The Complete World of Greek Mythology - Cover May Vary

My copy of 'The Complete World of Greek Mythology' came with a completely different cover to the one shown here, however, I don't care because the book itself is excellent!It's a complete encyclopaedia of Greek Mythology (or should that be en-CYCLOPES-pedia... groan) and covers everything from the creation of the Universe, the birth of the Gods and the Titans, the origins of humanity, right the way through to the Olympic games, and of course, all the stories we have come to know and love.The book combines a retelling of all the myths along with detailed and thorough accounts of the world in which they took place. It covers their themes, their relevance to Greek religion and society and even the relationship to the landscape - of which it includes many maps and snaps.In fact, if you're ever going on a holiday to the region, forget the travel guide and tour operators - plan you journey using this book instead and visit Athene's temple at Lindos, Epidauros, Arcadia's Mount Kyllene - birthplace of Hermes, or Delos - birthplace of Apollo (see?! I sound like a right expert now, don't I!)... anyway, every place of interest is listed here for you to peruse.The pages are littered with beautiful photos and illustrations of pottery, paintings, ancient artefacts, and even a recovered skull of an early Olympian - the young athlete with his original gold leaf victory crown still in place on his brow.There are hundreds of family trees so you can trace the linage of the Gods, heroes, and monsters you read about, and the book itself is well written, if perhaps a little blandly (but it is at least clear at least), and well thought out and organised.The pages are lovely and glossy, the pictures clean, crisp and reproduced well, and overall, the book has a good quality feel to it. I should perhaps mention here that it's a hardback book with the usual paper outer.It ends after a thorough walkthrough of ancient Greek Mythology, with a short summing up of the effect it's had on modern day society, in fields such as psychology and politics.Now, I'm not an expert on Greek Mythology (although after reading this - that's debatable, LOL), but I used to love the stories as a child and so thought I'd revisit them in depth as an adult. This book proved to be ideal and provided an interesting and thorough account of stories and events that I could dip in and out of, as and when I pleased.I'm very happy with my purchase and would recommend it to anyone with a passing interest in the subject or who would like to study it in more depth. I'm pretty sure you'll find what you're looking for in it's pages. A footnote on the inside cover and a quick check by myself tells us the book is 256 pages thick with 330 illustrations, 139 of them in colour.If this review was helpful to you at all please give it a thumbs up - and if not, comment on why so I can do a better job for you next time. Thanks :-)

Perfect

Very nice book but be warned Amazon will send you the older print version with a different (but better) cover. But it's still a great book!

Great product . Arrived on time

Bought this as really wanted to read up on Greek mythology.So many businesses have mythology-related names - Argos, Hermes - and I was interested to learn about something not routinely covered at school.The book is very well illustrated and very informative.

Very interesting and full of information

Bought this for my Goddaughters 21st Birthday as she likes Greek Myths, efficient delivery, she was very happy.

Very thorough yet easy to read book covering the myths! Even has maps showing areas in present day. Would definitely recommend.

A perfect referral on Greek mythology. My daughter loved it.

I have several books authored by Richard Buxton and all are well written and researched. Great illustrations, great information. A good read without being too cerebral or too light.

Él libro es bueno pero llegó en muy mal estado, muchas de las paginas estaban arrugadas o rotas, manchadas o pegadas, si no hice la devolución es por que él pedido lo abri dos semanas después de recibirlo. Él conténido es bueno pero no estoy contenta con él producto que me enviaron

I like the sheer volume of information and illustrations it has. As a reference book, it’s great. For my 11 yo son, he was curious and read parts of it he wanted, it was a bit too much for him

The price and number of pages is good . BUT it isn't what I expected. The book doesn't present the myths except as summaries or to refer to categories of myths. The book is more like a sociological analysis of the time and place that produced the Greek myths. This is interesting, but not what I wanted.