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    Don't Know Much About Mythology: Everything You Need to Know About the Greatest Stories in Human History but Never Learned
    Unavailable
    Don't Know Much About Mythology: Everything You Need to Know About the Greatest Stories in Human History but Never Learned
    Unavailable
    Don't Know Much About Mythology: Everything You Need to Know About the Greatest Stories in Human History but Never Learned
    Audiobook20 hours

    Don't Know Much About Mythology: Everything You Need to Know About the Greatest Stories in Human History but Never Learned

    Written by Kenneth C. Davis

    Narrated by John Lee

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Employing the popular Don't Know Much About® style, with its familiar question-and-answer format, DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT MYTHOLOGY will explore the myths of the world, their impact on history, and their continuing role in our lives. It will offer listeners a wide-ranging, comprehensive, entertaining and listenable survey of the great myths of world civilizations, how they came to be, what they meant to the people who created them, how they influenced society, literature and art through history, and how they still speak to us today. Mythology is alive today in our art, literature, theatre, dreams, psychology--and certainly our language. "Pandora's Box," "Golden Fleece," "Labor of Hercules," and "Wheel of Fortune" are just a few of the words and phrases that come from a world of mythology and still color our speech. Using humor, contemporary references, and anecdotal material from mythology, extensive research based on recent archaeology which often reveals the history behind mythology and surprising information that breaks down conventional wisdom, DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT MYTHOLOGY will ultimately be about stories--the great and timeless tales that have fascinated people around the planet for several millennia.


    From the Compact Disc edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateNov 8, 2005
    ISBN9780739317488
    Author

    Kenneth C. Davis

    Kenneth C. Davis is the New York Times bestselling author of A Nation Rising; America's Hidden History; and Don't Know Much About® History, which spent thirty-five consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, sold more than 1.7 million copies, and gave rise to his phenomenal Don't Know Much About® series for adults and children. A resident of New York City and Dorset, Vermont, Davis frequently appears on national television and radio and has been a commentator on NPR's All Things Considered. He blogs regularly at www.dontknowmuch.com.

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    Reviews for Don't Know Much About Mythology

    3.5/5

    92 ratings7 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This book is an intersting blend of history and mythology--and really does prove that most of us don't know much about either! Each section of the book starts with a timeline of events for the part of the world being discussed (ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Americas, Pacific islands, and more) and then follows with information on the myths of each in a question-and-answer format, including a "who's who" of gods and goddesses for each region. Sprinkled throughout each section are "mythic voices", brief segments from sources as varied as the Bible, Egypt's Book of the Dead, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung that serve to renforce the primary text. Overall a fascinating book, it really is a bit too much to read in a short period of time. We listened to the audio version while driving in the car--it was well read by John Lee, though at times his British accent and slightly different pronunciations got to be a bit distracting--over about three months. Definitely recommended, though it is not for young children, as quite a bit of awkward explanations would be needed. Ancient myths are not at all G-rated!
    • 4/5
      This book goes beyond the basics or Roman gods and goddesses. It looks at many cultures, their myths, what they meant to the people, and how they influenced behavior. A good overview of mythology. Like the rest of the Don't Know Much About books, this is a good introduction to the topic of world myths.
    • 4/5
      A really good introduction to the myths and religions of a wide variety of cultures. I found this book to be easy to read and understand with terminology explained in a way that should be clear to most lay readers. My one complaint was that Davis over relies on making parallels with the Christian Bible, but I understand why he chose this strategy.
    • 2/5
      The first chapter is basically an introduction to what mythology is. Okay, great, I don't care, put that in the introduction where it belongs. I know what mythology is, and it didn't say anything I didn't already infer. The actual chapters on mythology didn't go into enough detail for me to actually be interested. I had to skim through 3/4 of the chapters because I just couldn't get into it. In the end, I think I only thoroughly read the chapters about stuff that I already knew. 1.5/5 wasted hours I could have spent reading about mythology on the internet instead of picking apart a book.
    • 1/5
      Imagine having a guy working with fine china while wearing boxing gloves. Davis knows his subject well but does serious damage to the product while he handles it. He seems much too confident that he knows why people believed like they did. He maintains a modern skeptical view of the existence of God. He can't seem to accept the possibility that there might be a real God and that some myths may be saying something about that.
    • 4/5
      This book was very detailed so it's an investment of time. However, I thought the history of the cultures mixed in with various myths was worth reading. I love how Davis explored all cultures equally, not just focus on the traditional Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology. I would have loved more of the myths to be included, but that would have made it an even more lengthy time investment so I understand edits had to be made.
    • 4/5
      This was an audiobook and the reader was just shy of terrible. Every word he could butcher, he did. The worst was when he pronounced the same word multiple ways (eg. shaman: shah-mən, shah-man, shay-mən). The book itself was really fascinating. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I go out of my way to read about mythology, but I must admit there are many mythologies that I'm just not very familiar with. A critique on the book itself - the author really should have stuck with discussing the myths themselves and tried to get involved in modern controversial topics (which he did significantly with Native Americans and their myths).