Mythology

I remember a few summers as a kid when I was obsessed with Greek mythology. I had one of those Complete Idiot's Guide books about it that I loved that covered a lot in an interesting way.

This book seems extremely comprehensive, but isn't nearly as interesting. It's pretty studious in the way it presents the tales, often just laying out the “facts” of the story with very little insight added (though I did like how the beginning of a section often outlined the source poems/writings from which the author pulled). I thought this worked really well in some cases, but it made certain sections feel like more of a chore as it read as of some uninteresting stories were just bullet pointed in in order to not be missed.

I bought this on sale for Kindle, but I know there is a beautiful illustrated anniversary edition and I kind of wish I bought that as a coffee table book to occasionally browse instead of reading through this entire thing at once.

I returned this book to the library half finished, not because it was a bad book, but because I already knew most of the myths inside. Also because the due date was looming. It's definitely a great resource for anyone who wants to brush up or learn about well-researched Greek myths in the story format we love so much about them.