The Power of Myth

Rating:
Summary: Genius
Review: Makes my short list of 20 books everyone person should read. If you are going to read only one Josepg Campbell, this is a great one. Helps your perspective on life, religion and the culture we live in. One of the great unconventional thinkers of the last 50 years.

Rating:
Summary: Wow. Period.
Review: For four years now I've been studying mythology, and kept putting aside Campbell's work, saying 'I'll get it next month.' Well- finally I purchased this book, and I was just amazed. His insight into mythological stories and how it relates to our lives surpasses anyone else I've read. What I got from this book: an appreciation of just how much the peoples in the world have in common; and a greater awareness that we are all part of a life force much greater than imagined.

Rating:
Summary: Campbell is GREAT!
Review: After reading The Power of Myth, I became so excited about what Joseph Campbell had to say that I made a special trip to the library. I was searching for anything involving Campbell's works. As luck would have it, the library just happened to have the six video recordings between Campbell and Bill Moyer on the Power of Myth. Was I ever in for a treat. After reading the book and watching Campbell & Moyer in the videos, I was completely mesmerized by Campbell. I then took time to read "A Fire in the Mind", a book which covers the life of Campbell and written by Stephen & Robin Larsen. Campbell is so great in expressing himself and so knowledeable in his field, that I was totally captivated by him.
I can't seem to read enough of Campbell's works, and so far, it's all been worth the time and effort.

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary!!!
Review: Despite what some reviewers have stated, this book is very powerful! Joseph Campbell explains the role of mythology so clearly and eloquently that it will change your perceptions. I strongly encourage this book to everyone! In fact, this book is one, like "Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawkins, that requires occasional re-reads to ensure you have truly grasped the concepts presented.

Excellent book! Excellent video series as well.

Rating:
Summary: Great audio CD set for driving
Review: Moyers has the voice of a radio evangelist, and Campbell that of a Northeasterner. Being an informal conversation, sometimes the sentences or utterances don't make sense. I definitely recommend the CD set -- I doubt you'll find better listening material.

Rating:
Summary: Less Than Meets The Eye
Review: Like everyone, my time for reading is limited, so I generally use the following criteria in deciding whether to proceed with a particular title: 1) is it likely to provide fresh insights; or, 2) will it inspire?

Regrettably, "The Power of Myth" did neither in any significant way. While somewhat interesting, I found the treatment of Mr. Campbell's subject (Myth, its cross-cultural development and societal applications) overextended; moreover, I found his incessant fawning over life in The Middle Ages tremendously misguided. Camelot, it wasn't.

Adding to my unease was Mr. Moyer's tendency toward sycophancy and Mr. Campbell's occasional dismissiveness.

In short, "The Power of Myth" may have more to do with the myth that has built up around Mr. Campbell than anything else. It crowded out time that could have been spent with any number of other, more valuable works.

Rating:
Summary: Biased but beautifully rendered
Review: His religious beliefs overwhelm this work, and it's sometimes tiresome, as is his selective memory of history. (I.e., Jesus's primary teaching is "love your enemies?" Please! That's a commandment: an output of Jesus's teaching that are all lost, need him for salvation, etc.)

But Campbell is a magnificent story teller, and if you can get past (or choose to believe) his "All is God" beliefs, then you'll find those stories are a joy to read. The book is beautifully put together.

Rating:
Summary: what they do, why, how, where, when...then there's me
Review: I first came upon this as the first PBS showing of the TV interview. I heard people on the street and on the bus talking about it. It created a wonderfully warm environment of discussion and curiosity amongst those in various degrees of familiarity to this kind of subject. I watched each episode like a hawk. It was wonderful, in that Campbell truly has a wide and deep appreciation to match the scope of the topic; humans trying to both DESCRIBE AND THEN PRESCRIBE how the world around them operates, so that they can adopt some kind of harmonic behavioral pattern in order to bring about the most beneficial way of life for themselves, whether for themselves, their family, their society or their relationship with the universe known and unknown.

Freeing up such things as "faith", "belief", "authority" and "religion" under the more authentic label of "mythology", which is done in many circumstances of outstanding clarity by Campbell, becomes an amazingly liberating and empowering experience. It clears out the cobwebs. It really does.

Some of the humankinds greatest accomplishments and worst problems are caused by how humans deal with these descriptions and those patterns of behavior humans later derive from them. The danger of using second-hand information (the myth removed from it's source experience and first describer/interpreter), is revealed everywhere.

Everyone who ever wanted to know about the meaning of freedom should make themselves an owner and reader of this material. Different people should be encouraged to understand mythology. Different people would come up with much more varying ways to make up and work with myths if they had the chance. Myths were not meant originally to suppress the respect for peoples ability to live their own lives, develop and use their own perceptions or to suppress the encouragement for them to live their lives as they see fit. Myths far too often become a frozen, suppressing picture instead of a living, dynamic, evolving method to enlighten ourselves and to move through difficult situations with clarity and resolve.

Joseph Campbell gives us back the desire and ability to develop, use and appreciate myths in the proper, liberated yet compassionate, appreciative frame of mind. It was wonderful to watch the interview live, and this edition is wonderful for having so many photos and graphics to keep the depth of this topic open and clarified to the curious mind (in keeping with the TV show). And fun. Both Campbell and Moyers clearly have an appreciation for getting this topic across to the viewer (and reader; Campbell being quite the author previous to this interview) with the highest level of ease and holding of attention.

Rating:
Summary: a bit of a disappointment
Review: although this book has certainly encouraged me to read more by Joseph Campbell, I don't think it is a good book on its own merit. The interviewer'squestions are too repetitive and he seems obsessed with Star Wars while he doesn't follow the interesting cues in Campbell's answers. The reader finds that there are many topics mentioned but none explored thoroughly or at least in the perspective that a lifetime devoted to the subject gives. I actually didn't learn a lot about "the power of myth".

Rating:
Summary: Still love it...
Review: Love it. This is one of those books that knocked me out of my shell. I don't necessarily agree with everything he says (who does?) but his views and interpretations opened my mind up to the fact that it is o.k. to have different views and interpretations.

At the very least, he got me to actually look at the stories and symbols in the world and to search deeper for meaning. After all, we are all looking for meaning and it is right in front of us. We really don't have to look too far.

Whether or not you agree with his views, you will never look at the world the same way again. If we all looked at the world the same way, what would we have to talk about?

(FYI: This is an old review under an old email address.

Update: This book radically changed my life and I still revisit it from time to time.

One critique: Campbell notes, almost in passing, that he knows nothing of the Christian faith as practiced in much of the Deep South (i.e. the 'Holy Rollers'). This is a magnificent, vibrant and living faith and Campbell addresses it almost as a footnote. Just goes to show, we can't know everything.

I will say that Campbell may be considered the equivalent of C.S. Lewis in the mythological realm (although Campbell seems to cling a little more tightly to the intellect). Just as with Lewis, certain 'red flags' will appear as you traverse territory unknown, so too will Campbell's works present 'red flags' as you journey. Whether this can be written off as New Age or the perfect type of theology/mythology for the elitist (i.e. understanding without commitment), Campbell's book broadens the scope of our understanding of the power, and signifiance, of myths in our lives)