The Mythology of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome

By: Charles Pricheta

Narrated by: Alec Sand

Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Mythology has provided inspiration for storytellers and scientists alike. In this 10-hour audiobook, explore the mythology of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Essential for any student of mythology, literature, or religion. Each subject is 2-5 minutes in length, making the material easy to absorb and navigate.

©2009 trout lake media (P)2009 Trout Lake Media

Some good some god awful

The 'good' is the material. All three stars are for the book. The author has made the information interesting and precise. The 'god awful' is the narrator. Alec Sand is deadly dull. Little or no inflection in his reading at all. He has a long list of audio books to his credit which I find amazing. I'll definitely avoid anything of his in the future. This is one where I recommend you read the book. Stay away from the audio.

Listing Facts, bored?

Any additional comments?

Alec Sand performed 2 of the books I have from early when I joined Audible (and before I knew of the return policy). I have yet to be able to finish either one. His reading is uninspired -reminds me of someone try to drill facts into his own brain by reading flash cards -loud to keep awake- the night before the big final. I keep hoping to find that these books have been read again by someone else because the content that I have listened to seems very good. Performance rating really should not receive any star.

A Fair Introduction

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

As audible books on mythology go this is not the best I have even been exposed to. With that said it is also not the worse. If this is your first stab at the subject, then this is likely a good place to start. If you already has a fair amount of exposure, then much of your time will have been wasted.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The narration didn't just out at me. Perhaps it was the narrator's tonal quality or just the way they read the book, but it was not engaging, which made some sections very difficult to listen through without nodding off.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Nope.

Narrator is very dry

no emotion in reading. And my file ended in the middle of the story of Rome. the end of the book is missing.

Dry lectures

More a series of short lectures than a book. The performance is fairly dry. Most of the time is spent telling the legends with only a little bit of analysis of the legends.

Not bad but not great

There are parts that would repeat what was said 30 seconds to a minute prior. The book does a good job telling the many different versions of the same story which I did enjoy but got a little confusing.

Can't get past the HORRIBLE narrator

Might be a decent book with good info, but I absolutely cannot get past the HORRIBLE narrator. PAINFUL to listen to! Worst audio-book ever purchased.

Great material, Terrible narrator!!!!

I bought this book for the love of mythology, and the material itself was wonderful. But even with the most interesting material, if your presenter doesn't do his job well, you lose the whole thing. Mr. Sand reads this like a weary college professor who is completely bored with his subject, and is just trying to get through it as quickly as possible.

Good book, bad audio book

I liked the content and leaned a lot, but the audio book has issues, it repeats certain sentences, some sentences are truncated.
but for its price I don't care that much :)

3 Dollars for a Reason

People have already mentioned the narrator, and he was awful, so I will leave it at that. The section on Egyptian Myth was pretty good. It was hard to follow at times, but overall informative.
The section about Mesopotamia eventually turns into a summery of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
The section about Ancient Greece is basically a summery of the Illiad and the Odyessy.

Also, I don't know if it was just poorly recorded or if there was something wrong with my download personally, but there were a lot of points in the book where it repeats what it just said. Then, at the end, it just kind of trailed off. There was no summery or ending, it just kind of stopped. It felt like there was a part that I wasn't getting.

There are better books for those interested in Ancient Mythology, but this has some good information. But I'm glad I didn't spend any more than I did on this