Helpful Score: 4
One of my favorite books of all time! Joseph Campbell talks with Bill Moyers about the myth cycle and the stories mankind has told over and over agin. If you have any interest in history, anthropology, mythology, folk lore, spirituality, and/or religion; you will adore this book.
This is the companion book (although not identical) to the 6-hour 1988 PBS miniseries of the same title. It is a fascinating journey as Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell chat about "The Power of Myth". Not only does this volume provide explanation of what myth is, and how it fits into our society and species, but it gives a multitude of illustrations from prehistory up through recorded history to the modern age in which we live. This book was great follow-on to the Karen Armstrong book i just previously read "A Short History of Myth". I particularly enjoyed the discussion of the relationship of myth to religions over the ages, and to the religions with which we are familiar in this century, and also the contrast of myth with religion, and the effects religion has on myth. Myth draws on many aspects of our lives, and in turn feeds many aspects of our lives. This is a great discussion, and i'm looking forward to watching the PBS series on DVDs which i checked out at our local library. I love Joseph Campbell's personal worldview, and how inclusive and really true it is, to himself, and to those around him, and to his world. He offers the same to all of us, if we each just, as he instructs us "Follow your bliss".
