The Meaning of Myth

Dr Neel Burton is a psychiatrist, philosopher, and wine-lover who is a Fellow of Green-Templeton College in the University of Oxford, and reading The Meaning of Myth felt precisely like attending a general interest seminar led by such an interestingly polymathic professor. Burton begins by explaining the differences between myths, fables, legends, goes on to explain the important roles that a culture’s enduring myths play (and how they complement religion and science), and then recounts and dissects twelve of the myths from Ancient Greece that would be at least passingly familiar to a Western reader. I highlighted passages in every chapter, found the whole thing fascinating and accessible, and I would recommend this as a general interest read to anyone.

The main things that I enjoyed about this book were the way that the writing style was presented as straightforward without falling prey to the inherent dryness of similar titles, and the obvious care and passion the author has for the topics at hand. I think perhaps that it wasn’t quite what I expected, however, and would perhaps be better suited for someone who was either less familiar with these myths in particular and had more use for the clean, concise summarizations and analyses of them, or someone who intently analyzes the myths themselves and may be curious about the specific perspective another. All in all, I might have given this piece a 3-star for my personal enjoyment of it, but I’ve bumped the rating for the fact that I believe that there are others who would enjoy it more, and because I could see the devotion the author put into the writing, even though “part 1” and the structure of the retelling (I think I’d expected more elaborate tales) weren’t exactly what I was looking for from it.

Many thanks for the ARC.

I really enjoy this book and found it very interesting and I learned quite a bit too

I enjoy this for the insight of myths having multiple levels and can be used as a guide about how to live our lives

The Meaning of Myth is a book about myth written from the perspective of psychiatrist Neel Burton, He dissects the meaning of myth, differentiates it from legends and fairytales, examines the function of heroes, monsters, and magic, and explores the evolution of myths. The second part of the book takes a close look at 12 well known myths such as Eros and Psyche, Demeter and Persephone, Prometheus, Pandora etc... to uncover the deeper meanings and potential purposes of the myths.

This is a vast topic for any author to tackle and I thought Neel Burton was succinct in his writing. He concisely summarzied the myths and offered a deeper analysis of their meanings without getting lost in archetypal and mystical ideas.

I give this book 4/5 stars because the myths featured in this book have been over-analyzed by mythologists and psychologists, so the interpretations were not new or original. It would be nice to see some lesser known myths be explored in a future book,

This little book first examined what a myth actually is, alongside its close cousins the legend, parable, fable and fairy tale. The myth reaches parts of the psyche that neither the latter nor the world of 'objective' science can - they speak to the soul, and the human need to make sense of life in and reconnect to something beyond themselves.

The writer is a psychiatrist by profession, but he is clearly a very erudite scholar in Hellenic mythology. And it is to the Greek myths he turns to, to look at what lies behind their layered meanings and how the might apply to the various common human dilemmas of today.

A must for anyone who is interested in mythology and how European civilisation evolved, through examining the stories that have been passed down about it.

This is a nice overview of myths, its history, how they relate to the modern-day, and worth anyone's investment of time and money. This is a concise survey of mythology and written by an author who is clearly well versed in this, and numerous other areas. The author is no bout a polymath of sorts, writes in a way that popular audiences will appreciate, but also writes in such a way where the reader is left pondering further the ideas he brought to the surface in his writing.

This was a wonderfully informative book that gave you a fresh look at well known myths and legends. Accessible without seeming dumbed down, and while avoiding the dry text book feeling you'll sometimes get in non fiction. While I would suggest it for people less familiar (read obsessed) with myths than I am, I still thoroughly enjoyed reading this title and learning Dr. Burton's view on these stories.

My thanks to the publishers for a copy of this book to review. In it, the author begins with a mythographic exploration of what distinguishes myths from legends, fables and fairy tales and discusses some key elements which recur in many of the myths from the ancient world, not to mention in religious stories from more modern times.

He then takes several examples of myths, summarises their content and unwraps what he thinks they try to show us about life. He comes at the material as a sort of psychiatric philosopher and I found quite a bit of what he picks out interesting and thought provoking. He shines his torch quite widely and surprisingly over the ancient and modern worlds to illustrate the points he makes, which is fine if you are already acquainted with the content of Greek myths in particular.

If you were expecting to learn about the story content of ancient myths we encounter in life today, however, this would not be the best place to start and there are some quite obscurely pedantic word choices in the text too. Why use perdure when endure would do just fine and everyone would know what you meant to say.

Nonetheless some of the information in the book, such as the origin of some words like clews or clues and of practices such as Olympic relay races is quite fascinating and, overall, I enjoyed this slightly idiosyncratic volume and recommend it.

This is an innovative and unique perspective on the most famous myths of Greek Mythology.

The author is a psychiatrist by trade, so he gives us an interpretation of the most famous stories from his unique perspective.

The first part of the book breaks down the meaning of myths (i.e. the literal definition, what they mean symbolically, their relation to religion). The second part breaks down twelve stories from Greek history. My favourite myth covered in this book is that of Theseus and the Minotaur.

Absolutely fascinating and anyone with an interest in the classics or mythology will thoroughly enjoy it!

This was a really fun and engaging read from start to finish. For those interested in mythology and in psychology, this book is broken down into two sections:
1. The meaning of myth
2. Myths decoded.

In part 1, Burton spends a good chunk of time breaking down the idea and concept of mythology and it’s importance in the classical world. This is hugely important for people who (no shade) rely on Percy Jackson to understand mythology. This will provide a good primer-level background for life, definitions, and key roles for myth in the golden age of Greece. A reader will need all of this to beat understand part two.

In part 1, I particularly loved his chapter 8 on Magic and the tropes in our lore. He writes, “Magic is fading or has been banished from the land, which is in deathly decline—caught, perhaps, in a perpetual winter—and the hero is called upon to rescue and restore the life-giving forces of old. There is, of course, a glaring parallel with our own world, in which magic has been slowly driven out, first by religion, which over the centuries became increasingly repressive of magic, and more latterly by science, which, for all its advantages, struggles to meet our emotional needs.” In each chapter, he explains elements or themes of importance, and explains how they are still relevant thousands of years later. He also provides images to solidify his claims, which I enjoyed greatly.

In part 2, he takes some of the most famous myths (Medusa, Theseus, Odysseus, Pygmalion) and first retells them from the original sources and then begins to analyze them. For some, this may seem redundant as these myths are quite popular but for me (a life long reader of myth), I quite enjoyed the retelling. I don’t think a book like this could get away without the retelling aspect.

Each chapter is set up with a detailed retellings from as far back a source as possible, Plato’s Republic, Ovid even. And then, Burton provides an image inspired my the myth (sculpture, painting, etc), and then his analysis begins. Much of it is grounded in historical context from Greco-Roman society, and then he branches into a more modern take— why we still read them today and how they’re still archetypes for people, relationships, case studies, etc.

Not once did I feel like this nonfiction text was over my head, using jargon I didn’t understand or couldn’t comprehend. I enjoyed this reading from start to finish.

I received this copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

This book was an interesting read. I would highly recommend it to those interested in the subject matter. Well done.

i did not finish the book in time before it ran out but from what i read it was very insightful and interesting. it is on an area of particular interest for me so i knew i was going to like it but from what i read i’d recommend this

Great book, finally I understood the difference between myths, legends, fables, and fairy tales. I prefer fables and i am trying to teach my children the stories close to reality.
Thank you NetGalley for this interesting book.

A must read if you are a lover of mythology!! I definitely learned a lot and can't wait to annoy my family with my newfound knowledge.

I found this really interesting and easy to read.
I really liked that the information was given in 'plain english' and didn't try to sound superior etc.
I did speed read this book but think I will definitely be rereading it again at a more leisurely pace. I don't usually read books for a second time but feel that this one deserves a second reading.

4.5 ⭐

Thank you NetGally for letting me review this book.

This is such an interesting and informative book. For sure I did get a lot of information and new views about the things that's being discussed on this book. Very detailed and also engaging that really interest me in many ways.

The 2nd part really enjoyed the most, I was really invested on the takings and discussions on that part. I just find it very well written, point out and voiced up that is really interesting and informative on the part where I get to noticed different and new aspects from the stories.

Overall it's very good read.

I had a lot of fun reading this book, I loved that the author uses Greek Myths and psychology to recreate other myths. It was a great read and I enjoyed getting to read this.

For those that study/are familiar with myths, this might not be the best read for you. It definitely reads like its for those who are just cultivating an interest and are curious to the differences in myths, legends, fables, etc. That does not in any way make this book bad! Everyone has to start somewhere. Burton's writing feels (and is) accessible. Many books like this tend to come off as dry and academic - so not for your average public library reader. Burton writes in a way that captivates interest and walks the reader through not just the mythology itself, but what it means and why it exists.