civilization philosophies transforming transformation

books:

A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake: Unlocking James Joyce's Masterwork

10 reviews
Joseph Campbell, Henry Morton Robinson

New World Library, 2005

night keys to the skeleton of a wake
finnagans wake is not comprehensible. it is not like reading or watching a film. Mr.Joyce spoke over a dozen languages fluently and this book is in English and french and Swahili and Italian and Latin, Greek AND mostly in his own language which is kindof like English. it is not understandable because some many words are derivative of others, the characters are always changing and the story is ...

The Masks of God, Vol. 1: Primitive Mythology

21 reviews
Joseph Campbell

Penguin (Non-Classics), 1991

A Review For the Series Entire (& a Brief Review of This Volume)
A Myth is not a lie, but, like Art, a rendering of Truth. Subsequently, religion is the extension of myth through ritual. Despite the titles, these texts are as much about religion as myth, and the works are all the better for it. Campbell skillfully explores the Human experience, and what Man has made of it, over the course of these four seminal works. At times, one feels the influence of ...

The Power of Myth

127 reviews
Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers

Anchor, 1991

A fitting Introduction
It isn't often that one comes across a book that can be referenced again and again. This is probably best described as broad overview of the late Joseph Campbell's best work. For those who are not familiar with the scholar's previous works, including the world renowned "Hero with a Thousand Faces" (which has also been reviewed), this work covers the vast expanse of Campbell's ideas and research ...

Transformations of Myth Through Time

5 reviews
Joseph Campbell

Harper Perennial, 1990

This one also ties for the most important book I've read:
This was another of those synchronist events that happens in the form of the written word. Actually, I got ahold of these videos through my local library at a time when I was searching for questions instead of answers. This book is a tour de force of the mythological evolution of the human species. Campbell addresses what the elemantary ideas of myth are and how they present themselves ...

Myths of Light: Eastern Metaphors of the Eternal (Collected Work of Joseph Campbell Series)

5 reviews
Joseph Campbell

New World Library, 2003

Great Introduction to Asian Religion
I heard about this book at the Campbell Foundations website and was very interested--I'd always wanted to learn more about Asian religions but had found the books I'd looked at either too hard-core academic or too new-agey or too obscure. I tried reading the Bhagavad Gita ten years ago, and thought it was cool, but couldn't really understand it. This book really gave me an insight into the ...

The Portable Jung (Viking Portable Library)

14 reviews
Carl G. Jung

Penguin (Non-Classics), 1976

A Classic
This is a fascinating book on Jungian thought and his psychological concepts. If you avoid being intimidated by the size of the book, and you methodically go through each page from the beginning to the end, you will grasp the extent and depth of Jung's intellect and ideas. The word "archetype" is used by Jung to describe the concept of the strong unseen influences that result in predictable ...

The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales

21 reviews
Brothers Grimm, Josef Scharl

Pantheon, 1972

excellent
"The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales" comprises all of the Grimm brother's dark and eerie tales. I recommend this book to all who enjoy endings that are not always happy.

Myths to Live By

19 reviews
Joseph Campbell, Johnson E. Fairchild

Penguin (Non-Classics), 1993

Our own, and the world's, divine ground
I am glad that I finally got around to reading this collection of Campbell's lectures delivered between 1958 and 1971. Since they deal with eternal subject matter there is little chance of them being "dated." The common theme running through them all is the deep power of myth on the inner, spiritual lives of human beings throughout the ages. This includes our own age, whether we personally want ...

Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation

14 reviews
Joseph Campbell

New World Library, 2004

A Mythology Self-Help Book!
Everyone with the slightest familiarity with Joseph Campbell, of course, knows the famous catch-phrase: "Follow Your Bliss". And everyone pretty much knows what it means, as well: Figure out whatever your passion is, and responsibly and diligently move forward, and pursue it... for the rest of your life... above and beyond anything else. Sounds like words of wisdom from a worthy and ...

The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Mythos Books)

99 reviews
Joseph Campbell

Princeton University Press, 1972

Star Wars connection
I first learned about this book, when I read that George Lucas used it as a template for creating his Star Wars movies. If you look closely at Star Wars having read this book, you can see how it does reflect the common patterns of the Hero's Story, as contained in mythology. You might find yourself seeing as I did how the hero character relates to the story of your own life, and your own ...

The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: Metaphor as Myth and as Religion

11 reviews
Joseph Campbell

New World Library, 2002

Waiting For A New Mythology
In THE INNER REACHES OF OUTER SPACE Joseph Campbell repeats some of the familiar observations of his earlier works in which he shows how certain mythic motifs can be found buried in all of the world's religious traditions. The similarities may not be easily recognized because the same motifs are usually understood and developed in different ways because of cultural differences. These repetitive ...

Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization

4 reviews
Heinrich Robert Zimmer

Princeton University Press, 1972

One of the essential texts on the symbolism of Hinduism.
Edited by the late Joseph Campbell, Zimmer's book is a detailed analysis and explanation of the significance and history of many of the symbols found in Indian art and religon. It has a good index and several photographs at the end which provide essential examples.

The Language of the Goddess

13 reviews
Marija Gimbutas, Joseph Campbell

Thames & Hudson, 2001

Frost and thunder upon humanity's fruiting tree-flowers
Gimbutas has unsheathed from history's husk, the weed-seed of modern thorns. She lays bare the dark battle obsessed mind-set that bruised and nearly rooted out 'the adoration of life principle' that drove the path of Europe's ancestors, and eventually entangled it with vengeance. The briars were invasive Indo-European peoples, who razed the united civilization of prehistoric Europe to near ...

The Masks of God, Vol. 3: Occidental Mythology

9 reviews
Joseph Campbell

Penguin (Non-Classics), 1991

Evolution of Occidental Religious Thought as an Epic Dialogue Between Levantine and European Beliefs
Many other excellent longer reviews have been written for this book, so I'll just keep mine (relatively) short. I bought and read this volume first, and it inspired me to order the other three volumes of "The Masks of God". Although I'm not a specialist in comparative religion, I found this volume an excellent introduction: covering the entire history of religion west of and including Persia, ...

The Mythic Dimension: Selected Essays 1959-1987 (Collected Works of Joseph Campbell)

2 reviews
Joseph Campbell

New World Library, 2007

Wonderful essays finally available
It is hard to find the scarce published of Campbell's essays and this book delivers. These selections are full of Campbell's brilliance but leave you wanting more. It is a good thing it is only PART of his collected works! There is more to come!

Philosophies of India

11 reviews
Heinrich Robert Zimmer

Princeton University Press, 1969

a pleasure
After reading both JN Mohanty's Classical Indian Philosophy and Zimmer's Philosophies of India, I definitely favor the later. He exposes the philosophy of India mainly through religion and history, which makes this massive book much more readable than one would expect... that he takes the questionable liberty of associating sankya/yoga, jainism, and buddhism as having a common pre-aryan origin, ...

The Masks of God, Vol. 2: Oriental Mythology

8 reviews
Joseph Campbell

Penguin (Non-Classics), 1991

Uneven but fascinating commentary
"Oriental Mythology" is the second in the "Masks of God" series, the follow up to "Primitive Mythology". It covers more of the mind boggling extent of humankind's mythic past, material that is the basis for religion and philosophy. Campbell presents all sorts of details from artifacts dug up by archeologists and some rather long-winded quoted passages. Much of it is rather uneven and challenging ...

The Mythic Image

3 reviews
Joseph Campbell

Princeton University Press, 1981

Joe Campbell at his best!
One of the last projects he worked on, this beautifully illustrated book puts together Campbell's views on myth as manafested through art. This could be his very best achievement as a "comparative mythologist." Organized around the theam of the world-as-dream (from Hinduism to *Finnagan's Wake*), it discusses several universal motifs in art/myth (the virgin birth, the world axis, the death ...

Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor

18 reviews
Joseph Campbell

New World Library, 2001

Useful Introduction
Campbell points out that all of the religions of the West come from the Near East rather than Europe. He is referring to Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In all of these religions it is taught that the world was made by God. The creator is God and the creature is the world. The world and God are not the same. In these religions the Divine is not within the individual. In the ...

The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work (Campbell, Joseph, Works.)

6 reviews
Joseph Campbell

New World Library, 2003

An excellent in-depth account of Joseph Campbell
This book was well designed. The introduction by Phil Counsineau alone is worth the price. Instead of hidden away in some appendix, the Chronology of Joseph Campbell is up front before reading the details. The book is written mostly in a question and answer format. Next striking thing is the pictures that accompany the text makes you feel that some one knew that Joseph was going to be some ...

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