The Midas Touch: World mythology in bite-sized chunks

Para Quem Tem Pressa #2

by Mark Daniels

This authoritative and fascinating introduction to the legends of history will reintroduce readers to the cyclopes, Minotaur and centaurs of the Ancient Greeks, as well as shedding light on the wider world of mythology.


The Midas Touch includes a stunning array of fascinating tales and gets to grips with the ancient stories of Aboriginal, Sumerian, Egyptian, Mesoamerican, Maori and Indian cultures, encompassing legends from the most diverse societies and the most ancient cultures from across the globe.


In a concise yet comprehensive format, The Midas Touch is a wonderful evocation of the hugely entertaining stories and characters of mythology.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mythology, History, Classics, Religion, Audiobook, Reference

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 26, 2013

Reviews

[Ree. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another score for the ye olde saying Don't judge a book by its cover.
What seemed to be a pithy introduction to world mythology was regrettably rife with errors. I don't know what I was expecting since I already suspected that the author was not an expert on world mythology.

Anyway, aside from the fact that some cultures' myths (Indian, for example) were excluded, the myths covered in the book had factual errors.

I was only privy to this because the "bite-sized chunks" of information were not quite satisfactory, which led me to head right on Google and eventually Wikipedia for more information. Lo and behold, I found out that the book had been misleading me!

From then on, I kept fact-checking... and feeding the growing disappointment.
The many typos were just snacks for the disappointment creature.

If you are:
1. Unfamiliar with mythology
2. Would prefer a book rather than off a screen
3. Believe a published physical book will be more accurate than a crowdsource encyclopedia
4. All of the above

I would urge you to find a better, more factually accurate and comprehensive book written by someone of authority on the subject matter.

Maybe A Dictionary of World Mythology or World Mythology: The Illustrated Guide

[Stephanie L · Rating 2 out of 5]

--2/5 stars--

This was most certainly bite-sized, though I'm not sure "world mythology" is the description I'd use for this. Overall, it was partially fascinating--if a little brief--and definitely the epitome of the expression, "oh, huh."

I'd recommend this for anyone who has just been introduced to mythology of any sort.

[Arzu · Rating 2 out of 5]

nefesi aldım vermeden kitap bitti ^.^

[Charlotte Lisbon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short collection of world mythology also known as a short collection of rape and incest stories

[River · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25/5

They really meant bite-sized.

[Teck Wu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really good bite-sized chunks of mythology, but as a book preaching to share of the World’s mythologies, it misses the mark, especially with omission and maybe prejudice to the western myths.

[zeyneb · Rating 2 out of 5]

genel olarak dünya mitolojisinde şu 7 şey var ve bu 7 şey çok önemli:

1. ağaç: her şey ağaçtır. bunların hepsi ağaç. zaten biz de ağacız.
2. nedense bir boğa: o zamanlar taylor swift fanbase'i olmadığı için düşünebildikleri en güçlü şey bir boğaydı sanırım.
3. cinsel münasebet: yani insanlar arasında, kardeş, anne, baba onu zaten geçiyorum ama gök ve kara da yapar, boğa ile kuğu da yapar, herkes, sürekli yapar.
4. cinselliği temsil eden bir kadın: bu doğurganlıkla alakalı bir şey, anlıyorum ama bir tane de böyle azgın bir erkek görmek isterdim açıkçası (zeus dışında)
5. çok güçlü, en güçlü erkek: ama yani ennnn güçlüsünü düşünün, boğadan bile güçlü
6. ayla alakalı romantik bir hikaye: bugün gerçekten başımı kaldırdım baktım gerçekten şu uydu nelere kadirsin insanları o kadar ürküttün ki tanrı yarattılar
7. yılan ve yılana atfedilmiş kötü bir anlam: aborjinler hariç tabii ki onlar gökkuşağı yılanının dünyayı yarattığına inanıyorlarmış ve açıkçası sizin de haziran ayınız kutlu olsun.

(aa bunun da mitolojisi mi varmış!!! e hani sadece yunan vardı?????? derecesinde ortamda satmalık birkaç bilgi alınabilecek bir kitap)

[Barry · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is probably one of the worst books I've ever read. First of all, when you cite stuff from wikipedia, I question the accurateness of the information presented. Furthermore, I could easily read the stuff from wikipedia. Moreover, the mythologies presented in the book are so generic that it's not even fun to read.

But, at the very least it is really bite-sized. For a very very generic summary of some of the major myths, this is a decent book. But, if you want to know more about the myths, you should probably buy another book. And, yeah, the cover is pretty.

[Doğan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mitolojiye giriş için iyi bir kitap. Ancak aham şahım bir anlatımı yok. Yunan mitolojisi sayfa sayfa anlatılırken koskoca Sümerler on sayfaya sığdırılmış. Sonuç olarak kitap aşırı yüzeysel, bir şeyler anlatıyor ama insanı doyurmuyor.

[Alison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super generic, kind of poorly written, and cites Wikipedia as a source, so. At least the cover is pretty.

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein gutes Überblickbuch, was kurz und knapp zahlreiche Völker der Welt und deren Mythologie beschreibt. Man sollte sich aber bewusst sein, dass der Hauptfokus auf griechischer und römischer Mythologie liegt. Die anderen kommen doch etwas kurz und sind auf 3-4 Geschichten beschränkt. Wenn man sich wirklich für eine bestimmte Kultur interessiert, wäre ein Buch was sich nur auf diese fokussiert auf jeden Fall sinnvoller.

In sehr wenigen Seiten erhält man super viele Informationen. Das hat mich ab und zu ein wenig überfordert, beziehungsweise habe ich schon wieder die Hälfte vergessen und werde sicher in Zukunft nochmal reinlesen

Von Vorteil ist aber, dass man hier Parallelen zwischen unterschiedlichsten Mythologien entdeckt. Wie viele Kulturen den Mythos der großen Sintflut und dem rettenden Schiff haben... Außerdem lernt man interessantes darüber welchen Hintergrund z.B. die Namen unserer Wochentage haben oder worauf die zwölf Sternzeichen zurückgehen.

Sicher ein guter Startpunkt, um sich einen Überblick über Mythologien der Welt zu verschaffen und dann weiterführende Lektüre zu lesen.

[wiks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed reading this as I have learned quite a few things from this book, it’s like a mini Wikipedia - it has the basis of what you want to know. This book allowed me to find out more about other mythologies that I had not knew about before and intrigued me to find out more about i.e. the Norse Mythology and the stories about the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas and how their tribes are close to or are extinct due to the Spanish explores taking over their lands and tribes. However, Greek Mythology is still my favourite of them all as I find it quite interesting.
It is mental to think that all these myths are linked, they have something in common, something that these people knew about. Like, for example, how do we explain the advances in literacy, numeracy and machinery which was way ahead of their time? They must have knew something that we have not yet figured out. Or like the links between astrology, the creation stories and the many different gods that represented different things: earth, wind, water, sky, death etc. And how all of these myths always had a ruler - someone that ruled all the other gods. There must have been something that they knew. Of course there’s the point that myths were stories told to explain the actions of humans i.e greed etc but they are way to similar to be something that didn’t exist in these communities.
Overall, myths are fascinating stories that allow many to explain human actions - but what if it isn’t just that? What if it’s something far greater than we think? After all, these people were way ahead of their time.
In the future I hope to read and learn more about these myths, cultures, tribes and religions.

[Joanna (wordsrmyweapon) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars I enjoyed this. I probably would have liked it more if I was younger and just getting into mythology. I’ve been reading bits of this book for years but I finally decided to read the other sections of this book just so I could take it off my tbr shelf

[Ellie · Rating 1 out of 5]

maybe don’t trust a book that cites wikipedia in its bibliography 🫠
i am by no means an expert in mythology but i know enough about greek, roman and norse myths to know that this book is rife with mistakes and inaccuracies so can only assume the other mythologies discussed are the same
it gives the utmost surface level interpretation of myths, often uncritically perpetuating stereotypes
this book doesn’t even get the 12 olympians right! that’s like the most basic greek myth knowledge out there yet Cronus, Gaia, Eros (and others) are included as olympians yet not a mention of Hera, Hermes or the uncertainty we still have surrounding Dionysus and Hestia?
also claiming that Athena was never vengeful? Arachne and Medusa would disagree with that statement
if you’re interested in mythology definitely skip this and find something else 🤷‍♀️

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short and quick read provides some useful insight into different mythologies and their origins. As the titlr states, it really is in bite-sized chunks and provides easy to read and grasp summaries of the vast mythologies of the world.

[Tilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

A decent overview of World Mythology. It was interesting and I learnt quite a bit but it was rather lacking and there could have been much more detail and covered more areas of the world. I especially would have liked more middle eastern and African information.

[Neal Freeman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Contains an interesting summary, hence the 2 stars, but this is the worst written book I have ever read. It is full of clumsy sentences, repeated words, poor grammar and unnecessary filler. It is difficult to see how this got past an editor. There is no narrative to tie everything together and no indication why these myths were chosen. There is nothing at all from Africa.

The author managed to put me off in the first page with a completely misguided attack on atheists. He seems to think we cannot enjoy myths as stories for some reason, betraying some very muddled thinking.

I would avoid this author and anything from this publisher.

[Ben Ayers · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book, knowing little more than the average person about world mythology (familiar with some names and parts of stories, etc.). It was a pretty interesting introduction to the topic and I did find the content enjoyable enough.

In a few ways, though, this book is a bit of a mess. It's not written well. There are clunky sentences, poorly constructed so that the meaning of the sentence is unclear. There are a few examples of repeated adjectives just a few sentences apart from each other. I even found a comma to end a sentence, It all added to a general impression that this wasn't proof read or edited before being published.

Also, the author cites Wikipedia in his selected bibliography - but I guess, if you're writing a book about mythology, none of it has to be true anyway. A particular highlight was the reference to the Christian story of Moses and the Ark, which I can only assume came from a highly reputable source.

Having just finished the book, I'd now like to read more about mythology - perhaps something to do with Norse mythology (which may just end up being The Lord of the Rings), or the first of Stephen Fry's ones. World Mythology in Bitesized chunks has intrigued me enough to make me want more, but has steered me towards something that should hopefully be better.

[Tilly (The Biblioshelf) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the perfect book to pick up during the 'I-don't-know-what-to-read-next' phase most of us readers go through from time to time. Each section was short and digestible which means that it's great for a quick read. I'm not new to mythology so most of the stories and names were familiar. Quite a few of them were creation myths from different time periods. I liked the way the book was broken down into each of the different civilisations and the diagrams and tables were nice asides as well.

[Papatya ŞENOL · Rating 2 out of 5]

mitoloji hakkında çok çok özet bilgi almak için okunabilir. Ama ne coğrafyalar ve mitolojiler arasındaki bağıntı, ne de hikayelerin içeriği ve derinliği bence yeterli değil. adı gibi "bir nefeste"; ama doyurmuyor ne yazık ki.

[Fatima Abbasi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I probably should have guessed that it would be this bad after reading Wikipedia as a source in the author’s bibliography before starting. To be honest, that made the entire book hard to believe. How would I know if any of these ancient civilizations believed in these myths and legends?

[Carol Vidal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um bom livro pra ter um panorama geral de várias mitologias e como elas têm diversos elementos em comum. Porém, ele gasta muitas páginas discorrendo sobre mitologias amplamente conhecidas, como a grega, enquanto outras menos exploradas ganharam pequenos resumos.

[annabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought the book at the train station, finished it on the train, and we haven’t even reached london yet.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

A *very* brief peak at some of the main tenets of world mythology. It doesn’t touch on large amounts of the world (nothing African or Russian for example), and what it does touch on seems to be a gross over simplification, based on the ones I do know about. Having said all that however, what is there is easy to understand and does provide a pretty basic grasp of things.

[Neslihan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mitoloji okumalarına başlamak için seçtiğim ilk kitap bu oldu. Doğru bir karar verdiğimi düşünüyorum. Birçok farklı milletin mitleri bölüm bölüm verilmiş. Kitaptaki mitlerin çoğu mitolojiye ilgisi hiç olmayan insanların bile şuradan buradan mutlaka duyduğu, aşina olduğu mitler. Eğer yaşınız küçükse ve henüz pek mitoloji okuması yapmadıysanız bu kitabı öneririm, aksi halde çok yüzeysel ve sıkıcı bir kitap olacaktır.

[Emry Mango · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dnf around 40% I think? Just couldn’t get into it. Felt more like a history lesson than short mythology stories. Only rated two stars for the semen battle, which was funny

[Estelle Keen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish other mythologies were explored, and some of the stories/characters more detailed. The title literally says “bite-sized” so I should have expected it but it did feel a bit minimal. But still a good introduction to some mythologies I didn’t know much about.

[Sofija Kryž · Rating 2 out of 5]

Considering the length of the book and the promised range, I should have probably considered this but still expected more.

The book does alright with mini-summaries of stories. As expected, for their length they do feel a bit superficial, although most stories I had read before had the essential twists that make the original stories work.

What did not work for me, though, was the encyclopedic backgrounds containing info that most readers already know and not really going beyond that. There were a couple lesser known facts, e.g. that there are some exceptionally old Chinese scripts engraved on B.C. dated bones but even so I came across those somewhere. So overall those felt dull. Even more so, when interceding the summaries of myths themselves.

I did not like the style and language in some places either. Why waste limited space on jokes about Odin and chardonnay or refer to an ancient god as a "chap"? Ruins the effect of story being told.

Those bits where the author forgot or chose not to overexplain the background in the story and just stuck to the summaries of the myths read the most pleasantly.

Another thing I did not like was that some regions and cultures that have exceptionally rich and interesting mythical settings had only a couple of stories told, whereas Ancient Greek, Roman and Norse myths were overrepresented. There was nothing African, really, which is a shame.

There were some good bits, though. I was happy to learn some Aztecan and Mayan myths, although those were scarce.

Another pro - the use of illustrations styled after the cultures whose myths were summarised. Could have been more of these!

But those were about it for me. Overall, I ended up yawning throughout the book and probably won't remember most of the stories I was less familiar with (I forget easily!). Considering this in the context of previous bite-sized experiences, I think this is simply not my approach. Too superficial.

I would rather go with larger, fuller collections of myths, with a single book focusing on a region or culture. Many myths are short anyway and when presented in full, they often leave deeper impression, especially when presented in the context of other myths from the same cultures.

[Hanguito Suavecito · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mé, nada de mais.
Fixe pah quem tem pressa.

2,5 / 5 ⭐

[Jonathan Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It looks like a concise, fun exploration of the many myths and legends from our diverse ancient cultures, although it would've been nice to have Indian and Celtic myths included. There isn't a lot of detail here but it's a good introduction and overview of the many myths of our ancient world. It all feels a little rushed though, with some glaring errors in syntax. The author also writes, in the chapter on Sumerian mythology that this civilization made no mention of the Sun or solar system yet they did have Sun and Moon deities and a goddess (Inanna) associated with the planet Venus. Generally it's an easy read that should be intriguing enough for the mythology novice.