A Short History of Myth

If you're just getting into mythology and don't want to bog yourself down with something long (like these kinds of books tend to be) then this is a good appetizer.

An excellent, realtively brief account about the human history of "Myth(God)" and it's essential importance to human existence.

Karen Armstrong's *A Short History of Myth* is a tour de force. Not limited to a discussion of what society often thinks of when they think of "myth," Armstrong explains how the mystical/spiritual dimension of humans has expressed itself. Myth, she shows, is not something "false" but is, rather a way of expressing deep truths. She describes its beginnnings among earliest hominids and explains clearly how it was affected by the growth of civilizations up to the modern day, where it remains an essential human experience. For people who misunderstand holy scriptures as being literal histories - and for those (like Bill Maher) who disparage religion because so many religious people have that misunderstanding - this book should be required reading.

This book offers an excellent presentation of the category of myth--what myths are, why they exist, what they provide, how they function in society as well as in individuals. It is both clear and concise; in no sense is it necessary to be familiar with the field in order to understand it. Please be advised that the book is not an anthology of myths. It provides an introduction to myth that would be helpful in a course on mythology, but a collection of myths would also be necessary.

Firstly, this book was used as an introduction to my college mythology class. While she does a good job of giving you a brief history of myths and mythology, the place where this book really shines is in her explanation about how ancient peoples thought of myth and what kind of role they played in their lives. She especially talks about the interaction between mythos and logos in ancient times and the modern concept of taking myths literally. No study of mythology, or even of the history of ancient peoples, would be complete without reading this book first.