World Mythology

by Roy Willis (Editor)

The great myths that seek to create meaning out of the main events of human existence are described and explained along with background information for deeper understanding in this illustrated guide to world mythology.

Genres: Mythology, Nonfiction, Reference, History, Religion, Folklore, Adult

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Stephanie]

Not very entertainingly written, but a good overview and introduction!

[Sarah]

This bad boy is chock full of information, and I think it would have been better if I had taken more time to read it, but alas, my OCD would not let me end the year with an unfinished book. It would be great as a reference tool, and one I would thoroughly enjoy as a companion in a class on the same topic.

As comprehensive as this book was, it left some of my most basic questions unanswered (i.e. why do Hindu deities have so many arms?). Good thing I have access to Google. There were some pronunciation guides but more would have been beneficial. The illustrations and photographs were beautiful and very helpful.

As for the content...holy moly we live in a messed up world. It was fascinating to see the many similarities of various myths throughout the world - such as flood stories - but rape, incest, mutilation, murder, and the exclusion of women were by far the most common. No disrespect to any of these belief systems, of course, but there was some feeling of relief that I don't ascribe to any of them (I'm sure many could say the same thing about my beliefs, and that's fine). I am glad that I was able to learn more about them, though, and would love to travel to many of the sacred sites described.

[Paulo García]

El libro da inicio con una introducción donde se plantea qué se entiende por mito y leyenda y sus diferencias. Luego hace una descripción de temas comunes tratados en la mitología como la creación, los héroes, el fin del mundo, animales, etc. y finalmente se dedica a presentar los elementos característicos de las diversas mitologías del mundo como la egipcia, india, china, griega, romana, nórdica, africana y de Mesoamérica, entre otras regiones. (este tercer apartado es el mayor del libro).

Al inicio de cada zona presenta, a manera de resumen, información general de los aspectos que la componen y un mapa del lugar con los elementos relevantes asociados a cada una. (montañas sagradas, templos, ciudades, etc). Posteriormente ahonda en diferentes aspectos propios de la mitología del lugar que vienen acompañados con ilustraciones de estatuas, pinturas, grabados, etc alusivos a lo que se narra en el capítulo.

Me gustó mucho y me parece un buen texto para adentrarse al mundo de la mitología.

[Ben G.]

Informative, but ultimately leaves out too much information to be of considerable merit.

[Anxela]

Ideal para quien le apasione la mitología y quiera echar un primer vistazo general a todas ellas. La parte inicial de mitología comparada es muy interesante.

[Ashton Herrod]

Solid beginner’s guide to ancient mythologies around the world

[Orchid]

enlightening

[Julia]

No hay mucho que decir, este es un libro sirve más de referencia que como material de lectura. Es decir, funciona como una pequeña enciclopedia de la mitología mundial. Para todo aficionado el libro nos permite saber incluso de culturas que pocas veces se tocan en los documentales o clases sobre estos temas. Lo recomiendo para quién esté interesado en la mitología en general y para quien le entretenga leer mitos y conocer los dioses de diferentes culturas, muchas veces más cercanos a nosotros de lo que queremos creer, como un reflejo de nosotros y nuestra evolución histórica.

Un libro que me gustó.

[Carlos]

Having always been fascinated with Greek/Roman mythology I found this book to be the next logical step in my curiosity to understand all aspects of humanity’s spiritual quests. Willis takes the reader through a world tour of the most ancient of peoples and their curiously-similar spiritual traditions. Although the book can certainly get tiresome sometimes, it is nonetheless a great read for anyone interested in why we have always worshiped something or another.

[Samantha]

Very entertaining read. I picked this book up in the hopes to prove my personal theory about similarities between certain cultures, and my questions were definitely answered. Further reading on my part is required, but there is an extensive further reading list given at the end of this book that can help with that. I'd say this is a good read for both the mythology novice and those who are well-versed and are curious.

[Stephanie P (Because My Mother Read)]

I read this book for a college class and learned a lot about mythology from different cultures. I liked how it gave a brief overview of each culture so that I could get the main idea without getting overwhelmed by details. Now I have a basic understanding of each culture's mythology and can look in to the cultures I am more interested in.

[Ruric Amhari]

Excellent overview and intorudction to world mythology - with lots of line drawings sketches and photos.

Introductory sections on great themes of mythology (e.g. creation, cosmic artchitecture, heroes, tricksters etc).

Bulk of book divided into areas of the world e.g. Egypt, India, Greece, Japan and has an overview of the key dieties for each region.

[Ramona Chanderballi]

Some of the "myths" are religious deities and are horribly inaccurate. Very offensive to current religious practises/ religions. Probably needs more research. It does however, serve it's title- World Mythology. It's a compilations of myths from around the world. But do some research if you ever want to strike up a conversation based on what you read in this book.

[Heather]

A great introduction to world mythology. I particularly enjoyed the section discussing themes that appear in multiple culture's myths, pronunciation guides (especially for Chinese and Celtic words), and the geographic coverage (everything from Egypt, to Tibet and Mongolia,
to the Arctic regions).

[Samra]

It was very thorough and amazing. The art and pictures were sogood and the themes were all there in great detail. I loved how everything was explained without making you feel stupid. I aced this class with an A+!

[Tinus Van vuuren]

Comprehensive collection of the myths throughout history from all over the world.
The themes are grouped together, and cross-references are provided to make it easy to look up similar myths from other regions.
The photographs, maps, and illustrations accompanying the text are superb.

[Jennifer]

This one is ful of great information.

[Prajit Barua]

good

[Yvonne]

Good introductory volume. Richly illustrated. Great read.

[komorebi_87]

Estructurada según las grandes civilizaciones del mundo, pretende ser, simplemente, una introducción al mundo de la mitología. Interesante.