The Universal Myths: Heroes, Gods, Tricksters and Others (Meridian S.)

Rating:
Summary: It's Not All Bad
Review: This book does cover a wide range of cultures and myths, exploring them in a wider, more universal context by placing certain myths next to other myths and drawing a few conclusions that are natural, intelligent, and reminicent of Joseph Campbell. This is a great book for light reading and glancing through, however, this is not a good book to use as a reference tool in understanding myths, because of the way in which it is put together. In a collection of myths that are categorized by universal theme, the table of contents becomes an important guide to the understanding of the stated themes and the author's insights. But in this book the table of contents doesn't match the rest of the book AT ALL. Many of the myths that claim to be listed are not, and several myths appear that were not listed at all. Myths appear under totally different sections then they were listed by the author at the begining, which leads to great confusion as to which section they truly belong to. This is not a problem if you're reading this for sheer entertainment and have no intention of using it as a reference book for research or writing in the fields of mythology and universal themes. My suggestion is to rip out the table of contents and write yourself a new one based on the actual book. Unfortunately it brings the writer's credibility into question since several myths seem to be in sections they don't belong with and the book is completely contradictory from the first page on.
I was deeply disappointed with this book, having relied on the table of contents that Amazon.com allows you to see and the other excerpts included to tell how expansive it was and useful it would be as a resource for understanding universal themes. Saddly there were many myths I was glad to see included that in the end were not included in anything more then the table of contents.
Perhaps it was my own error for relying so much on what Amazon.com allowed me to see of the book (ie the table of contents) and for assuming that the book followed the table of contents and was as well organized and thought provoking as it appeared to be. That was my mistake and I want to make sure other people realize what they are getting when they purchase this book. As I said, it's not a bad book if you rip out the table of contents and don't rely on it too heavily for mythic accurasy and stunnning conclusions about universal themes. It's a nice introduction to the concept of universal themes and a nice selection of myths from around the world. The index was much more helpful then the table of contents and the first chapter on creation myths was really very good.