Hamlet's Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge and… (1969)

First, this is not formatted very well on the Kindle. This problem made it difficult at times to read. Footnotes, etc., showed up in the middle of text. If I had the hard copy it may have been easier to follow. Also, with a hard copy I would more easily be able to flip back and forth to re-read and/or compare ideas that are presented.
This is not a book if you have no background on comparative myth. I have a little so I could follow on a basic level.
If I were younger (I'm 66) Id have gotten texts and papers referenced and gone much more in-depth with this reading. But I just don't want to take the time that would entail. ( )

Contained lined postcard with purple lines on 1 side and red lines on the other: "Cheltenham Books" Wyndmoor, PA

This is a book that reminds me of the mythological discourses by Joseph Campbell. It is an anthropological detective story that traces the origins of myths throughout the world and finds common elements in their origins. One finding is that the geography of myth is not that of the earth but rather is celestial. For anyone who is familiar with Greek mythology this is not a surprise, but we find here again that mythological language transcends cultural and geographic boundaries. The author explores myths unfamiliar and familiar. For example he discusses the Epic of Gilgamesh in "The Adventure and the Quest". In it he finds connections with myths from India to Greece and beyond linking the symbols to constellations in the sky. The chapter concludes with a reference to knowledge:

"The notion of fire, in various forms, has been one of the recurring themes of this essay. Gilgamesh, like Prometheus, is intimately associated with it. The principle of fire, and the means of producing or acquiring it are best approached through them." (p 316)

The essence of human knowledge seems bound up in these mythological origins. A difficult read, but worth persevering, Hamlet's Mill should be of interest to all who are interested in the origins of man's mind and his images of the world. ( )

879232153

Fascinating, if somewhat dizzyingly presented and unsystematic. The project is to show that mythic ideas about cyclical time, world ages, their characteristics and dominant players, were actually based in close observation of the heavens and the complex apparent movements of planets and constellations, and particularly the precession of the equinoxes. Since the whole universe was thought to be ruled by the same living, volitional forces, it was by no means a simple “primitive” or childlike fantasy that what happened in the sky was related to what happened on earth in describable ways.

The authors’ point is not to dismiss the modern scientific method but to say that there is a tendency to look at the history of human knowledge in a reductively linear way, from less to more sophistication and mastery of complexity, and that such a view actually runs counter to the evidence provided even by what little we have of these early cosmologies.

For folklore fans, the stories themselves are from a treasure trove of not-the-usual-suspects sources: Guyana, Peru, India, Persia, Africa, Northwest and Plains Indians, as well as the Norse and Greco-Roman standbys.
( )