Myths & Legends

My education in mythology has been lacking, to say the least. That's why this book jumped out at me — its contents span the globe. It has been fascinating to compare the creation myths of several distant cultures. Quite a few of them include a deity forming humans out of dirt and then breathing life into them.

It is unfortunately quite obvious that some sections received more care than others, almost certainly a result of the way the book was partitioned among its several authors. There are odd grammatical errors, mostly in the introduction sections. These discrepancies in quality from section to section, while admittedly minor, do detract noticeably from the whole. As much as I want to praise the book as a valuable entry point to these stories, I have to admit that it can feel like a coffee table book. It's not a bad resource, but it's far from a comprehensive encyclopedia.