive in it’s coverage of Greek Mythology which is the most well known and enduring. In all the different mythologies creation myths are covered and in the case of Greek Mythology this earns a full chapter on the subject. There are also chapters on the Gods and Goddesses before moving on to Greek heroes as well as the Iliad and the Trojan War. Fortunately there is no mention of Brad Pitts arse as the book was written before the movie.

Roman Mythology

This section was very interesting as it also provides some of the history behind the Roman Empire as well as providing stories about the creation of Rome and how myths were used to provide a reason for attacking other empires, maybe George Dubya should have used mythology to justify his war with Iraq.

Northern European Mythology

Although my initial aim was to find out about Greek Mythology it was actually these later sections of the book, which I found more interesting. In particular this section had chapters covering Nordic mythology as well as our own King Arthur who is currently appearing at a cinema screen near you.

Non-European Mythology

Gain this section was fascinating and the one that has the most chapters as the authors set out to give you a flavour (and I emphasise it is just a flavour) of other parts of the world.

Chapters cover Mesopotamian and Hebrew mythology, Ancient Egypt, India, China, Japan, Latin America and finally North America. These were all great reads and set out in such a way that you can pick and choose what you wanted to read up on first.

The Part of Tens

This section is divided into two chapters and essentially provides a top ten list with a brief review of each. The two lists are mythological monsters and mythological places and the majority of these will be familiar to most people however the origins and place in mythology may not be.


Writing Style

I found all of the sections very easy to read and particularly well set out. For those not familiar with Dummies books the language used is very basic wherever possible and the text is broken up with clear headings in bold large text with sub headings in normal size but in bold. What I did find quite difficult to get along with is the sheer scale of the subject matter and the large number of Gods, each sometimes having a number of names and a number of jobs. It is a book that you have to concentrate on and as such I found I could only read it in short bursts and did not appreciate being disturbed mid sentence.

It is written by Americans for Americans hence you will find American spellings and occasionally what I assume are references to American entertainers of politicians that I had never heard of. There is some humour in the book and a certain amount of sarcasm which suits my own sense of humour and anyone familiar with the Far Side will enjoy the cartoons.

Certainly as an easy to read fun reference guide it does the job and does serve to give you enough information before deciding whether to delve a little deeper and who knows you may even be able to jump in ahead of the students and avoid the sneers of Paxman.

Published by Blackwell it totals 360 pages and cost me £14.99 from Ottakers.

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