Of all the
multi-culture mythology books I’ve looked at over the years, this is the best.
I love the organization as well as the myths. The author, J.F. Bierlein, offers
up useful information in part 1 before diving fully into the myths, then follows
up the myths with some interesting hypotheses ideas for interpreting myths in
part 3.
Most of the
myths are complete, and those that aren’t don’t misrepresent the cultures and
stories. The translations are straightforward and accessible to readers not
familiar with mythology, but don’t dumb anything down, preserving complexity without
sacrificing common understanding.
What I like
best about the book is the organization. Instead of a cultural or geographic
approach, the book favors a thematic structure, grouping myths by specific
themes such as creation, apocalypse,
flood, underworld, etc. These groupings make it easy to see how cultures
connect to one another through common myths. Though the stories are not exactly
the same, the stories demonstrate common thoughts across cultures.
I think
this is the best book for someone new to studying mythology. The sampling of
myths is brought enough for people to get an idea of different cultures, and is
accessible to everyone. The thematic organization is ideal to a greater
understanding of mythology across the entire world instead of zooming in on a
specific culture. After reading this book, feel free to go for books about a specific
culture.