10 Brilliant Mythology Books That Illuminate Our Lives

The Hero with a Thousand Faces – Joseph Campbell

Regarded as a classic among mythology books, this seminal work by Joseph Campbell unravels the universal motif of the hero’s journey across various mythologies. Exploring the parallels between different cultures, Campbell illustrates how the hero’s quest for self-realization and transformation resonates deeply within our own lives.

A must-read among mythology books: Since its release in 1949, The Hero with a Thousand Faces has influenced millions of readers by combining the insights of modern psychology with Joseph Campbell’s revolutionary understanding of comparative mythology. In these pages, Campbell outlines the Hero’s Journey, a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through virtually all of the world’s mythic traditions. He also explores the Cosmogonic Cycle, the mythic pattern of world creation and destruction.

As part of the Joseph Campbell Foundation’s Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, this third edition features expanded illustrations, a comprehensive bibliography, and more accessible sidebars.

As relevant today as when it was first published, The Hero with a Thousand Faces continues to find new audiences in fields ranging from religion and anthropology to literature and film studies. The book has also profoundly influenced creative artists—including authors, songwriters, game designers, and filmmakers—and continues to inspire all those interested in the inherent human need to tell stories. Want to read only from the list? Choose this one among mythology books.

The Power of Myth – Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers

In this captivating dialogue among mythology books, Joseph Campbell engages in an insightful conversation with journalist Bill Moyers, exploring the enduring relevance of mythology. By examining the timeless themes of love, sacrifice, and spirituality, this book highlights how the wisdom of myths can guide us through the trials and tribulations of modern existence.

One of my faves among mythology books. The Power of Myth launched an extraordinary resurgence of interest in Joseph Campbell and his work. A preeminent scholar, writer, and teacher, he has had a profound influence on millions of people—including Star Wars creator George Lucas. To Campbell, mythology was the “song of the universe, the music of the spheres.” With Bill Moyers, one of America’s most prominent journalists, as his thoughtful and engaging interviewer, The Power of Myth touches on subjects from modern marriage to virgin births, from Jesus to John Lennon, offering a brilliant combination of intelligence and wit.

From stories of the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece and Rome to traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity, a broad array of themes are considered that together identify the universality of human experience across time and culture. An impeccable match of interviewer and subject, a timeless distillation of Campbell’s work, The Power of Myth continues to exert a profound influence on our culture.

Bulfinch’s Mythology – Thomas Bulfinch

A beloved classic among mythology books, Thomas Bulfinch’s comprehensive collection of myths and legends provides a gateway to the world of Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology. Drawing upon rich sources, this book serves as a treasure trove for readers seeking to understand the archetypal characters and epic tales that have shaped our cultural heritage.

Stories of Gods and Heroes, originally published in 1855, is the first of three works that make up Bulfinch’s Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch. A useful and concise guide to the gods and goddesses of Greek and Roman mythology, this text was used in history classrooms for over a century. Bulfinch’s writing is an attempt to expand the enjoyment of classic literature for the common reader, explaining the allusions made to mythology in so many other titles of the day.

The Norse Myths – Kevin Crossley-Holland

Delving into the vibrant tapestry of Norse mythology among mythology books, Kevin Crossley-Holland presents a compelling account of the gods, giants, and heroes of the Norse pantheon. By immersing ourselves in the profound narratives of Odin, Thor, and Loki, we glean valuable insights into human nature, honour, and the delicate balance between order and chaos.

These dramatic, enthralling and atmospheric tales are based on the Scandinavian myth cycle – one of the greatest and most culturally significant stories in the world – and tell of Odin with his one eye, Thor with his mighty hammer and Loki, the red-haired, shape-shifting trickster. In this stunning collection of myths among mythology books, the strange world of ancient magic, giants, dwarfs and monsters is unforgettably imagined.

The Masks of God – Joseph Campbell

A monumental four-volume work among mythology books, “The Masks of God” offers a panoramic exploration of world mythology. Campbell’s meticulous scholarship and profound insights guide readers through the diverse mythic traditions, revealing the underlying interconnectedness of human stories across cultures and epochs.

In this first volume of The Masks of God, the world’s preeminent mythologist explores and illuminates the wellsprings of myth. Showing his exemplary combination of scholarly depth and popular enthusiasm, Joseph Campbell looks at the expressions of religious awe in early humans and their echoes in the rites of surviving primal tribes. Campbell shows how myth has informed our understanding of the world, seen and unseen, throughout time.

As he explores and shares archetypal mythic images and practices, he also points to how these concepts inform our personal lives. <p/> Upon completing the Masks of God series, Campbell found that his work affirmed “the unity of the race of man, not only in its biology, but also in its spiritual history.” He likened this unity to a symphony in which various parts create a “great movement.” Perhaps more than ever before, Campbell’s insight is not only illuminating but also inspiring. Another gem from Campbell among mythology books.

The World of Myth – David Adams Leeming

In this accessible and engaging one among mythology books, David Adams Leeming traverses the landscapes of mythologies from around the world. By examining the creation myths, hero tales, and divine figures that have shaped societies throughout history, Leeming reveals the transformative power of these ancient narratives in our contemporary lives.

Hercules, Zeus, Thor, Gilgamesh–these are the figures that leap to mind when we think of myth. But to David Leeming, myths are more than stories of deities and fantastic beings from non-Christian cultures. Myth is at once the most particular and the most universal feature of civilization, representing common concerns that each society voices in its own idiom. Whether an Egyptian story of creation or the big-bang theory of modern physics, myth is metaphor, mirroring our deepest sense of ourselves in relation to existence itself.

Now, in The World of Myth among mythology books, Leeming provides a sweeping anthology of myths, ranging from ancient Egypt and Greece to the Polynesian islands and modern science. We read stories of great floods from the ancient Babylonians, Hebrews, Chinese, and Mayans; tales of apocalypse from India, the Norse, Christianity, and modern science; myths of the mother goddess from Native American Hopi culture and James Lovelock’s Gaia. Leeming has culled myths from Aztec, Greek, African, Australian Aboriginal, Japanese, Moslem, Hittite, Celtic, Chinese, and Persian cultures, offering one of the most wide-ranging collections of what he calls the collective dreams of humanity.

The Oxford Companion to World Mythology – David Leeming

An invaluable reference guide among mythology books, this comprehensive volume delves into the multifaceted dimensions of world mythology. From African folktales to Aboriginal Dreamtime stories, David Leeming’s meticulous research serves as a gateway to understanding the rich tapestry of human mythic traditions.

Cave paintings at Lascaux, France and Altamira, Spain, fraught with expression thousands of years later; point to an early human desire to form a cultural identity. In the Oxford Companion to World Mythology, David Leeming explores the role of mythology, or myth-logic, in history and determines that the dreams of specific cultures add up to a larger collective story of humanity.

Stopping short of attempting to be all-inclusive, this fascinating volume among mythology books will nonetheless be comprehensive, opening with an introduction exploring the nature and dimensions of myth and proposing a definition as a universal language. Briefly dipping into the ways our understanding of myth has changed from Aristotle and Plato to modern scholars such as Joseph Campbell, the introduction loosely places the concept in its present context and precedes articles on influential mythologists and mythological approaches that appear later in the Companion.

Goddesses Mysteries of the Feminine Divine – Joseph Campbell

Dedicated to the divine feminine among mythology books, this insightful exploration by Joseph Campbell sheds light on the powerful archetypes of goddesses across different mythological traditions. Campbell reveals how the goddesses embody a vast range of qualities, inspiring us to embrace our own inner strength, wisdom, and nurturing nature.

Joseph Campbell brought mythology to a mass audience. His bestselling books, including The Power of Myth and The Hero with a Thousand Faces, are the rare blockbusters that are also scholarly classics.

While Campbell’s work reached wide and deep as he covered the world’s great mythological traditions, he never wrote a book on goddesses in world mythology. He did, however, have much to say on the subject. Between 1972 and 1986 he gave over twenty lectures and workshops on goddesses, exploring the figures, functions, symbols, and themes of the feminine divine, following them through their transformations across cultures and epochs.

In this provocative volume among mythology books, editor Safron Rossi—a goddess studies scholar, professor of mythology, and curator of collections at Opus Archives, which holds the Joseph Campbell archival manuscript collection and personal library—collects these lectures for the first time. In them, Campbell traces the evolution of the feminine divine from one Great Goddess to many, from Neolithic Old Europe to the Renaissance. He sheds new light on classical motifs and reveals how the feminine divine symbolizes the archetypal energies of transformation, initiation, and inspiration among mythology books.

The Wisdom of the Myth – Luc Ferry

Heroes, gods, and mortals. The Greek myths are the founding narratives of Western civilization: to understand them is to know the origins of philosophy, literature, art, science, law, and more. Indeed, as Luc Ferry shows in this masterful book, they remain a great store of wisdom, as relevant to our lives today as ever before.

No mere legends or clichés (“Herculean task,” “Pandora’s box,” “Achilles heel,” etc.), these classic stories offer profound and manifold lessons, providing the first sustained attempt to answer fundamental human questions concerning “the good life,” the burden of mortality, and how to find one’s place in the world. Vividly retelling the great tales of mythology and illuminating fresh new ways of understanding them, The Wisdom of the Myths will enlighten readers of all ages among mythology books.

A Short History of Myth – Karen Armstrong

As long as we have been human, we have been mythmakers. In A Short History of Myth, Karen Armstrong holds up the mirror of mythology to show us the history of ourselves, and embarks on a journey that begins at a Neanderthal graveside and ends buried in the heart of the modern novel.

Surprising, powerful and profound among mythology books, A Short History of Myth examines the world’s most ancient art form – the making and telling of stories – and why we still need it.