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Mythos

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Mythos
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Mythos

2017 | Religion

No one loves and quarrels, desires and deceives as boldly and brilliantly as Greek gods and goddesses. They are like us, only more so - their actions and adventures scrawled across the heavens above, from the birth of the universe to the creation of humankind.

Stephen Fry - who fell in love with these stories as a child - retells these myths for our tragic, comic, fateful age.

Witness Athena born from the cracking open of Zeus's great head and follow Persephone down into the dark realm of Hades. Experience the terrible and endless fate of Prometheus after his betrayal of Zeus and shiver as Pandora opens her jar of evil torments.

The Greek gods are the best and worst of us, and in Stephen Fry's hands they tell us who we are.

Mythos - smart, funny, and above all great fun - is the retelling we deserve by a man who has been entertaining the nation for over four decades.

A true polymath, Stephen Fry is a British comedian, actor, writer, presenter, and activist whose writing includes everything from novels to a guide to poetry, he is also the voice of the Harry Potter audiobooks. Amongst his best-known works are the novels The Hippopotamus and The Liar, the biographies Moab is My Washpot, The Fry Chronicles and More Fool Me as well as The Ode Less Travelled

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Stephen Fry
Published by Penguin Books Ltd
Edition Hardcover
ISBN 9780718188726
Language English
religion

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Mythos Reviews & Ratings (10)
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ClareR (5824 KP) rated

Apr 28, 2019  
Mythos
Mythos
Stephen Fry | 2017 | Religion
10
8.7 (10 Ratings)
Book Rating
Audiobook: Stephen Fry’s excellent book narrated expertly.
I love Stephen Fry’s voice, and he reads his book so well. There’s great detail and great story choices. I’m a big fan of Greek mythology anyway, ever since I was a child, and this is a superb way to revisit those stories. It’s a great selection, I really enjoyed his take on the stories and what he added to the dialogue of the Gods, Goddesses and unfortunate humans.
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Rob P (30 KP) rated

Jan 22, 2019 (Updated May 6, 2019)  
Mythos
Mythos
Stephen Fry | 2017 | Religion
10
8.7 (10 Ratings)
Book Rating
Accessible (2 more)
Simplified
Incredible insight into how much the modern world has taken from Greek and Roman culture
A lot of pretty complex names to remember (1 more)
Constant footnotes (usually at least one per page) to explain certain aspects, or highlight an interesting fact.
Mythos - The Greek legends retold
Ah, what a great read. Stephen Fry writes exactly how you would expect him to, if you've ever heard him speak. He understands the subject matter, and more importantly, realises how easily a reader will be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of players in these myths and answers that problem without condescension.

The book reads as a quasi-novel, from the birth of the universe to the third and fourth generations of immortals (this includes the creators, the titans, the gods, and mythical creatures/characters, spawns of titans and gods, gods and creatures, gods and men and all sorts.) and their adventures, each following on from the other.

I have always had an interest in the Greek myths and gods, and as I suggested above the really interesting part of these stories, beyond the very human nature of the immortals (jealousy, unreasonableness, duplicity, rage, deceit and pride) which makes for so much more of a believable creation theory, is the myriad ways they have influenced English language (any many others I'm sure). To give an example (I'm showing my own ignorance flagrantly here) a simple thing, the alphabet. It never occurred to me, in my own self centered existence, this simply come from the first and second letters of the Greek alphabet. Alpha and Beta. So simple, so obvious, yet I never made this connection.

The stories themselves are wonderful, and the best thing about them is they all tie in with a creation theory. Something, whatever it is, is learned, or created. Some paradigm is set, some moral conundrum is answered, or something in the world is explained by the end of every story told (the tides, the moon, wine, love, soul, war, sex, the seasons, humanity itself just to name a few). It's such an entertaining read, and I find myself telling anyone who will listen some of the revelations I find in this book page on page on page.

As an end note, don't be overwhelmed by the prospect of reading about these stories, this installment ONLY covers from creation, to the establishment of the twelve Greek gods, and their children. It stops before the even greater amount of legends stemming from human demigods (Hercules, Perseus etc) and these are picked up in Fry's most recent offering, Heroes (which I am yet to read).

If you have any interest in the Greek mythology, or etymology, or even history as a whole, this is absolutely one for you.

- Rob
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Tracy Richardson (1 KP) rated

May 18, 2019  
Mythos
Mythos
Stephen Fry | 2017 | Religion
8
8.7 (10 Ratings)
Book Rating
Stephen Fry takes us on a journey through Greek myths, revisiting the hero's the pat while educating you along the way. Brilliant read so good I went and Hero's too. (0 more)
Greek mythology revisited.
  
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Collette Hobbs (0 KP) rated

Jan 24, 2019  
Mythos
Mythos
Stephen Fry | 2017 | Religion
8
8.7 (10 Ratings)
Book Rating
The order, he starts from the beginning of Greek Mythology (0 more)
Fry dumbs it down but makes you feel like an expert
A witty book packed with fascinating facts. fry leads you on a volcabulary journey, for you don't only learn about the 'history' of Greek Mythology, you learn how the gods influenced many of the words we use today.