Ejderhaların Kısa Tarihi

Wooden Books

by Joyce Hargreaves, Umur İda (Translator)

Dünyanın hemen tüm kültürlerinde neden varlar?
Gizliden gizliye muhafaza ettikleri esrarengiz toprak falı cevheri ne?
Bir zamanlar bizi avlayan o şeye dair ortak belleğin andacı olabilirler mi?
Bu güzel cep kitabında, Joyce Hargreaves bu sıradışı varlıkların hikâyesini dünyanın dört bir yanından örneklerle anlatıyor. Görsellerle zenginleştirilmesinin yanında, Büyük Britanya’daki önemli ejderha yerleşim yerlerinin ayrıntılı bir listesini de içeren kitap, temel bir ejderhabilim kılavuzu.

(Tanıtım Bülteninden)

Genres: Dragons, Fantasy, Mythology, Animals, Art, Reference, Fiction

64 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 2006

Reviews

[Annemieke / A Dance with Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

For someone who enjoys dragons you would think this book would be a delight. However a lot of this book were serpents and not dragons. Like the majority. I also read a review that stated certain things regarding the mythology were wrong and that is just unforgiveable.

Such a shame because this is such a pretty book.

[Josiah DeGraaf · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent short reference book with cool pictures about all the different types of dragons that have existed in earth mythologies. Points deducted for the laughable claim that Jesus is the Christian personification of Dionysus (???) and the conclusion that, in trying to be clever, suggests earth is the real dragon just because of its volcanic activity and that "we have been living on a dragon all along." :/

Rating: 2.5 Stars (Okay).

[LittlePiscesReading · Rating 1 out of 5]

Snakes are not dragons. Indian mythology is not interchangeable with Chinese mythology. Nor are Chinese Gods beings from Indian mythology. Pretty sure this style of romanization is sixty years out of date. Speaking of being out of date, 'North American Indians'? Really? Is there no terminology that this author can get right?
When you're that incompetent with terminology, with mythology, playing fast and loose with the very subject you've decided to write about, I have no reason to believe anything that's been written.
The pairing of a quote about the appearance of Chinese dragons with European style art of a clearly not Chinese dragon pretty much sums up the non-effort that's gone into this book. It's certainly more accurate than some of the other claims made.
On a side note, I put off reading this book because of a book on fairies that pulled the exact same stunt. It took folklore creatures from other cultures and mythologies are Anglicised them like a culture vulture. I'm not buying any more of these kinds of books because this isn't a good pattern. Take these books with a boatload of salt.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this little book super interesting! The author goes over dragons through different religions, talking about the stories and symbolisms attached to them. It doesn't go into heavy detail seeing it is a very short book, but I still have not learned so many different things about dragons through history in any other book I've read.

[connie]

pretty terribly formatted/researched imho but it's pretty and will now be going on my lord of the rings shelf :)

[[ J o ] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whilst not to be taken too seriously, this book is a rare delight that combines sustainable materials, whimsical fantasies and wonderful knowledge. It is the everlasting question that we may never fully realise; why are dragons universally known? One would suspect dinosaurs had something to do with it.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting review of dragon myths and legends throughout history. illustrations, wood cuts and other graphics enliven the stories with depictions of the beasts in historic artwork. readable in a few hours.

[Elentarri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute little book that provides a nice introduction to dragons found in all sorts of cultures.

[Rosemarie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A friend got me this because of my love of all things dragon. I am keeping it for sentimental reasons, and because she didn't have to get me it, but she did, which is nice.

The illustrations are cool, but this is a little mythology of dragons and dragon-like creatures, mostly serpents. Nagas are not dragons, for instance. There was one page on African and Australian dragon mythology and the terminology used for Native Americans was out of date. There was some really poorly explained mythology, which other reviewers have gone into depth on, and too much woo-woo cultural appropriation stuff with chakras and 'ley' or 'dragon' lines. I have read one of these books before so I was expecting the woo-y stuff, just a little. My friend and I had discussed this problem in relation to a couple of other books in the series, too, so I think it's supposed to be a feature of the books.

This book is not exactly a one you want to trust, but I suppose if you know absolutely nothing about dragons it's a starting point.

[Aurora Lyons · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book, but I may not have been the intended audience. The book was short so I figured the history on each dragon would be comprehensive and interesting, but it was not. Also, it didn’t focus a lot on the typical medieval types of dragons, but mainly serpents and abstract mythology. Some of the theories were interesting, but it occasionally posed theories as facts. The most disappointing part, which I have read other reviewers state, was that the mythology was inaccurate. It was also unclear which parts were historical, mythology, and theoretical, and a reader who knew nothing would be very confused—which is strange because it’s marketed as a guidebook, but is confusing and missing a lot of accurate and necessary information.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A generous 3* not because of the content really - it’s mostly interesting with plenty of images (although I thought we stopped referring to Native American tribes as ‘The Indians’ a long time ago), it’s the poor editing that really lets it down. Lava not larva is what spews forth from a volcano, and there are numerous references to images and illustrations that don’t exist, such as top right is XXXX and there is no top right illustration, on one page the text refers to illustrations i, ii, iii, iv and v. But the illustrations are only labelled from ii to v. Given the multiple reprints it seems remiss that this hasn’t been corrected yet.

[Klára Posiřilová · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't expect much of this book since it's really short and no vast history could not fit. What i got was basically and introduction to many types of dragon looking creatures and legends connected to them. It was really easy to read and it was a great choice to start searching about this topic with this book. It deepened my passion for it and now i want to know more. What i liked was a list of places around the world which are connected to dragon legends and their history. I'll definitely use it while traveling.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm pretty obsessed with dragons, so it was fun to read and learn about a few myths I hadn't been exposed to.. Because it's so short though, it feels like some liberties were taken to simplify and combine some of the myths. I would have loved to see more than one page on African & Australian myths though, that was disappointing as I'm sure there are more stories considering the various cultures throughout the continent of Africa. I will have to do some reading elsewhere to fill in and correct some of the things from this book.

[Jessica Wright · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only glaring problem with the book is that it's sources for the information given are not sited.
When taking an angle of writing a fictional guidebook, I'd be ok with that, but this book takes more of a real world exploration of the concept of dragons in real cultures and myths. No sources means unreliable information, which means this book failed in being a good research tool for the study of dragons in cultures and myths.

[Miss Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting overview with many illustrations taken from different sources. I would have liked there to be a more comprehensive list of all the image sources to make everything more verifiable. From other reviews I've taken that some aspects of mythology are presented too simplistically or even misrepresented, so be aware of that.

[Miaaa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bought it mostly for the illustrations and cover which are very pretty.
As noted by others, this book is mainly about serpents and not dragons. It’s also quite messy in its presentation and at points is complete nonsense.
I can’t speak for most of the mythos included, but the info on Norse mythology seems to check out, although, suggesting the Midgard Worm is a dragon is a big stretch.

[Thijs · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lackluster and inaccurate description on the History of Dragons.

You would be excised to think this is a book about the history of snakes in mythology.

For anyone interested in a historical/mythological (but fictional) history of dragons, watch: The Last Dragon.
An excellent 2004 film.

[Melissa La · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting guide to dragons! The pictures are also awesome to look at!

[Kim Schouwenaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely little book to read just in-between other larger books

[Ghaidaa Naguib · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read to get you started on Dragons. I have a few things I want to research and further explore.

The illustrations were incredible.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh . . . not really, but lots of cool art.

[Mavis Hewitt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Little book, so little info, author has wide category of 'dragon'

[Agatha Cossack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fun little read, it is indeed a little history. Don't go into it expecting huge amounts of information. For what it is, it was informational and even gave me a little inspiration.

[Pınar Elif Karabal · Rating 2 out of 5]

İki yıldızı illüstrasyonlar için verdim. Hayal kırıklığı oldu doğrusu. Ejderhadan ziyade yılanların kısa tarihçesi gibi olmuş.

[Vicki Orton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent little read!! Extremely factual but very interesting; a must for anyone who wants to know more about dragons! 🐉🐲

[Myline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cutesy and simple, but enjoyable nonetheless

[Rachael Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very cute book with just enough lore to pique your interest.

[LudmilaM · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is tiny bit misleading, because the book is a little mythology collection on everything that even resembled or was in some way related to a serpent. I didn't appreciate assumings of the author in couple of places that were presented as a common knowlege, but other than that, a lovely little mythology book with beautiful illustrations.

[Warren Rochelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this little book on a trip to England last summer and stuffed in my suitcase and it has languished in my "to be read" stack ever since. I fished it out the other day and have had a delightful time reading it.

For a tiny little book, with only 58 pages of text, Joyce Hargreaves covers a lot of territory, beginning with the basic question of just what is a dragon to dragons in the West, in Norse mythology, in China and Japan, in India, and the Americas and other places. Dragon varieties examined include the Hydra, the Worm and the Wyvern, and the Basilisk. A helpful "Gazetteer on Interesting Dragon Sites" in Great Britain is provided, along the appropriate tales for each site.

Hargreaves begins with the question of just what are dragons, these beasts that are "the most nebulous, complex and ambivalent of all the animals that inhabit the jungle of the imagination. This fabulous creature has been the subject of myth and traveller's tales for the last 4000 years." Hargreaves argues that "[a] can be primarily considered a symbol of the many different aspects of the powers of the earth, both good and bad" (1). There is a wealth information here on this fabulous beast.

Students of dragons, aka dragonologists, here is a resource book for you. And ponder this: "...we can be almost certain that the dragon, in the general form we visualise it, does not physically exist anywhere on Earth" (2). Almost, eh? After all, "Our genetic ancestors were once hunted by dinosaurs. Could dragons resonate as a deep compound symbol for one of our oldest foes?" (50)?

They do make for great stories.

[Cheryl Kaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous little book on the various cultural mythologies of dragons. I really love this series of books. They are not just books they are beautiful pieces of art.