Stephen Fry
Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold
Excellent retelling of various Greek myths with a modern twist and references. Takes us from the beginnings of the world indeed before the birth of what we (at least I and I suspect many others) usually think of as the first gods like Zeus and Hera. Goes through the creation of men, and then women, and links to other ancient stories such as the flood. Stephen tells the stories in a light hearted and comic way whilst at other times digs a bit deeper into why gods acted in the way that they did (they are certainly not perfect examples of well adjusted minds and characters) and links to what drives us humans. Very entertaining read covering quite a few stories that are commonly known (I take myself as the standard line here) and also quite a few others really giving an insight into the (mythical) character of the gods and leading into how humans became less reliant on them. A passage I loved follows and is typical of Stephen's comic yet serious take on the myths: Ouranos (also called Uranus) was the original sky god from which all others came and due to various family infighting (sound familiar?) is dispatched to the very core of the earth in a way that he will never be able to break free: "Brooding, simmering and raging in the ground, deep beneath the earth that once loved him, Ouranos compressed all his fury and divine energy into the very rock itself, hoping that one day some excavating creature somewhere would mine it and try to harness the immortal power that radiated from within. That could never happen, of course. It would be too dangerous. Surely the race had yet to be born that could be so foolish as to attempt to unleash the power of uranium?
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