Eighty myths from around the world are gathered in Penelope Farmer's Beginnings, which is divided into seven thematic sections, ranging from Earth, containing those tales which chronicle the creation of our world, to The End of the World, containing those which chronicle its destruction. In between are sections devoted to: Man, with tales of the creation of humanity; Flood, with stories concerning the ancient deluge said to have wiped the world clean; Fire, with tales in which this most important blessing must be won from the unwilling divinities; Death, with myths involving the coming of sorrow and death to humanity; and finally, Food Plants, with tales of the creation of crops vitally important to human survival. Also included, at the rear, are a list of sources for each section, and a bibliography.

The selections range from brief one or two-sentence snippets to page-long tales of a more involved nature, and are taken from all parts of the world. Refreshingly, Farmer does not rely upon the false "religion vs. mythology" distinction, treating all the mythological traditions - including the three Abrahamic faiths - as examples of the same kind of meaning-creation. I really appreciated the fact that a quotation from the Book of Genesis was included in the "Man" section, for instance.

But although I really like the idea of this book, and find comparative mythology fascinating, I have to admit that the experience of reading it was rather uneven. It cannot be an accident, after all, that I haven't found another soul online, who has reviewed this one. Some of the tales were quite engaging, and therefore easy to read, but others - particularly those from traditions with which I was mostly unfamiliar - were more difficult, as I wasn't entirely sure what to make of them, or how to locate them in a wider set of stories. Classical Greek mythology makes sense to me (relatively speaking), because I've read more of it. Babylonian mythology, on the other hand, isn't a subject in which I've read very widely, so the Lament for Tammuz, the Harvest God felt like a part of larger whole I wasn't really understanding.

Still, although I wouldn't describe this as a gripping read, nor one that really touched me - with the notable exception of the Hindu story in which Death does not wish to be Death, and goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid her fate - it was still quite interesting, particularly for anyone who enjoys comparing similar tales across diverse cultures. ( )