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Norse Mythology
Thor, Odin, Loki, Freyja, the Valkyries, Valhalla, Ragnarok — many of the places we encounter these and other names, places, and events from Norse mythology in daily life and pop culture are connected to the medieval sources in name only.
Join Jackson Crawford, a translator of Old Norse, for a rousing introduction to the original stories, characters, and themes of Norse mythology in these 24 lectures. Packed with gods, anti-gods, magical figures, human heroes, religious practices, and literary devices, this course lays bare the reasons for our enduring fascination with these undeniably dramatic tales. It also connects the dots to Icelandic sagas of human heroes and to the culture and worldview of the Viking peoples.
You’ll spend time in the company of an incredible pantheon of characters, including Thor, who wasn’t necessarily the god of thunder we think of him as, and Freyja, commander of the Valkyries (more a job with special perks than a species of creatures). You’ll also enjoy spirited retellings of stories where the first members of humankind are molded by the gods from two pieces of driftwood; Odin travels to Hel to dig up a dead witch and interrogate her about what his son’s premonitions of his own death means; and multiple generations of a marshy district in Iceland must deal with the ravages of an “again-walker” (akin to a zombie).
With his expertise, Dr. Crawford will deepen your acquaintance with these sources, and leave you with plenty to remember in the eerie tales and timeless wisdom of the Norse gods and heroes.
Join Jackson Crawford, a translator of Old Norse, for a rousing introduction to the original stories, characters, and themes of Norse mythology in these 24 lectures. Packed with gods, anti-gods, magical figures, human heroes, religious practices, and literary devices, this course lays bare the reasons for our enduring fascination with these undeniably dramatic tales. It also connects the dots to Icelandic sagas of human heroes and to the culture and worldview of the Viking peoples.
You’ll spend time in the company of an incredible pantheon of characters, including Thor, who wasn’t necessarily the god of thunder we think of him as, and Freyja, commander of the Valkyries (more a job with special perks than a species of creatures). You’ll also enjoy spirited retellings of stories where the first members of humankind are molded by the gods from two pieces of driftwood; Odin travels to Hel to dig up a dead witch and interrogate her about what his son’s premonitions of his own death means; and multiple generations of a marshy district in Iceland must deal with the ravages of an “again-walker” (akin to a zombie).
With his expertise, Dr. Crawford will deepen your acquaintance with these sources, and leave you with plenty to remember in the eerie tales and timeless wisdom of the Norse gods and heroes.
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Published November 26, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
February 19, 2025
It was informative. But in a semi-boring way.
For me, at least.
And I kind of knew from the get-go that this professor's style wasn't going to be my jam, but I reallllllly wanted to learn more about Norse mythology.
Ok, so the first thing that tipped me off to the fact that this was going to be more of a slog than I bargained for was when Crawford said that he would be using Old Norse pronunciations for all the names of people and places.
And yeah. That's certainly a choice.
But, my dude, it's not like I'm reading along with this lecture. Now I'm going to have to fight through your (rather charming) accent, my bad hearing, whatever else is going on in the background (like road noise), and then my aging brain is going to have to try to do a quick translation of what sounds like somewhat slightly garbled names, all while trying to process new information.
Give me a break, I'm getting old. All he had to do was give us the ancient pronunciation once and then let that shit go, but no.
I mean, it's incredible that he can translate old Norse, because that had to be quite the investment of his time, but there's no need to make the rest of us suffer so he could feel like he got his money's worth out of it.
To say I had to turn up the volume AND hit rewind a lot would be an understatement.
And not all of that rewinding was due to his insistence to show off his mad linguistic skills. He just has a very low mellow voice. There was one sentence that I never could fully make out and just had to use context clues to infer what I thought he was saying Thor did in the story.
I know what you're thinking. <--you're a cranky old peasant, Anne.
And you may be right.
Because had I not been trying desperately to grasp every word, I would more than likely have been excessively happy to listen to his cowboy drawl all day long.
Anyway.
This does give you a lot of stories and helps separate what the ye olde legends that were collected said, versus what the pop culture legends of today have turned the stories into.
I also think his idea that we look at these stories as though they were being told using dream logic makes a lot of sense. If you're not always trying to find the logic behind why a character is in a certain situation doing a certain thing at a certain time, and you just kind of go with it in the same way you do in dreams, everything flows a bit easier.
That kind of advice could probably help my husband understand my motivations at any given moment, as well.
I did end up enjoying all the wacky stories of Norse heroes. But as Crawford points out, what we have are the later versions that were written down, not the original stories being passed around by the fire. And because they were written down after Christianity became the dominant religion, there's no record of exactly how the old gods were worshiped in pagan times.
This is one of those lectures where I have mixed feelings.
I love that he actually told so many of the stories, and I also feel like I came out the other side of this thing a bit smarter.
And part of me loved the low and slow way he rambled on, but I do think anyone with any hearing problems is likely to run into the same issues I did. I kind of want to watch the video version and turn the closed captions on. Representing the youth vote, my daughter thought his speech pattern was mind-numbing and said he put her to sleep.
Then she went to bed.
At the end of the day, I think your mileage will vary.
Recommended. If you are very interested in the subject matter.
For me, at least.
And I kind of knew from the get-go that this professor's style wasn't going to be my jam, but I reallllllly wanted to learn more about Norse mythology.
Ok, so the first thing that tipped me off to the fact that this was going to be more of a slog than I bargained for was when Crawford said that he would be using Old Norse pronunciations for all the names of people and places.
And yeah. That's certainly a choice.
But, my dude, it's not like I'm reading along with this lecture. Now I'm going to have to fight through your (rather charming) accent, my bad hearing, whatever else is going on in the background (like road noise), and then my aging brain is going to have to try to do a quick translation of what sounds like somewhat slightly garbled names, all while trying to process new information.
Give me a break, I'm getting old. All he had to do was give us the ancient pronunciation once and then let that shit go, but no.
I mean, it's incredible that he can translate old Norse, because that had to be quite the investment of his time, but there's no need to make the rest of us suffer so he could feel like he got his money's worth out of it.
To say I had to turn up the volume AND hit rewind a lot would be an understatement.
And not all of that rewinding was due to his insistence to show off his mad linguistic skills. He just has a very low mellow voice. There was one sentence that I never could fully make out and just had to use context clues to infer what I thought he was saying Thor did in the story.
I know what you're thinking. <--you're a cranky old peasant, Anne.
And you may be right.
Because had I not been trying desperately to grasp every word, I would more than likely have been excessively happy to listen to his cowboy drawl all day long.
Anyway.
This does give you a lot of stories and helps separate what the ye olde legends that were collected said, versus what the pop culture legends of today have turned the stories into.
I also think his idea that we look at these stories as though they were being told using dream logic makes a lot of sense. If you're not always trying to find the logic behind why a character is in a certain situation doing a certain thing at a certain time, and you just kind of go with it in the same way you do in dreams, everything flows a bit easier.
That kind of advice could probably help my husband understand my motivations at any given moment, as well.
I did end up enjoying all the wacky stories of Norse heroes. But as Crawford points out, what we have are the later versions that were written down, not the original stories being passed around by the fire. And because they were written down after Christianity became the dominant religion, there's no record of exactly how the old gods were worshiped in pagan times.
This is one of those lectures where I have mixed feelings.
I love that he actually told so many of the stories, and I also feel like I came out the other side of this thing a bit smarter.
And part of me loved the low and slow way he rambled on, but I do think anyone with any hearing problems is likely to run into the same issues I did. I kind of want to watch the video version and turn the closed captions on. Representing the youth vote, my daughter thought his speech pattern was mind-numbing and said he put her to sleep.
Then she went to bed.
At the end of the day, I think your mileage will vary.
Recommended. If you are very interested in the subject matter.
April 29, 2022
Fascinating topic, and I did learn a few things... but somehow, Crawford managed the unusual feat of making Norse mythology boring. Partially that's due to this being comparatively academically dry in the first place, but the largest problem I had was with his delivery - fairly monotonous and so slow I had to speed it up to 1.75x to avoid falling asleep.
May 20, 2022
After this lecture, I can't explain it...you just want more!
It is like you were just getting started,
If the role of a great teacher is to set your curiosity alight for more,
then he succeeded !
It is like you were just getting started,
If the role of a great teacher is to set your curiosity alight for more,
then he succeeded !
April 18, 2022
This course is great, and I wish that I had listened to it before I started reading the Icelandic Sagas a year ago. Crawford has a deep understanding of the Old Norse language, and this allows him to provide insights to the Norse Myths that I think others who write or teach about them might miss. Crawford is also both a gifted storyteller and a skilled teacher, and unlike some (most?) of the professors whose Great Courses I have listened to, he's got a great voice. He brings the myths to life while also grounding them in the culture that created them. If you want to learn about Norse Mythology, this is the thing for you.
Read
December 18, 2023This is a series of lectures written by a professor. Should it count as a book, I don't know. But Crawford's voice is gold and I could listen to him talk about Norse mythology all day.
February 9, 2023
Crawford obviously had fun with this. “The Great Courses” must have given him a freedom that he never had at Berkeley or in Colorado. He speaks in western-cowboy speak often, mostly in the telling of the Norse tales that he tells with a western lilt and with quite a few funny – and sometimes insightful – references. All of this increases as the course continues; I imagine that Crawford expected many people to exit the course early, or he’s just enjoying himself as he’s taking far more time telling stories and giving less extended interpretation for our understanding. He obviously enjoys these stories and telling these stories to those new to them.
And that is lucky, too! I listened first to the Poetic Edda – which he translated – and had a great amount of trouble understanding the disjointed, cryptic nature of those stories. Crawford has many different explanations for why that is:
First, the myths operate on what he calls, “Dream logic.” That is, just like in dreams, once something is lost, or tried once and failed– it’s lost for good [a common trope in Norse mythology]. Second, the gods are really quite strange from our perspective in a western tradition (thankfully) cut off from this culture. This henotheistic culture – helpfully illustrated as a fan with his favorite football team – often had good natured rivalries between gods. Third, the gods – Oden especially – have ideals, but as gods have no need to follow their own rules. Forth, culturally and in the poems themselves, it’s helpful to recognize the often overpowering pull of “Drangr” or, manly courage in the face of one’s fate.
His lecture on Oden was some of the most interesting, along with Ragnarok and the Norse religion, as not only is Odin something of a horrifying figure, but on the other end he’s also considered “wise.” He tells these intricate and beautiful proverbs, and Odin’s search for wisdom is only second to his lust for power to overcome his doom at Ragnarok. Yet, for all that, Odin does not have to follow any of his wisdom, and he’s often a cruel and faithless god. Even his own berzerkers (soldiers of special favor with Odin), Franmar, when he died had this to say, “Oden changes his mind, it is futile to have faith in him.” How horrifying and striking!
In the end, although I couldn’t personally do this, but it might be easily listened to at 1.5 speed, because his smooth, low, and slow western accent (which he seems very proud of in himself) lends itself to being sped up. As it is, the stories are so strange sometimes, that even at 1x speed, I had to go back to understand the oftentimes sudden unnatural and illogical leaps that happened between characters or between events. Norse mythology is really something.
A few things he helps us with as modern readers:
1) He corrects many misconceptions we have in the modern day
The Norse Gods don’t really have reign or rule over natural phenomena like some other polytheistic/henotheistic people. Rather, they’re more like very powerful people with set aptitudes; these gods can die, have children, be deceived, be shamed, and lose after-all. Thor, the “god of thunder” as he’s known today, is only associated with thunder in myth – although his name is associated with thunder – once.
Many of the Norse names of places and gods have been changed to suit the preferences of the English audience. For example, the more common word for Odin’s hall is Valhalla. The original name was Valhol, but as the English translators found this to be a feminine name, they represented it with the feminine -ah sound. This is the same for Freya and almost all others with different types of changes. I enjoy Crawfords use of the original words, as they’re really not that hard to use.
The way the Norse gods are depicted today is often an amalgamation of, or an adaption of, the source material. For example, Loki is not actually the adopted son of Odin and therefore adopted brother to Thor, but Loki in the source material is just the son of an giant and a god who has a close association with the workings of the gods.
The Aesir and the Vanir gods are not separate beings, but the Vanir are probably just a slightly lower class of god, as men of the time were never to marry above their station.
Many of the characters in Norse myth did not have the set character or appearance that we attribute to them now in popular culture.The “Giants” (Jotenheimr) are not usually physically distinguishable to the gods, nor are they inherently evil, but they are the enemies of the gods nonetheless. Therefore, Crawford helpfully calls them “anti-gods” and not “giants.” Dwarves and elves are also not as set in their differences, as they might actually be quite close in appearance to one another as magical beings. We simply don’t know.
The cosmology doesn’t allow for different worlds, just different walled-off enclosures within this same world.
2) Crawford is perhaps famous for his identification of much of western cowboy ethos with that of the Norse. This is indeed helpful! I wondered why this ancient text sounded so familiar – it’s because it sounds just like the Duke might in one of his Westerns. Strong, manly, and world-weary. This is a very helpful rubric!
Finally, some weaknesses I found while listening:
Crawford loves his source material, but his happy, loving presentation had a strange effect when he glossed over some of the truly horrifying aspects of Norse culture. His section on Norse worship and religion towards the end of the class is especially horrifying. He depicts this culture as rightfully an intelligent culture, but my joy at them having become “Christianized” and at least culturally repenting of such truly awful acts and assumptions was only increased with this class. However, Crawford’s silence on the morality of these things is somewhat disturbing, if not an ”academic” necessity, so as not to offend even modern-day pagans. This is more obvious if you watch his video on the movie, “The Northman,” which he disliked less for it’s apparently quite accurate retelling of what ancient Norse society was like and believed, but because it was (quote) “just so mean.” This comment stuck with me as incredibly odd: as if the ancient Norse were not those who raped and pillaged for hundreds of years, and this was not “mean.” Anyway, not addressing this was very odd for me; by no means necessary, but considering the acts themselves it was a curious omission.
Crawford didn’t show the structure of his lectures; or, if he did, it was hard to follow.
Much of the lectures are based upon long retellings of the myths, which are really enjoyable, and I think this is a great tactic to get others to enjoy the tales themselves – but if you’re looking for straight analysis, you might get bored.
Tolkien – in how I imagine he thinks of him from his discourse on him – is more of a frustrating character to Crawford in the appropriation of Norse mythology. He blames much of the modern erroneous cultural appropriation of the myths to him. As a Tolkien fan, I can understand his frustration, considering how much Tolkien truly borrowed from the Norse source material. But I don’t think Tolkien tried to change the source material, nor is he to blame for these mix-ups. I thought his begrudging acceptance of Tolkien fans as a way into Norse mythology was odd, given how much love Tolkien obviously had for the source material.
Conclusion
All in all - a great introduction to the subject. Crawford is a master at popularizing what is to most people esoteric. I really enjoyed it, because I enjoyed the way he presented Norse Mythology: that might be the greatest compliment that could be given in a course like this.
And that is lucky, too! I listened first to the Poetic Edda – which he translated – and had a great amount of trouble understanding the disjointed, cryptic nature of those stories. Crawford has many different explanations for why that is:
First, the myths operate on what he calls, “Dream logic.” That is, just like in dreams, once something is lost, or tried once and failed– it’s lost for good [a common trope in Norse mythology]. Second, the gods are really quite strange from our perspective in a western tradition (thankfully) cut off from this culture. This henotheistic culture – helpfully illustrated as a fan with his favorite football team – often had good natured rivalries between gods. Third, the gods – Oden especially – have ideals, but as gods have no need to follow their own rules. Forth, culturally and in the poems themselves, it’s helpful to recognize the often overpowering pull of “Drangr” or, manly courage in the face of one’s fate.
His lecture on Oden was some of the most interesting, along with Ragnarok and the Norse religion, as not only is Odin something of a horrifying figure, but on the other end he’s also considered “wise.” He tells these intricate and beautiful proverbs, and Odin’s search for wisdom is only second to his lust for power to overcome his doom at Ragnarok. Yet, for all that, Odin does not have to follow any of his wisdom, and he’s often a cruel and faithless god. Even his own berzerkers (soldiers of special favor with Odin), Franmar, when he died had this to say, “Oden changes his mind, it is futile to have faith in him.” How horrifying and striking!
In the end, although I couldn’t personally do this, but it might be easily listened to at 1.5 speed, because his smooth, low, and slow western accent (which he seems very proud of in himself) lends itself to being sped up. As it is, the stories are so strange sometimes, that even at 1x speed, I had to go back to understand the oftentimes sudden unnatural and illogical leaps that happened between characters or between events. Norse mythology is really something.
A few things he helps us with as modern readers:
1) He corrects many misconceptions we have in the modern day
The Norse Gods don’t really have reign or rule over natural phenomena like some other polytheistic/henotheistic people. Rather, they’re more like very powerful people with set aptitudes; these gods can die, have children, be deceived, be shamed, and lose after-all. Thor, the “god of thunder” as he’s known today, is only associated with thunder in myth – although his name is associated with thunder – once.
Many of the Norse names of places and gods have been changed to suit the preferences of the English audience. For example, the more common word for Odin’s hall is Valhalla. The original name was Valhol, but as the English translators found this to be a feminine name, they represented it with the feminine -ah sound. This is the same for Freya and almost all others with different types of changes. I enjoy Crawfords use of the original words, as they’re really not that hard to use.
The way the Norse gods are depicted today is often an amalgamation of, or an adaption of, the source material. For example, Loki is not actually the adopted son of Odin and therefore adopted brother to Thor, but Loki in the source material is just the son of an giant and a god who has a close association with the workings of the gods.
The Aesir and the Vanir gods are not separate beings, but the Vanir are probably just a slightly lower class of god, as men of the time were never to marry above their station.
Many of the characters in Norse myth did not have the set character or appearance that we attribute to them now in popular culture.The “Giants” (Jotenheimr) are not usually physically distinguishable to the gods, nor are they inherently evil, but they are the enemies of the gods nonetheless. Therefore, Crawford helpfully calls them “anti-gods” and not “giants.” Dwarves and elves are also not as set in their differences, as they might actually be quite close in appearance to one another as magical beings. We simply don’t know.
The cosmology doesn’t allow for different worlds, just different walled-off enclosures within this same world.
2) Crawford is perhaps famous for his identification of much of western cowboy ethos with that of the Norse. This is indeed helpful! I wondered why this ancient text sounded so familiar – it’s because it sounds just like the Duke might in one of his Westerns. Strong, manly, and world-weary. This is a very helpful rubric!
Finally, some weaknesses I found while listening:
Crawford loves his source material, but his happy, loving presentation had a strange effect when he glossed over some of the truly horrifying aspects of Norse culture. His section on Norse worship and religion towards the end of the class is especially horrifying. He depicts this culture as rightfully an intelligent culture, but my joy at them having become “Christianized” and at least culturally repenting of such truly awful acts and assumptions was only increased with this class. However, Crawford’s silence on the morality of these things is somewhat disturbing, if not an ”academic” necessity, so as not to offend even modern-day pagans. This is more obvious if you watch his video on the movie, “The Northman,” which he disliked less for it’s apparently quite accurate retelling of what ancient Norse society was like and believed, but because it was (quote) “just so mean.” This comment stuck with me as incredibly odd: as if the ancient Norse were not those who raped and pillaged for hundreds of years, and this was not “mean.” Anyway, not addressing this was very odd for me; by no means necessary, but considering the acts themselves it was a curious omission.
Crawford didn’t show the structure of his lectures; or, if he did, it was hard to follow.
Much of the lectures are based upon long retellings of the myths, which are really enjoyable, and I think this is a great tactic to get others to enjoy the tales themselves – but if you’re looking for straight analysis, you might get bored.
Tolkien – in how I imagine he thinks of him from his discourse on him – is more of a frustrating character to Crawford in the appropriation of Norse mythology. He blames much of the modern erroneous cultural appropriation of the myths to him. As a Tolkien fan, I can understand his frustration, considering how much Tolkien truly borrowed from the Norse source material. But I don’t think Tolkien tried to change the source material, nor is he to blame for these mix-ups. I thought his begrudging acceptance of Tolkien fans as a way into Norse mythology was odd, given how much love Tolkien obviously had for the source material.
Conclusion
All in all - a great introduction to the subject. Crawford is a master at popularizing what is to most people esoteric. I really enjoyed it, because I enjoyed the way he presented Norse Mythology: that might be the greatest compliment that could be given in a course like this.
February 17, 2022
Norse Mythology by Jackson Crawford is a truly excellent course. The delivery of the lectures, as well as their content, is top notch for a survey like this. Crawford does have an interesting way of viewing Norse myth, that of a non-chronologically consistent series of tales following the logic of dreams. I never heard of that way to view it before, and I find it largely persuasive, but I wonder if that has to do with the relative paucity of our sources and the stitched together nature of the larger works. Overall, Crawford did a great job and was very accessible.
92/100
92/100
August 27, 2022
Great series to get insights into the many myths and legends of norse mythology. I have to admit I lost track of the structure of the lecture because it wasnt made clear in the beginning but I'm looking forward to dive more into the topic after this.
April 22, 2022
This wonderful book contains amazing information on north mythology that helps understanding the details such as difference between hell and Valhalla as well as Viking's way of life and culture.
December 25, 2024
I need more of this cowboy telling me mythology.
May 8, 2025
Fantastic introduction and overview of a complex subject with diverse traditions.
March 19, 2024
The author clearly knows Norse mythology very well, but I found the delivery very flat and boring. I strugged to get through this, despite it being a topic I really wanted to learn about. I found my mind would often drift off then I'd have to rewind the audio to hear what I missed. I felt like it sort of jumped around a bit too. I understand why the author compiled things how he did as topics, but I would have prefered things to unfold in more of a chronological order to help follow a timeline of events. I do note these are lectures, and that's exactly what it felt like, the stereotypical "lecture mode" that's not at all exciting or engaging, just someone speaking at you in a dull tone. I really expected to love this, but I didn't unfortunately. I think perhaps this is one where I would have much rather read the content myself as an actual book, than listened to it. Some parts also seems overly simplified in how they were presented, like the author was giving his interpretation of a high level summary overview of a story rather than the whole story. I'm not sure if that's how the original writing were actually written, or just how the author has chosen to present it. Either way, I kept feeling like I wanted to read the actual translated stories rather than summaries.
January 17, 2024
This is excellent!
February 6, 2023
A solid addition to my Teaching Company/Great Courses library. I felt like I came away from this with a good feel for what Norse mythology is like and is all about. The lecturer has published modern translations of some of the myths, so he was well-versed in his content, and he spent a fair amount of time just retelling the myths, which I think was appropriate, since these myths are not usually well-known the way many Greek myths are. I also appreciated his forays into the historical background, like the lecture on how the Norse actually worshiped their gods.
I should add that this lecture series took me longer than usual because I couldn't really listen to it while commuting because the lecturer's voice was too often drowned out by my car's engine--his voice had a wider range of volume than usual and got too low/soft to hear regularly. That's not his fault, obviously, but maybe the sound engineer at The Great Courses could have done better.
I should add that this lecture series took me longer than usual because I couldn't really listen to it while commuting because the lecturer's voice was too often drowned out by my car's engine--his voice had a wider range of volume than usual and got too low/soft to hear regularly. That's not his fault, obviously, but maybe the sound engineer at The Great Courses could have done better.
November 25, 2024
I grew up in Sweden and lived there until I moved to the US 23 years ago.
My dad was really interested in Norse mythology and Swedish history. Even when I was little he used to tell me the fascinating stories about the Norse goods.
When I went to school we actually learned to read and write runes :)
When Jackson Crawford said that the rune stones are in situ it actually means they are right there, many times close to an old road.
I spent a semester (term) on the island of Visingsö. I've never seen so many rune stones in one place! It was amazing to try to figure out what someone had written so long ago!
I borrowed "Norse mythology" from Hoopla so I was able to watch the lectures instead of just listening to them. You can find the Prose Edda and The saga of the Volsung books by Jackson Crawford on Hoopla. If you have a library card in the US you can also borrow books etc from Hoopla!
My dad was really interested in Norse mythology and Swedish history. Even when I was little he used to tell me the fascinating stories about the Norse goods.
When I went to school we actually learned to read and write runes :)
When Jackson Crawford said that the rune stones are in situ it actually means they are right there, many times close to an old road.
I spent a semester (term) on the island of Visingsö. I've never seen so many rune stones in one place! It was amazing to try to figure out what someone had written so long ago!
I borrowed "Norse mythology" from Hoopla so I was able to watch the lectures instead of just listening to them. You can find the Prose Edda and The saga of the Volsung books by Jackson Crawford on Hoopla. If you have a library card in the US you can also borrow books etc from Hoopla!
May 9, 2023
Really liked how Crawford included all the linguistic explanations and went into detail when comparing sources. He also gave good insight into the different pronunciations and their origins and how current English is derived from it, which really took me back to my linguistics courses from college. I feel like a got a comprehensive look into Norse culture, not just the mythology, and a lot more on the old Norse language.
The narration was alright (he did have some big sighs after long paragraphs, but I commiserated.) Maybe his passion doesn't come through in the way he lectures, but his depth of knowledge and the way he explains concepts shows what an expert he is in his field and how much he wants to share it. He's got a cool YouTube channel with some deeps dives, but man it sure makes me miss Colorado! Oh and apparently he got his PhD in my hometown, which is neat! Go Badgers!
The narration was alright (he did have some big sighs after long paragraphs, but I commiserated.) Maybe his passion doesn't come through in the way he lectures, but his depth of knowledge and the way he explains concepts shows what an expert he is in his field and how much he wants to share it. He's got a cool YouTube channel with some deeps dives, but man it sure makes me miss Colorado! Oh and apparently he got his PhD in my hometown, which is neat! Go Badgers!
October 3, 2023
I appreciate Professor Crawford's efforts to make the source material more accessible because as he points out several times the more reliable sources do tend to translated into old complex English. This often caused to not dive that deep. I didn't realize how shallow some of my knowledge was until I got to the back half of the lecture series. So if you have an interest in Norse mythology I would say this is a great starting point.
April 13, 2022
I have always loved the old Norse Myths and this was an interesting listen that puts some of the stories into more of a historical context and as such can be a bit dry at times but very interesting. If you know nothing of the Norse Myths i would not start here, but this is a well presented and interesting course.
July 31, 2022
Terrible recording nothing but very low tones and mumbling. It’s extremely frustrating and because I know the story, the tales, the details it makes it even more aggravating.
This was a free torture session on audibles free gift. Don’t waste your time energy or mood on this (____).
Yes a serious complaint to great courses. Guess they are now making to much money to worry about quality.
This was a free torture session on audibles free gift. Don’t waste your time energy or mood on this (____).
Yes a serious complaint to great courses. Guess they are now making to much money to worry about quality.
December 16, 2022
Enjoyed this course so much that I listened to some of the lectures multiple times. Excellent instructor; I purchased his translation of the Eddas on Audible and really enjoyed that as well.
I studied Anglo Saxon in college -- but only for one very fun semester before I had to move on to more 'practical' topics. This course connected some long neglected dots for me.
I studied Anglo Saxon in college -- but only for one very fun semester before I had to move on to more 'practical' topics. This course connected some long neglected dots for me.
October 20, 2024
Norse Mythology [audible audio] by Jackson Crawford
(5⭐) Fascinating, enlightening and matter-of-fact look at Norse mythology. Author explains Norse culture through some strange, occasionally gruesome stories to showcase how unfamiliar Norse culture was to any of today's cultures/standards. Brilliantly and interestingly explained by the expert / professor.
To be listened to again.
(5⭐) Fascinating, enlightening and matter-of-fact look at Norse mythology. Author explains Norse culture through some strange, occasionally gruesome stories to showcase how unfamiliar Norse culture was to any of today's cultures/standards. Brilliantly and interestingly explained by the expert / professor.
To be listened to again.
December 25, 2024
Professor Crawford is obviously incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about this subject. He has a deadpan humor sprinkled within as well. I learned a lot and will likely listen to it again at some point. I really enjoyed it but some lectures were better than others. I do understand some of the negative comments but stick with it and his style does become more welcome.
August 1, 2022
Interesting to learn about Odin, Thor, Loki, how events are destined.
This professor focused on the male gods and had chapters speculating on each male god but glossed over Freya even after saying she played a big role in the myths.
This professor focused on the male gods and had chapters speculating on each male god but glossed over Freya even after saying she played a big role in the myths.
January 8, 2023
I got this as a 2 for 1 on Audible, which was why I purchased it, even knowing it read like a textbook/ lecture. The information is interesting (if you like Norse mythology), but the narrator made it so easy for my mind to wander. Neil Gaiman will still hold the #1 spot for me.
May 23, 2023
I usually love Jackson Crawford's work, but something about how this one was structured didn't appeal to me. I slogged through it tediously. All of the prepared information was useful, but something made this one hard to get through.
July 3, 2023
I almost rated this audio course 2 stars because the professor sounded like he was reading from a paper. But as the course went on he became more animated (in voice) and the information was good. So, I doubt I will listen to this audio course again, but it earned the 3 stars it got.
August 9, 2023
Expertise is great, and interesting. It turns out I’m just not that interested in Norse mythology (similar to my feelings about most mythology and belief systems- it’s kind of interesting but not worth a lot of time to know deeply).
December 28, 2024
I had high hopes for the lecture series and was quite disappointed as a result. I was looking forward to the textual analyses of the myths. However this was so over simplified, it made the whole thing rather pointless.
March 16, 2022
Good overview of the norse mythology. A bit slow and boring told.
March 29, 2022
Very informative and clear, touches on many aspects of norse myth and the thing comes with a pdf file in the audible app.
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