Mythology (75th Anniversary Illustrated Edition): Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes

I love Greek myths, and my 8 year old does too. I bought this book thinking that I could read the stories aloud to him, but somehow the authors have taken the most spectacular Greek myths and distilled/dried them out into the most dull, flat accounts...they read more like a cliff’s Notes or textbook account of events instead of mythological gods and heros performing fantastic feats or succumbing to jealous rage...all of the life has been sucked out of these pages. If you need a quick recap of a story for reference or a high school report, this is a fine resource. If you are looking for entertaining stories, look elsewhere.

This 75th Anniversary Edition does not disappoint. My introduction to mythology happened more than 50 years ago when my librarian Aunt Louise gave me The Golden Treasury of Myths and Legends by Anne Terry White and Alice and Martin Provensen (a classic itself). I moved on to an early 60s edition of Edith Hamilton's Mythology, entranced with the family trees of the gods and using her description of the Underworld to make a model when I took Latin. Also became a fan of the D'Aulaires' mythology books. My interest and background in mythology have served me well as an English major, grad student, parent, school librarian, and lifelong heavy reader. Now retired, I'm taking a class at our Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at North Carolina State University on mythology. I decided I needed to upgrade my old favorite. The 75th Anniversary edition is beautifully designed, a pleasure to read and hold. Illustrations include plates, page drawings, design motifs, and borders. Anyone with a longstanding or brand-new interest in Greek mythology will be dazzled. Highly recommended.

Totally bummed and embarrassed.I spent the extra money to buy this new as a gift for my son and it arrived completely beat up.

I'm very happy with my purchase of this book overall. First thing I will say though is it is not a book for experts on mythology. It is more a book for beginners or for those who like to extra source material for research but it is not 100% in depth on the subject. I bought this so I could introduce my grandkids to mythology and teach them about all the different types of mythological stories and gods. This book is perfect for that and the illustrations are very bright and vibrant.

I LOVE IT !! looked and smelled beautiful

I studied Edith Hamilton's Mythology back in university and found that I really enjoyed her rendition. I would highly recommend picking up this gorgeous anniversary edition with full color illustrations and even some margin illustrations. The quality is much higher than expected, given the price point.

This is a beautiful book. The cover has a soft buttery feel to it.I took one star away, because the cover on the back had weird greasy marks all over the bottom half. It looked like someone was eating fried chicken when they packaged it. Disappointed that it came filthy like that on the back, but it is a beautiful book regardless.

Always fun to read about Mythology and see the Gods and Goddesses come alive.This is a great book that I have read many times. There are so many rick and colorful stories in here that it is great for people who want to know more about Mythology. You will find so much here to enjoy.Would really recommend. I read this every few years for fun. It is an exciting book that you do not have to read all in one sitting.It helps to have an interest in the subject matter. If you do chances are you will adore this book.

Great stories and very well told. Beautiful pictures.

Super excited to read this, flipping through it looks amazing. Disappointed with how it arrived - needs to be stored in a plastic sleeve as whoever's was handling and packing this clearly had sticky hands as you can see in the pics.

Supremely good. The best introduction you can buy to introduce yourself to the Greek mythos and begin looking at the great, foundational works of Western civilisation: The Iliad, etc. can't recommend this enough. The book and dust jacket look great. Illustrated throughout... Just a marvel. Get it!

This really is a celebration of this classic rendering of the Greek, Roman and Norse myths, by Edith Hamilton. (You only have to see how long it's been in print and how much second-hand copies are fetching, to know why they did it.) Beautifully bound, illustrated and set out, it's a steal at £14.99. I bought it as a gift - for me, ha,ha - and I'm beyond delighted with it.

Book looks fab and really interesting, but like other reviewers mine arrived with grubby paw prints and scratches on the book jacket that was also poorly fitted. A small thing, but when you buy a new book you don’t expect it to be grubby and tatty looking.....