Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, 75th Anniversary Illustrated Edition

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One of the problems in this whole undertaking is that some of the books on the list are acknowledged to be "classics", which makes it harder to review them objectively. I was enjoying this so much that sometimes I wished more was explained on why different versions of the same myth exist, but liked how Edith Hamilton is not shy of making it clear which versions she prefers.

I listened to the audio of this book during my work commutes, and I liked it because it was a bunch of stories so I didn't have to keep track of a lot. As a preface, in the first half of the novel, I knew most of these stories, as I've read a longer account of those stories from Stephen Fry’s Mythology series which begins at the Beginning to Troy (so far). I have an old tattered paperback copy of this which helped guide me through the Odyssey and the Iliad. It's at once a primer on world mythology and a pretty exhausting compendium of pretty much any myth or godlike figure you'd want to know about (with an emphasis on western mythologies, which is a bit of a shame; I would have liked to see what Hamilton would have had to say about eastern myths, or African ones). It is a shame since the writing style was much more engaging but it wouldn't be right to rate it any higher.I'm not qualified to give a scholarly opinion on the book, but I would liked to have read more on the Norse Gods. However, I really need to point this out again: this is supposed to be a comprehensive work of mythology as a whole!

I really enjoy reading Mythology and Edith Hamilton’s ‘Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes’ has been no exception. Edith Hamilton's mythology succeeds like no other book in bringing to life for the modern reader the Greek, Roman and Norse myths that are the keystone of Western culture-the stories of gods and heroes that have inspired human creativity from antiquity to the present. Norse Section, I love the little bits of Norse Mythology we get here, but unfortunately provided very little, that it feels like an afterthought. Edith Hamilton's Mythology succeeds like no other book in bringing to life for the modern reader the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths that are the keystone of Western culture--the stories of gods and heroes that have inspired human creativity from antiquity to the present.For 75 years readers have chosen this book above all others to discover the thrilling, enchanting, and fascinating world of Western mythology-from Odysseus's adventure-filled journey to the Norse god Odin's effort to postpone the final day of doom.

I was happy to have the recommendation of Edith Hamilton's Mythology from my Goodreads friend, Beverly about a year ago, when I was looking for a book that would help me understand this subject better. Greek, Roman and Norse mythologies are so old because they have been in existence thousands and thousands of years even before Christ was born. I also enjoyed how the author included different versions of the tales and who originally wrote these down- for example, there are different versions of Jason on the Argo, whether Atalanta was part of the Argo or not and a different tale of Ipigneia’s demise (which I especially loved as her story was so sad! Hamilton proves herself extremely knowledgeable, not only with regard to the Greek Myths but, about the times in which they were composed as well. I don't really mind if she disses Hercules, but her gratuitous dissing of my boy Ovid really didn't win her any points.I based the comparative evaluation on three main general criteria - readability, accuracy, and scope (breadth and depth of coverage); I also looked at how each book handled two particular examples -- the life of Hercules and the story of Philomela and Procne. Really, not a single fuck was given as she whistled through some really great material without doing it a lick of justice.