creativelifeofliz's review
4.0
An amusing and interesting analysis of the Greek gods as myers-briggs personality types.
spinesinaline's review
4.0
Perfect book for a 'Z' read to finish off my alphabet challenge! You can find more reviews at https://spinesinaline.wordpress.com
Sorry in advance for the long review but I enjoyed this book and have a lot to say!
This was a really random selection but I’m glad I found it. The author is a “degreed specialist in mythology” as he puts it so he knows a lot about these Greek gods and goddesses. Each chapter is devoted to a different god/goddess and an MBTI type – he finds that there’s no overlap as they were set up to represent all human behaviour so it’s a nice even split for this analysis.
To start off, he provides an MBTI quiz so if you don’t know your type, you can figure it out here and then see where you stand in relation to the Greeks. I found this quiz was pretty ineffective because I ended up being an equal split of everything so it may be better to do the quiz through a different resource (16personalities.com offers it for free!)
For the record, I’m apparently an ISFJ (sometimes also an ISTJ) though I don’t really agree with that but I’ll get more into it below.
The author also gives a little intro on Greek mythology, including a short quiz to test how well we know our stuff (it’s meant as a trick – I got more than half wrong 😦 ). I really liked his explanation of why so many people get Greek mythology wrong – he explains that the stories we tend to know are actually like the "original fan fiction" because the original stories were spun into so many different and varied versions from the original telling. In his book, he uses the earliest versions that are available so it’s possible they'll will be different than those you’re familiar with.
The best part of the book for me was that the author doesn’t only do a general overview of each divinity, lining up their characteristics with the MBTI types; he also incorporates many Greek stories in proving his argument. I’ve always been a fan of Greek mythology so I really liked getting to read about some I hadn’t known of before, though in some cases I could’ve used more detail when the stories weren’t well-known.
I felt that it got better as it went on, because Zeus and Hera, who start off the book, really didn’t include too many stories as their “proof” but just drawn-out explanations. Hades, on the other hand, had an excellent entry, and I’m only partly biased because it included my favourite Greek play, Antigone.
As for my type, the ISFJ, though I repeatedly get this result I don’t really connect with the description. It says this type is a defender and a people person and I’ve got to say, um no. I actually found that I really connected with the INFJ type through the author’s description of it, one of the types he actually uses a human rather than a god to best exemplify – Penelope from The Odyssey. She’s described as being more of a perceptive and observant person, and needing to withdraw from the social scene to recoup, which definitely feels more on-brand for me. So maybe I’ll just pretend I’m this type 😛
The author ends with a “recipe” and though it wasn’t what I was expecting, it was very entertaining. This is the most creative writing in the whole book and it’s a blast (even though the narrator of this section is actually having perhaps the worst day of his life). Very funny and a great way to end the book!
Also, something I didn’t know before reading this – Myers-Briggs types were invented by a woman! Two women actually, a mother and daughter pair – how cool is that!
Sorry in advance for the long review but I enjoyed this book and have a lot to say!
This was a really random selection but I’m glad I found it. The author is a “degreed specialist in mythology” as he puts it so he knows a lot about these Greek gods and goddesses. Each chapter is devoted to a different god/goddess and an MBTI type – he finds that there’s no overlap as they were set up to represent all human behaviour so it’s a nice even split for this analysis.
To start off, he provides an MBTI quiz so if you don’t know your type, you can figure it out here and then see where you stand in relation to the Greeks. I found this quiz was pretty ineffective because I ended up being an equal split of everything so it may be better to do the quiz through a different resource (16personalities.com offers it for free!)
For the record, I’m apparently an ISFJ (sometimes also an ISTJ) though I don’t really agree with that but I’ll get more into it below.
The author also gives a little intro on Greek mythology, including a short quiz to test how well we know our stuff (it’s meant as a trick – I got more than half wrong 😦 ). I really liked his explanation of why so many people get Greek mythology wrong – he explains that the stories we tend to know are actually like the "original fan fiction" because the original stories were spun into so many different and varied versions from the original telling. In his book, he uses the earliest versions that are available so it’s possible they'll will be different than those you’re familiar with.
The best part of the book for me was that the author doesn’t only do a general overview of each divinity, lining up their characteristics with the MBTI types; he also incorporates many Greek stories in proving his argument. I’ve always been a fan of Greek mythology so I really liked getting to read about some I hadn’t known of before, though in some cases I could’ve used more detail when the stories weren’t well-known.
I felt that it got better as it went on, because Zeus and Hera, who start off the book, really didn’t include too many stories as their “proof” but just drawn-out explanations. Hades, on the other hand, had an excellent entry, and I’m only partly biased because it included my favourite Greek play, Antigone.
As for my type, the ISFJ, though I repeatedly get this result I don’t really connect with the description. It says this type is a defender and a people person and I’ve got to say, um no. I actually found that I really connected with the INFJ type through the author’s description of it, one of the types he actually uses a human rather than a god to best exemplify – Penelope from The Odyssey. She’s described as being more of a perceptive and observant person, and needing to withdraw from the social scene to recoup, which definitely feels more on-brand for me. So maybe I’ll just pretend I’m this type 😛
The author ends with a “recipe” and though it wasn’t what I was expecting, it was very entertaining. This is the most creative writing in the whole book and it’s a blast (even though the narrator of this section is actually having perhaps the worst day of his life). Very funny and a great way to end the book!
Also, something I didn’t know before reading this – Myers-Briggs types were invented by a woman! Two women actually, a mother and daughter pair – how cool is that!
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