Mitología Para Dummies

by Christopher W. Blackwell, Amy Hackney Blackwell

Every culture and time has its myths. You might say that myths help us to understand people, since just like people they can be inspirational and beautiful, as well as cruel and violent. The main players in mythology are the original drama kings and queens -- they hang themselves in shame, poke out their own eyes, rule cities, and marry their relatives -- and the fun doesn't stop there! If you want all the scoop on gods and goddesses, fates and furies, monsters and heroes from around the world, Mythology for Dummies is the Who's Who of mythological figures that you can't do without. It's no secret that mythology can be confusing for anyone. From cultural hero Johnny Appleseed, to manly Odysseus, to femme fatale Aphrodite, and those pesky Cyclops running amuck on that faraway island, Mythology for Dummies covers all the bases, including information on:


Greek mythology Homer's Iliad and Odyssey Roman mythology Virgil's Aeneid Beowulf Non-European mythology Also, this book will get you up to speed on the heavy stuff--like how mythology intersects with our lives, and explores the meaning of existence. Organized into chapters on specific topics, it breaks down the common types of myths and mythological figures, and offers plain-English explanations of how myths have appeared in cultures throughout the ages. You'll find what you need to know on these topics and many more:


What makes myths different from legends and fairy tales Greek creation myths and those really ancient Greek Gods The Olympian Gods (taller, younger, and better looking than you) The Greek goddesses (the fairest and the meanest of them all) Heroes -- made, born, and re-born Mythological places from Elysium Fields, to Atlantis, and Xanadu Roman religion -- how it was begged, borrowed, and stolen You'll also enjoy helpful features like charts comparing major figures, and a tear-out tip-sheet with a timeline of world civilizations. Whether you want to dabble in the wonders of mythology or get serious, Mythology for Dummies will demystify the subject, and show you how important myths can be to a culture. You'll never say, "It's only a myth" again!

Genres: Nonfiction, Mythology, Reference, History, Greek Mythology, Religion, Research

395 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2002

Reviews

[Peludus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aclara conceptos básicos sin aburrir demasiado. Pa los que estamos pez en esto nos vale de inicio. Yo no necesito mucho más: El Baco, el Morfeo y el Eros son los que lo petan. Al resto que le den.

[S Keynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

No había encontrado un libro que fuera tan fácil para aprender

La mitología es un tema tan extenso que luego no sabes por donde comenzar a buscar.
Los libros "para dummies" son especialistas en explicar los temas de una forma verdaderamente sencilla y sintetizada, para que puedas tener unas bases con las que poder adentrarte al tema de tu interés.

Este tomo abarca desde la mitología clásica de los griegos, pasando por los romanos y el continente Americano hasta llegar a Asia.

[BabyLunLun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah Mythology have been at our faces since forever. We can't escape it because brand name their product with mythology names , a lot of our english words comes from mythology and not to mention those mythology retellings books. I often feel let out for not knowing mythology

Finally I pick up this book and get to see what the craze is all about. From Greek ,Roman, North / South America, India, Japan and China. Its pretty fun to read and I especially love Greek and Roman mythology. Ancient people are pretty imaginative to come up with all these stories. I definitely had a lot of fun with this

[Alejandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Básicamente cuenta todo de Mitología en todo el mundo, quizás le falta extenderse más en Grecia que es la principal

[Jaime Fernández Garrido · Rating 4 out of 5]

Los (probablemente) hermanos Blackwell, Christopher y Amy Hackney, escriben un interesante libro en el que indagan en un buen número de mitologías, la mayor parte de ellas provenientes de religiones, pero también algunas como la artúrica que está fuera de ese rango místico.

En sus páginas encontramos una descripción somera, pero interesante para todos aquellos que quieran acercarse a los mitos, que en gran parte comparten una serie de características, como inventarse la creación del universo, de nuestro mundo, de la especie humana, de un diluvio o una gran inundación, de la vida después de la muerte, de una serie de seres sobrenaturales, y, por supuesto, del fin del mundo.

Sorprende, eso sí, que hablan de manera totalmente desapegada y sin complejos de religiones antiguas (romana, griega, egipcia...) y también algunas de las que todavía existen (jainismo, budismo, confuncionismo...), pero cuando llegan a las tres religiones del Libro echan el freno. Por si alguien no sabe cuáles son esas religiones, son el judaísmo, su secuela (el cristianismo) y el remake (el islamismo).

Cuando hablan de la mitología hebrea, los autores se detienen y dicen algo tan absurdo como que "(...) a las historias del Génesis. De ningún modo queremos decir que sean falsas, irrelevantes o que no se deban tomar en serio. Ni siquiera queremos decir que no se atengan necesariamente a los hechos históricos". Y yo me pregunto, ¿cuál es la diferencia de la creación del universo entre cualquier otra religión y la judía? ¿O de la creación de los humanos? La diferencia no existe, así que si es un "hecho histórico" que un Dios creó a un hombre de barro y a una mujer de su costilla, igual será un "hecho histórico" que Odín y sus hermanos destriparon a Ymir, el dios de hielo, y con sus trozos crearon la tierra, las montañas, las rocas, los océanos, el Sol, la Luna, las estrellas y los planetas.

Por mucho que les pese a los Blackwell, la misma realidad tienen unos mitos u otros, es decir, ninguna en absoluto, me da igual quien sea el dios del que estemos hablando. Por cierto, del cristianismo sólo hay algunas pinceladas en el libro, sobre ritos e historias copiadas de otras religiones, pero del islamismo, que también tiene sus ángeles, genios y demonios, no se dice nada en absoluto.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its kind of going to be hard to do a review for this book, as it is a different kind of book than that of which the reviews are based upon, but here goes nothing. In my opinion, the author used a good sense of humor in helping the reader to further understand the subject matter. To add on to my review, I shall review the gods and goddesses like they were the characters, as the author did not create any. The actual stories of the heroes, not the gods, are what actually interested me, as they didn't have a whole lot of character, just big egos. However, they are interesting enough to learn more. Another thing which may be in the book, i'm not sure, is the theme of threes. They always had a trio, or three headed, three tasks, three sirens, its always three, which intrigued me. Finally, one last thing to use, is that the author likes to connect it to real life, which makes it easier to understand as a whole. the author is down to earth, and helping explain things to you with the use of allusion and such to real life. all in all, I would recommend this to someone whom had a lot of time, and an interest in the subject.

[Jorge Zuluaga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un excelente libro de referencia en mitologías del mundo. Incluye los clásicos mitos griego a y romanos, pero también se extiende en las mitologías del norte de Europa, las leyendas de caballeros y asesinó a de dragones de la edad media, el medio oriente, Egipto y hasta America.

En general es agradable de leer pero hay momentos en los que se convierte en una relación extensa y poco profunda de los mitos de una determinada cultura. Bueno tenerlo a la mano para consultar algún mito o personaje mitológico (tiene un extenso y pormenorizado índice por personajes y temas al final) pero no es una lectura del todo entretenida.

[Jansen J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bastante bueno para tener una vista general sobre las distintas mitologias y sus historias. También es un buen punto de partida para saber qué buscar para ahondar más en el tema y en las diversas historias que componen cada mitologia, las cuales por supuesto, son muchas y no podias contarlas todas en este libro. Creo que esto no es una desventaja ni un punto debil del libro ya que actualmente, si lo deseamos, podemos conocer más sobre cada historia con un par de clicks.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this to be a good jumping off point for reading about mythology and found myself chuckling a few times. However, they spent too much time with the Greeks and Romans while brushing off the rest of the world. I could forgive them if they included a bibliography for further reading but I think that would have taken away from their chapters on the Greeks and Romans

[Alejandra G.N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muy bueno para tener una idea general de la mitología en el mundo. Me he dado cuenta de que sé mucho más de mitología griega (y Romana) de lo que creía. Del resto del mundo solo tenía nociones básicas y me ha venido muy bien refrescarlas. No es un libro con el que profundizar pero sí ideal como un primer acercamiento.

[Stefania Troncoso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un excelente libro de referencia sobre las mitologías del mundo. Incluye los clásicos mitos griegos y romanos, pero también se expande por el mundo en nuevos conocimientos con mitos del Norte de Europa (leyendas de caballeros y asesinos de dragones de la edad media), Medio Oriente, Egipto y Sur América.

[Adrian Moreau · Rating 1 out of 5]

On comprend bien mais on longtemps a comprendre a cause des pages dans le désordre !!!

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Muy buen libro para consulta.
Aunque con pequeños errores de edición.
Recomendado

[Arnoldo Rosas · Rating 4 out of 5]

De una manera muy sucinta y clara hace un recorrido por las principales mitologías y culturas antiguas. Informa y entretiene. Da las bases para posteriormente profundizar, si se quiere, claro está.

[Amerdale · Rating 3 out of 5]

+ gut geeignet zum Einstieg in die Thematik oder zur Auffrischung
+ angenehmer Schreibstil, nicht zu wissenschaftlich, aber auch nicht zu flapsig/umgangssprachlich
+ auch einige nicht-europäische Mythen/Götter werden besprochen, z. B. die der Maya oder welche aus Japan

- starke Konzentration auf griechische und römische Mythologie (die Hälfte des Buches handelt nur davon), dadurch kommen andere - die mich mehr interessiert hätten - deutlich zu kurz
- einige nicht-europäische Mythen werden kommentarlos ignoriert (Maori, Aborigines, nordamerikanische Ureinwohner, Afrika abgesehen vom antiken Ägypten)
- kein Literaturverzeichnis oder weiterführende Literaturempfehlungen zu den einzelnen Unterthemen

[Carolynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this as background to an OU course [A330 Myth in the Greek and Roman Worlds] and it was a bit of a curate's egg. The first 187 pages really refer to Greek and Roman myth and whilst there was some interesting stuff on theories of myths, common types of myth and early Roman religion a lot of it was retelling myths in the light hearted 'Dummies' series style. I was particularly disappointed in the section on Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' which didn't really get to grips with Ovid's own transformations of myths in that work, or its afterlife as THE source for myth in the post-Antique [ie Medieval and Renaissance] periods but merely summarised eight stories from the work.

[M. Adela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the "for Dummies" series of books for providing solid, straightforward introductions on all manner of subjects. This one is no exception. It's not meant to be the be all and end all of mythology guides -- it's very shallow, and just scratches the surface when it comes to the myriad of different myths and cultural legends out there.

But I loved it for going beyond Greek and Roman, and even turning on a few lightbulbs for me regarding Hebrew and Hindu mythology. So, a good starter book for figuring out what particular mythologies and stories might interest you, but be prepared to find other resources if you really want to get into the heart of analyzing various specific myths.

[Aaron Steiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be read by anyone and everyone. We have lost touch with what the word "myth" actually means. To many it referrers to some kind of... misconception. A myth is a story..! It's a story about gods (yes, real live creator gods~) and the human's that "they" created's relationship with them. I have a strong feeling that the true meaning of MYTH will soon be recognized by everyone for what it truly is~

[Timothy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This one should have been titled "Mythology by Dummies". It is dull, repetitive, and filled with lame attempts at being hip and humorous, typos, grammatical errors, omissions, inconsistencies (in the section on King Arthur, Margawse is listed as Arthur's half-sister in one paragraph, and then as his aunt in the very next paragraph), and factual errors (the Great Pyramids at Giza get moved upriver to somewhere outside Luxor).

[Xenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insgesamt hat mir das Buch gut gefallen. Zwei Sterne Abzug gibt es für folgende Punkte:
- Die Sätze waren sehr kurz und abgehackt
- Die Grammatik ließ teilweise zu wünschen übrig
- Viel Unnötiges wurde als Filler dazugeschrieben
- Viele Wiederholungen die mich verwirrt haben
Wer gerne mehr über Mythologie erfahren möchte, dem kann ich dieses Buch empfehlen.

[Jennifer B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, the Dummy guides are always fun and quite useful, much like the Idiot guides. I liked this mythology guide more than the Idiots one, however, for the simple fact that it went beyond just the usual Greek and Roman myths. True, it only scratched the surface of the entire subject, but it's a good refresher course, or for giving a solid base to work with.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of mythology from various cultures throughout history. My biggest complaint is the plethora of "(see preceding section)" throughout the entire book. The authors adding this statement every other paragraph truly affected the fluidity of the book. If the parenthesis with redundant phrases were removed from the book it would probably be 50 pages shorter.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a decent reference and Blackwell has a good sense of humor. But it is very superficial. It was hard to keep everything straight. But if you already have a back ground in mythology I can see it being useful to look something up quickly.

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good background information about mythology around the world. The Greek and Roman myths take the greatest part, but Indian, Chinese and Japanese myths are explained too. Nice book which is a good reference book afte reading.

[Ming · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it's interesting reading mythology's explanation with humour like this

[Tara Schaeffler]

so far very informative. I like that it does not conform to any one religion, stays completely fact based.

[Best · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and highly entertaining. The writers have really good sense of humor!

[Scott Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good.

[Candy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, but nothing I hadn't already learned before.

[Kaci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure I agree with some of the commentary , but I liked it.