Books Mythology
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Rating: - Outstanding and opinionated introduction to mythology
I first read this book as a child and it was the first book I ever wore out. It relates all the key Graeco-Roman myths, with Norse myths treated perfunctorily at the end. Hamilton learned Greek and Latin as a little girl and wrote her books late in life; they read like the works of someone who spent a lifetime reading the classics for personal pleasure. Readers using this book as an introductory guide should be aware of Hamilton's prejudices: she prefers the Greeks to the Romans, and writers who believed in the stories to those who did not. As a result, you might be wrongly discouraged from classical authors such as Ovid (whom Hamilton seems to actively despise), even though Ovid's worldview is strikingly similar to our modern one and his writing vivid and enjoyable. But if you approach this book as an opinionated presentation by a genuine enthusiast, as opposed to an effort at scholarly objectivity, you will not likely regret being caught up in the passion the author brought to this material.

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Rating: - Zero Stars
Just one word BBOORRIINNGG. You should only read this book as required reading.

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Rating: - Excellent collection of mythological stories.
Although it's difficult to give an accurate review of such a large book with so many different stories, overall Edith Hamilton's Mythology deserves five stars. For a discussion on the myths within this book, please skip down to the capitalized section.

The effort put into this book is tremendous. It is quite obvious by her writing the Ms. Hamilton has dedicated plenty of time to this work. Although not all works which have been worked on for so long are necessarily successul, this one is.

The book mainly covers Greek and Roman mythology, with a small section of Norse mythology at the end. As there are at least two different names for each god and goddess due to the difference between the Greek and Roman myths, the stories can get a bit confusing. Yet Ms. Hamilton does her best to aid us in understanding. The work begins with an introduction to mythology section which describes certain gods and goddesses, as well as the history of mythology. As stated, these parts may be confusing since there are usually a Roman and Greek name for each important figure.

THE STORIES THEMSELVES. The myths themselves are told excellently by Hamilton. She offers views from many different sources, often choosing the best source for each story (or each particular part of a story). As myths differ from writer to writer, you may find that the version of one myth is different from the version Hamilton tells. This is expected. However, Ms. Hamilton does an excellent job telling the myths as best she can, especially considering the amount of myths she tells in the book.

The only complaint I have of this book is the fact that some myths that I consider important only receive a few pages in the book, while less important myths (in my opinion) have several pages dedicated to them. Another example of this is the presence of such myths that I thought were important in the 'less important myths' section.

Overall, this is a good overview of mythology and is definitely recommended. If you are planning a trip to Greece anytime, I suggest picking this up as it will help explain the significance of many places within Greece that you may end up visiting.

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Rating: - use it as a resource
As a long-time student of mythology, I was generally disappointed with this book. It hardly appreciates the richness of Greek mythology; Hamilton rather plods through the stories in Greek mythology (the book ought to be called "Greek and Roman Mythology," as it is mostly stories from ancient Greek culture, and its imitators, the Romans), except for that last chapter on Norse mythology. The only useful parts are the introductory chapters, which provide a nice overview of the themes of Greco-Roman mythology, how it came about, brief bios of major writers, etc, and the genealogical tables at the back of the book. For a better introduction to mythology, and a book that encompasses more than Greco-Roman mythology, read Michael Macrone's "Brush Up Your Mythology."