Dictionary Of Creation Myths

by David A. Leeming

Dictionary of Creation Myths by David Leeming and Margaret Leeming. Oxford University Press,1994

Genres: Mythology, Reference, Nonfiction, Religion, History, Dictionaries, Philosophy

Unknown Binding

First published January 25, 1996

About the author

aka David Adams Leeming

Reviews

[Xandria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great resource when you're looking to begin dipping into the waters of the creation myth. This book can help assist you in getting sources where creation myths are documented or more specific sources about a specific group's creation myth(s). Some of the terminology is outdated (such as using the no-longer used term "Eskimo" for the Inuit people), but I suppose that's to be expected considering the publication date. There are some groups whose myths are more defined and are recorded from an elder; there are others that are glossed over for reasons that aren't specified (do we lack information about their myth? are we on a page limit?) But like earlier stated, the bibliography is helpful to gain more information where this book provides little. Great stepping stone into creation myths overall.

[Melissa Barbier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is exactly what it promises: a long dictionary of many creation myths. While it is informative, it lacks some pictures to help the reader stay focused and keep characters straight. There are some illustrations that are taken from other sources where the myths originate, but there could definitely be more of them. It is a thorough collection, including creation myths from cultures such as: Cherokee, Chinese, Finland, Egypt, Eskimo, Mayan and many more. I would have liked the table of contents to include all of the different cultures. Instead, the contents just say, "Introdcution, Dictionary of Creation Myths, Bibliography, Index" which is obviously not helpful at all since any reader knows that those elements will be present in the book. The myths are arranged in alphabetical order, so if you know which myth you are looking for, you can flip through alphabetically. However, there are so many myths from places I have never heard of, that I would never know to look for them unless I read the book from start to finish. With over 300 pages, that seems unlikely for most readers to actually do that. All of that aside, this is a very complete collection of creation myths and even seasoned mythology readers can learn some new creation myths from this book.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fact that the book is arranged alphabetically rather than geographically makes it seem more eclectic if you read it from cover to cover. You don't get bogged down with every variation of stories told in one country and then every variation from the next country. Instead you get a wide variety under each letter and you continue to grow more familiar with the various themes as they continue to pop up again and again.