I had been anticipating this one for ages. Literally, I think it's been on my "to read" shelf for 5 or 8 years. Sadly, it was a big disappointment. Rather than a book with tight editing and clear arguments, it was an interview with Bill Moyers that jumped all over the place with fluffy arguments, flat sound effects, and a meandering structure. I listened to 4 of the 6 parts and jumped over to the next book...

The best part was a summary/discussion of his "hero of a thousand faces," which I may get to another day.

My one take away was Campbell explaining the joy found when you're able to find away activity that avoids fear, desire, or social pressure. Most of what we do is motivated by one (or more) of those three. I don't remember his connecting it, but it seems to connect with his famous quote to "follow your bliss." This, for me, was a profound insight.

So -- there are nuggets in the dialogue, but overall there is better discussion on spirituality. ( )

Some great conversations between two very wise men shows both at their best. Joseph Campbell, who wrote some of the most influential books of the 20th century (just ask any Star Wars fan), talks about the nature of myth and how to weave their lessons into our own lives. ( )

I listened to this as an audiobook, thankfully. I think I had a much better time listening to the interview than I would have reading it. It's certainly interesting, and it's good to know where some of the new agey california stuff I have heard all my life comes from (Follow Your Bliss, etc). It was best when he's telling folk tales. He obviously has much love for them. He understands storytelling very, very well. I wish he was a fiction writer! Can you imagine the comic books he would come up with if he worked for Marvel during the 60s and 70s, instead of this? I do need it to be more rigorous and history based for me to be really convinced of his ideas as nonfiction, though. He loves to extrapolate (and his extrapolations are gorgeous), but I don't think they are historically sound. Maybe in that other book of his? Maybe. I'm not writing him off yet (he popularized many ideas that I take for granted), but I can understand why people have strong reservations about him. ( )

Beautiful and completely unexpected. ( )

It's a series of interviews Campbell gave to Bill Moyers on the nature and power of myth taped over two years, with the last one done a few months before his death . In a format of questions and answers
Campbell examines common myths that transcend cultures and human conditions: on the hero, the nature of myth, storytelling, the goddess, and finally what we understand of eternity. His thoughts are
very insightful and show both immense knowledge of the subject matter and an amazing ability to both analyze and synthesize. He is at an equal ease citing from Greek and Western philosophers, Old and New
Testament, Eastern ancient texts, and various aboriginal cultural tradition. He spices it all up with stories and myths which he retells with great skill.
Wonderful stuff. I'll be reading more of him.
( )