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lethaldose's review against another edition
4.0
I love the format, and while I am not as much of a mythology buff as I am a history buff. I still immensely enjoyed this book. It was fascinating to learn about some many ancient beliefs. My only complaint is that Davis never really drew good connections between ancient beliefs to modern beliefs other than showing the archetypes that are present then and now.
stephaniesteen73's review against another edition
3.0
Great overview of the mythologies of the ancient world - from the "Western Civ class" myths of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece to myths less familiar to me: of the Celtic people, Vikings, Africans, and Native Americans (North, Central and South). Interesting to see that across time and region, there are some common features: Creation myths, a Great Flood, and myths to explain the rebirth of nature in Spring. Also frequent appearances of twins! Very informative and written in an interesting way, but at 506 pages, a bit weighty for the summer!
labunnywtf's review against another edition
The beginning of this is so dry. I hope I don't hate it, I do love mythology so.
Got halfway through the first disc and took it out in disgust. I hate dry books. It's mythology. Mythology should, by definition, not be boring.
Got halfway through the first disc and took it out in disgust. I hate dry books. It's mythology. Mythology should, by definition, not be boring.
jgintrovertedreader's review against another edition
3.0
Author Kenneth C. Davis sets out to fill in the gaps of the average reader's knowledge of mythology. Don't expect a book of stories about Zeus and Hera; they're here but so are gods from Egypt, Celtic lands, Africa, the Americas, Asia, India, and just about every culture you can think of.
This was not what I expected. I thought I was getting something along the lines of Edith Hamilton's Mythology--the actual myths in one big collection. I should have paid more attention to the subtitle, "Everything You Need to Know About the Greatest Stories in Human History but Never Learned" (emphasis mine). Davis definitely took a historical approach to all these legends and myths. It was interesting and I learned a lot, but it wasn't necessarily what I was looking for.
Each part began with a timeline of important events for a specific culture or country and then there were a series of questions about the mythology. Most of the answers were framed in history. It makes sense, but it didn't make for very riveting reading for me. There were also little sections called "Mythic Voices" that did excerpt as directly as possible from the original sources. A list of the important gods/spirits/tricksters/etc. and a brief synopsis of each god's most significant stories was at the end of each part. These were my favorite bits but they felt like afterthoughts.
I was pleased when I realized that lesser-known cultures were included, but they were necessarily vague. I'm specifically thinking about the sections on Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific Islands. There are a lot of different peoples living across a big area and they didn't necessarily have the same beliefs. Davis did what he could to draw out their commonalities and focus on those. He was hampered by the fact that these groups have more of an oral tradition and not a lot is known about them. I applaud the effort at inclusion and truly enjoyed reading these parts.
I knew if I ever put this book aside, I would never get back to it and I didn't want that to happen. So at a rate of a couple of pages a night, if that, it took me four months to read this. That's right. Four months to read just over 400 pages. I'm so ashamed. I wouldn't recommend reading it straight through but rather a piece at a time as the mood strikes.
History buffs looking for a more cultural take on things should enjoy this.
This was not what I expected. I thought I was getting something along the lines of Edith Hamilton's Mythology--the actual myths in one big collection. I should have paid more attention to the subtitle, "Everything You Need to Know About the Greatest Stories in Human History but Never Learned" (emphasis mine). Davis definitely took a historical approach to all these legends and myths. It was interesting and I learned a lot, but it wasn't necessarily what I was looking for.
Each part began with a timeline of important events for a specific culture or country and then there were a series of questions about the mythology. Most of the answers were framed in history. It makes sense, but it didn't make for very riveting reading for me. There were also little sections called "Mythic Voices" that did excerpt as directly as possible from the original sources. A list of the important gods/spirits/tricksters/etc. and a brief synopsis of each god's most significant stories was at the end of each part. These were my favorite bits but they felt like afterthoughts.
I was pleased when I realized that lesser-known cultures were included, but they were necessarily vague. I'm specifically thinking about the sections on Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific Islands. There are a lot of different peoples living across a big area and they didn't necessarily have the same beliefs. Davis did what he could to draw out their commonalities and focus on those. He was hampered by the fact that these groups have more of an oral tradition and not a lot is known about them. I applaud the effort at inclusion and truly enjoyed reading these parts.
I knew if I ever put this book aside, I would never get back to it and I didn't want that to happen. So at a rate of a couple of pages a night, if that, it took me four months to read this. That's right. Four months to read just over 400 pages. I'm so ashamed. I wouldn't recommend reading it straight through but rather a piece at a time as the mood strikes.
History buffs looking for a more cultural take on things should enjoy this.
amberhayward's review against another edition
3.0
This book is pretty much what the title says it is. It's not a scholarly mess of whatnot, but a really great breakdown of most major culture's mythological history. I am pretty convinced that no one really has any idea about specifics of Japanese mythology because I can never find a book on it (only art relating to the mythology) but it is still pretty amazing to see how every culture has similar themes going through etc etc. It's still pretty nerdly reading, but easy to understand just for funsies.
fjsteele's review against another edition
3.0
needed a refresher for near eastern myth,, but enjoyed it all
heartofhandprints's review against another edition
3.0
*audiobook* It was interesting, but presented in too much of a reference book to be an entirely enjoyable listen. The timelines and "list of major gods" got rather monotonous to listen to after awhile. Still, I learned some new facts, and remembered how scary the central/south american native myths are - so much human sacrifice!
paperrhino's review against another edition
1.0
Don't Know Much About Mythology is one in a series of Don't Know Much About books, the most famous of which is his Don't Know Much About The Bible. If you pick up this book hoping to learn a lot of mythic stories you will be disappointed as the title says, it is about mythology, not the myths themselves.
The book is divided into major sections. The first is a treatise on what makes a myth and some looking at the history of the study of myth. The next sections then take a region of the world and discusses its mythology. Starting with the mythology of Egypt, the book covers Mesopotamia, Greece, the Celts and Norse, India (mainly Hinduism), China and Japan, Africa, and finally the Americas and Polynesia. Each section is broken up into a series of short disconnected essays arranged as a sort of Frequently Asked Questions and each section generally covers the mythology's creation myths, notable deities, and several "interesting" articles with too clever names like "How did a suicidal king become a god and end up in the Supreme Court?"
Before reading this book, I was already familiar with the myths of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, the Celts and the Norse so I did not expect to be impressed by these chapters and indeed I was not. Even though these were the most detailed and longest chapters, they were so lacking in actual mythology stories that an afternoon with Wikipedia would be more enlightening. And given he mainly sights tertiary sources such as Thomas Cahill (How the Irish Saved Civilization, Sailing the Wine Dark Sea) this book is probably just as accurate.
I became increasingly disappointed and dismayed as I progressed through the book. Why cover Hinduism but entirely skip Judaism and Islam? Doesn't Japan deserve more than 11 pages? Most insulting of all, doesn't Polynesia (which includes natives of Australia and New Zeland) deserve more than a mere two pages?
I simply cannot recommend this book for anything beyond its bibliography.
The book is divided into major sections. The first is a treatise on what makes a myth and some looking at the history of the study of myth. The next sections then take a region of the world and discusses its mythology. Starting with the mythology of Egypt, the book covers Mesopotamia, Greece, the Celts and Norse, India (mainly Hinduism), China and Japan, Africa, and finally the Americas and Polynesia. Each section is broken up into a series of short disconnected essays arranged as a sort of Frequently Asked Questions and each section generally covers the mythology's creation myths, notable deities, and several "interesting" articles with too clever names like "How did a suicidal king become a god and end up in the Supreme Court?"
Before reading this book, I was already familiar with the myths of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, the Celts and the Norse so I did not expect to be impressed by these chapters and indeed I was not. Even though these were the most detailed and longest chapters, they were so lacking in actual mythology stories that an afternoon with Wikipedia would be more enlightening. And given he mainly sights tertiary sources such as Thomas Cahill (How the Irish Saved Civilization, Sailing the Wine Dark Sea) this book is probably just as accurate.
I became increasingly disappointed and dismayed as I progressed through the book. Why cover Hinduism but entirely skip Judaism and Islam? Doesn't Japan deserve more than 11 pages? Most insulting of all, doesn't Polynesia (which includes natives of Australia and New Zeland) deserve more than a mere two pages?
I simply cannot recommend this book for anything beyond its bibliography.
kipahni's review against another edition
4.0
I started reading this as a quick reference for egyptian myth, but I couldn't put it down after that. I desired to know more about the other mythology. I enjoy the way that Davis writes. Simple, orderly, and interesting. A great reference book that contains a general over veiw of the cultures cosmology, significant events and a who's who in each chapter. I think I will try another of his books