The Norse Myths (The Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)

If you're looking for a good cheap book on norse mythology then you should buy this book. It starts off with an introduction which tell the kind of roles these myhs played in the lives of the norse. It also helps set you up with some information on some of the god's and how these myths came into being.Then come the stories which start with the creation of the world and it ends with the destruction of it. In all you get 32 stories, most of which deal with the god's interacting with humans, dwarves and their enemies the giants. The stories themselves are told very nicely and they never get dull. The only problem one might have is trying to pronounce some of the names.After the stories he gives information on each story on which source he used and sometimes he had to use differnt sources or how he had to altar some things so that the stories didn't contridict each other. There is also an index and a glossary at the end.I really enjoyed this book for the stories and the history behind them and I would highly reccomend it to anyone who has an interest in the norse myths, young or old.

I love this book. It has very readable translations of all the Norse mythology. It has an awesome introduction (maybe 25-30 pages or so?, not too heavy) that covers Norse culture, history, cosmology, and the authors/collectors of the stories. There are also very interesting end notes for each myth commenting on things like one myth's relation to the others, cultural context, alternate versions of the tale, etc. There's a decent sized glossary which is very handy. For me this book is the perfect balance of fun, readable "fairy tales" with a dash of more scholarly commentary for when you want to go deeper. I loved the book the first time through, and pick it up often to read a tale or two from time to time. If you're interested in Norse mythology, but don't have a lot of background in the area, this is the perfect book!

This is a super-entertaining, super-accessible retelling of Norse myths ranging from the Theft of Idun's Apples to Ragnarok. Holland has stayed relatively true to the myths, but he has put words in the mouths of the gods and attributed small actions (like grabbing someone by the shoulders) to flesh out the narrative. If you're looking for the myths without any added narrative bits, you should go to the Eddas and not Holland's book of retellings.There are also notes on each myth at the back of the book. These notes really illuminate the different gods, their actions, and the possible symbolic meanings behind them. I also like how Holland was sort of sympathetic to Loki, who's too often cast as the Norse Satan and not attributed the same depth of character as other gods such as Odin or Thor.

This book recounts Norse myths from an older time in human history and culture. The Vikings changed their religious beliefs in the 11 to 13 century and maybe in the 10 century at the earliest, why? A reason for this could be related to the changing beliefs of their neighbors, particularly in a cultural and religious sense, one must remember older cultural beliefs were more related to a life that often involved fighting and battles with near neighbors and so the earlier cultural beliefs were centered around educating the youth into being prepared to fight for the tribe and to some extent other tribe's who possessed similar cultural and religious beliefs. Also the youth were encouraged to marry and produce offspring, this being an essential requirement in a time when the mortality of newborns and the very young was much greater than at the present time. The Vikings changed their beliefs to Christianity eventually because of the changing culture and civilizations around them, in changing their religious beliefs and culture they were then a much more acceptable neighbor and so could integrate into the expanding Christian cultures around them, the leaders of the Viking knowing that they almost certainly would have had to accept Christianity sooner or later. A leader, if he was to ensure the continuation of his tribe or nation had to both know the nature of the cultural as well as the religious beliefs of the people whom he led, and be able to to make decisions that may not have had enormous popularity with the people but did help to ensure the continuation of his particular tribe or group. Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic Christian who apparently wrote the Prose Edda and he probably did so to pass on some of the most important factors contained in the older religious beliefs of the Viking who had settled in Iceland as battles and fighting continued in a frequent amount almost until the middle of the 20th century when with the beginning of the "nuclear" age the leaders of Europe whether communist or otherwise realized that if a war was started by them or their opposites, it would very quickly result in the death and destruction of both sides that were involved and maybe all life on the planet. The Viking beliefs in this book recount a large amount of troubles that often led in one way or another to a compromise between the opponents resulting in peace but the myths eventually end in the Ragnarok that more or less finishes off all of the Gods and only a man and a women are left at the end under the world tree Yggdrasill to start life and living again, and one would ask isn't this in some way or another similar to the Revelation at the end of the Bible. The book itself is a good recounting in a modern vernacular of another of the ancient legends that have bought us as peoples to the present time. Let us hope that we will not see our end as a species very soon if at all. So enjoy reading this book, but remember that all books scientific, religious, historic or cultural are and only can be the opinion of the author, the editor and the publisher, whether true, false, logical, illogical, useful or useless.

This is probably the best introduction to the Norse myths for the general, adult reader. The retelling is lively, engaging and immensely entertaining.The author's introduction is excellent in assisting the non-scholar reader to get their bearings. The text of the myths is left clean and uncluttered with foot notes. Following the myths is a section of commentary on each of them. This is the books weakest point, the commentary seems unaccountably flat, lacking in depth and breadth. The author includes an invaluable glossary to help the reader keep track of who is who and what is what. The author includes a useful bibliography for those who wish to deep deeper into the subject.Again, this is the book I would recommend to anyone interested in exploring the nine worlds. It is most unfortunately that the norse myths are not as well known as the Greek myths.