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| Author: Edith Hamilton
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Category: Book
List Price: $13.99
Buy New: $11.19
You Save: $2.80 (20%)
Rating:  80 reviews
Sales Rank: 5093
Media: Paperback
Edition: 11
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 0316341517
Dewey Decimal Number: 292.13
EAN: 9780316341516
Publication Date: September 14, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
A fine book for reference, but woefully lacking in spirit. July 14, 1999
21 out of 24 found this review helpful
Perhaps spirit is the wrong word. It is obvious by the late Miss Hamilton's writing that she harbors quite an affinity for the Gręco-Roman/Norse myths and cultures. However knowledgeable and talented she is at non-fiction and discussion, the actual tellings of the myths emerge as dull and tedious. If the prospective reader is looking for a thorough and well-crafted reference guide with brief recounts of the myths with little poetry or other flairs for the dramatic, this book is a fine choice. On the other hand, if one wants a reference guide that is entertaining as well, they will be more satisfied with "Bulfinch's Mythology" as long as it has an index and glossary. If the reader desires not reference but pure entertainment value, and does not wish to read translated Homer, Virgil, Ovid, etc., I suggest "Gods, Heroes, and Men of Ancient Greece," by W.H.D. Rouse. The book is written as a storyteller would deliver the myths.
 More about Ms. Hamilton's world than the Greeks' world August 12, 2002
14 out of 22 found this review helpful
As a very quick and superficial introduction, this book may have some benefit, in the same way that the Cliff Notes can be useful, but if you want to get the true flavor of the myths and of the Greek universe, you best go elsewhere. Edith Hamilton reached so widely, while being so hemmed in by the strictures of her day, that she paints the stories only in the broadest of brush strokes, and bowdlerizes them in the process, much as might be expected of a proper British lady scholar writing in the days of top hats and steam locomotives.We may well be doing a disservice to our students by exposing them to this work, bland and devoid of the passion, immediacy and rawness that still resonate from the surviving Greek and Roman texts. If we want to imbue the present generation with love of knowledge, I would recommend instead Robert Fagles' wonderful translations of Homer and Sophocles, Nick Rudall's translation of Euripides' "Trojan Women", or Calimach's vivid rendition of the male love myths in "Lovers' Legends". But not Dame Edith.
 The crown of all mythology books out there July 7, 1999
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
This book is hot, it kicks, it rocks, it rules. Can't say it enough; this is phenomenal storytelling, this is pure unsullied love for classic myth, this is beautiful. You cannot find a more complete source than this. All the stories are there, all the details, every little insignificant character. You want animated tale-spinning, you have it here. All the passion and the morals and the humour and the fire and the history and the charm and the beauty and the mystery...collected into this single volume. It's a crime not to read it.
 ***DONT READ THIS BOOK*** July 31, 2002
8 out of 55 found this review helpful
I was required to read this book for summer reading as of going into ninth grade. Now I am no genius and I don't really know that much about mythology but I found this book EXTERMLY confusing. It made no sense what so ever. I dont think this lady knew waht she was doing(not to insult her). I also had to take notes and she makes nothing clear she goes on and on about usless infomation, that has no real relivance to the story that she is presently trying to tell. Just tread another book, unless you like to read horrible books for fun.
Your Beginning And Ending Reference Book For Greek/Roman Myths October 24, 2005
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
This Is One I First Read In High School And Have Returned To Often.Dame Edith's Reference Book Is The Definative Encyclopedia Of Mythology.
This Is A Book That Can Be Read By Lovers Of Adventure At Any Age.Arranged In Interesting And Fun Chapters Starting With The Beginning Of The World Where Mother Earth And Father Heaven Give Birth To The Titans,To The Birth Of THEIR Children And How They Took Over The World When The Twelve Major Gods And Goddesses Overpowered Them,To The Forming Of Man And The Gift Of Woman To Him.From There It Branches To The Everyday Heros And The Children Of The Gods-Jason And The Argonauts,Hercules,Perseus And His Battle With Medusa,And Many More.
All Of These Wonderous Stories Are Here To Enjoy Over And Over And Over Again.And You Can Find And Love Them In This Volume.It Even Includes Their Roman Counterparts And An Introduction To Egyptian Mythology As Well.You Won't Be Bored,And You Will Never Be Tired Of Them.
What The Magic Of Reading Is Made Of.
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