Rating: 
Summary: Great history but not much Tolkien
Review: As a person of celtic ancestry, I have always been very interested in the mythology and history of the middle ages. I have also been reading Tolkien since I was 13, some 24 years now. In this time, I have made many connections between actual history and Tolkien's literature. When I saw this book, I had hoped to delve further into these connections, but unfortunately, this book is more for the beginner who has just found an interest in such histories. While Mr. Bates writes with reasonable knowledge about the people of the middle ages, their history as well as mythology (except for a very little misinformation regarding the celts), he does not really incorporate Tolkien's world into this history. Except for a few passing nods in each chapter, Tolkien's middle earth is barely mentioned. It also seemed to me that Mr. Bates did not read any of Tolkien's works more than once or twice. Some of his remarks seemed quite off the mark, so to speak. Overall, he does not seem familiar enough with Tolkien's world and so cannot make the necessary connections between it and the middle ages. That said, I still think this is a very informative book for those who are just starting out with an interest in the history and mythology of the middle ages. There are a few weak areas, such as in celtic mythology, but overall it is quite good. However, if you are looking to learn more about symbolism, myths and history of the middle ages and how they pertain to Tolkien's middle earth in greater detail, this may not be the book for you. For instance, I was very curious as to the specific jewels used in "The Lord of the Rings." For instance, Aragorn's jewel, the emerald; why was this so specific and important? And the ruby in Narya, why a ruby? It took a good deal of research for me to learn the answers to these questions and I had hoped to learn still more. But again, this is more of a beginner's book. A good beginner's book.
Rating: 
Summary: I wish there were more books like this...
Review: As someone who is a practicing Germanic Heathen Witch, this book is far more informative than most New-Agey titles out there today. It helps to reconstruct the spiritual ways of our pre-Christian European ancestors, before Christianity assimilated or eliminated them, as well as give a better understanding of what Germanic Heathens and Celts believed. They were very deeply spiritual people who were quite connected to the Otherworld. The Divine was an essential part of everyday life.
I have LOVED Tolkien since I was a child, not only because he was such a magnificent writer, but because of the REAL Pagan/Heathen beliefs he incorporated into his works. For instance, it is amazing how much Gandalf is like the god Woden/Odin. ("Gandalf" means "magic elf" in Old Norse, by the way.)
This book reveals much about what these people believed and has much excellent information contained within. A gem!!!!
Rating:
Summary: The Real Middle Earth
Review: First of all this book talks relativly little about Tolkien or any of his books. What it does is try to capture the "magic" of the places and time periods that Tolkien drew inspiration from for his work, namely post Roman to pre Norman Great Britain, and to a slightly lesser extent Scandinavian and Icelandic society and culture from the same time periods using historical sources, so called "myth", namely the pagan beliefs of the Celts, Norse and Anglo-Saxons and other assorted folk beliefs and tales. From what I can gather from reading this book the author seems like he has a similar belief that I have always had that Tolkien on one level was conciously trying to help to write a missing part of our (assuming you are of anglo-celtic-norse ancestry) heritage due to our own ancestors poor job of writng down and recording their own history, and in part to the fact that much of what is known of our pre christian history was written by outsiders to the culture, or people with a biased political agenda, and above all Christian church hierarchy who were more or less under orders to discredit our whole culture as of being of the Jewish satan and to force this alien Jew Yahweh/Jesus god upon our people. Even though Tolkien himself was a devout Catholic, I believe he was conciously trying to "fill in the blanks" in a sense, even though the inspiration and the imagination of the Hobbit/LOTR came from his subconcious ancestral memory as well as the written sources of the time that we have. So enough of my pschoanalyzing, on to the book itself. Bates goes into most everything that was "magic" about those times and is very entertaining in doing so talking about the warrior culture, the concept of wyrd and destiny, shapeshifting, the pre christian gods and how the people related to them, how people related to nature, animals, the forest, the land, the use of spells and magic, dwarves and elves, whether you take these things as real or imaginary superstitions they were 100% real to the people of those times. This is a great book for anybody who wants to look into the "magic" of those times or for anybody who wants to get a better understanding of where Tolkien got his ideas, both on the concious and subconcious levels.
Rating: 
Summary: Long on mysticism, short on Tolkien
Review: I agree with a previous reviewer that this book is not really about Tolkien's Middle-earth. You can read for pages and pages without a single reference to hobbits or dwarves! The author is a good writer, and the history is interesting, though I got the feeling that it was a somewhat oversimplified picture of Anglo-Saxon England. Also, there was a tendency for the author to belabor a point with lots of vague sentences that sound more meaningful than they really are. Here's an example of one of the worst offenders: "In Middle-earth, the interlocking threads which manifest the hidden forces of the universe were woven into patterns of destiny for our individual lives" (p. 184). I did learn some interesting tidbits, but anyone who expects this book to be more than remotely about Tolkien will be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: I think that the negative reveiwers are missing the point of the whole book. J.R. Tolkien had a PHD in Northern European studies and drew his inspiration from pre-Christian Anglo Saxon and Norse culture, mythology, and magic. The LoR's movies have triggered an enormous zeitgeist and has stirred the souls of the Anglo-American populations in a way that the Church never could....and there is a reason for this....because it taps into a deep memory that was forcefully suppressed by the Church (=Sarumon), hateful crusaders (=Orcs), and a Hebrew Deity (=Sauron). The European-American people HAVE A RIGHT to be informed as to why the LoR's Trilogy has stirred their soul, they Need to know that those feelings of honor, heroism, goodness, and other such things stem from the screams of our ancient ancestors as well as the mighty Northern European gods that we have forsaked in favor of that lie that is called the "bible" (=the ring of sauron). Cast it into the infernal flames of Muspelheim and get this book, for the salvation of the soul cannot be secured by a foreign deity but only by embracing the sacred and holy ways of our Anglo Saxon and Nordic ancestors.
Our culture is falling apart because we have rejected these time honored principles and have been stripped of all that is TRUELY holy and good (both words are of Anglo Saxon and Norse origin, by the way). This book is a wondrous and beautiful account of our lost heritedge.....the very heritedge that J.R. Tolkien drew his inspiration from. The negative reveiwers are merely agents (on an unconscious level) of the forces who wish to prevent The REAL Return of the King. All Hail Woden! All Hail Thunar! All Hail Frija! All Hail Eostre! All Hail Ing! All Hail Freia! All Hail the Elves, Dwarves, and Idesa!
All Hail Tiw!All Hail Penda, Beowulf, and Seigfreid...the Heathen Heroes of Old! Let us explore our roots and drink of the Well of Wyrd once again........
Rating: 
Summary: There's Anti-Christian bigotry, too.
Review: I wish I could like this book. The topic (the culture of Britain before the Norman conquest) is one in which I have recently become very interested, and Bates seems to know his stuff. However, the feast is spoiled by an ugly flavor of anti-Christian polemic that's sure to alienate anyone who's open to both streams of wisdom. In fact, he come across as the shadow-side of a Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell, setting up a radical either/or between the traditions of Christianity and the pre-Christian Celts and Anglo-Saxons, rather than a much more fruitful attitude of both/and. If you're interested in the ways Bates' "real Middle Earth" and the Christian tradition can enrich, rather than contradict, each other I'd recommend writers like Esther de Waal, John Matthews, Ray Simpson or even Tolkien himself.
Rating: 
Summary: Thesis Paper
Review: I've read quite a few books on Tolkien and Lord of the Rings, but this one is by far one of the two worst (with the other being Finding God in LotR). I didn't even get through half of it before I had to put it down. There are quite a few facts in the book that could be very interesting, but the writing style set me on edge. What I think I found most annoying was the fact that Bates continually used the term "the Real ME," instead of just saying Norway, or England, or Scotland, or wherever else he was talking about. ME is not real. It is imaginary. It has its roots in real places (and the different groups of ppl are based on real groups of ppl), but that is as far as it goes. If you are talking about a specific place that really does exist (other than someplace in our hearts, as Sir Ian McKellen said), then use that place's real name, and not "the Real ME" over and over. I would actually recommend getting something like Myth & ME. While it deals more with myth, and not so much the history, you can learn a lot about a ppl by their myths.
Rating:
Summary: cashing in on Tolkien's popularity
Review: My sense on reading this book was that the author already had a manuscript in preparation on the Dark Ages, and included references to Tolkien in order to help sell it. After reading several pages, one comes across the occasional, out-of-place paragraph with a loose connection to Tolkien's work, as though it was dropped in after the manuscript was already completed. Many of his references to Tolkien are actually somewhat forced and occasionally off the mark. Bates is a psychologist, and I found his overview of history rather general, to say nothing of his familiarity with Tolkien. Moreover, he suppresses certain terminology (such as the Norse term "Midgard" which he replaces with "Middle-Earth") in order to drive the point home. This might be forgiveable if his point was academic, but the reader begins to suspect a marketing strategy instead. While some of his insights are informative, I felt this book suffers from trying to accomplish something that may not have been the author's original intention.
Rating:
Summary: vivid account of anglo-saxon magic
Review: Reviewer: A reader from England This is a superb book. Vividly written, it explores the magical and spiritual beliefs of people who lived in the 'real' Middle-earth. This was the Anglo-Saxon and Norse cultures of a thousand years ago and more, which so inspired Tolkien. The author Brian Bates is well-known for previous books on this subject (especially his best-selling novel The Way of Wyrd). It is different from other books purporting to compare Tolkien with ancient mythology, because the world it reveals is one in which people saw their EVERYDAY LIVES as being charged with a mysterious power they called Wyrd. It was manifested by a magical landscape, in which trees, plants and animals all had powerful symbolic presences. Elves, dragons, giants and dwarves were encountered in reality as well as in dreams and stories. Shapeshifting, spellcasting and healing are explored as they happened in real life. Bates also explains really well how such a magical outlook on life relates to our own perspectives. In a time where The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter confirms the potency of magic for our lives, we see how we once had a wisdom lost over the centuries as first Christianity and then science became dominant world views. But Bates does not paint a utopia - he makes clear that life was hard in Anglo-Saxon times. Yet he shows what the usual history or mythology books are missing - the magic at the heart of life in those times. The book is refreshingly written, free from academic pomposity and dry argument. He offers vivid anecdotes, examples, and beautiful descriptions which make the reader feel present in those times. And for those readers who want to follow up topics in more detail, there is an excellent list of sources, with guidance for the specialist academic books that cover the material best. I agree with previous reviewers that the book is not a lot about Tolkien directly. But I and other Tolkien fans who have read it, found it very illuminating about the source of his ideas, and much more original than the many books that just endlessly discuss The Lord of the Rings.
Rating:
Summary: Is Odin a God or not.
Review: The book is rather good. The author goes into detail about the lives of the Saxons, Norse and Celts who lived on the Island of England at various periods. I most say say I learned a great deal about them from this book. The only thing that really got to me was the authors treatment of the Gods. He could never make up his mind weather they were mearly humans that became reveared as gods (very unlikely). Or if they were truly Gods it really gets annoying seeing Professor Bates flip back and forth once on the same page if memory serves me correctly. However the history alone makes this book worth it.
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