New books about “The Odyssey”
Posted by Erik on January 14, 2009
I was in the library the other day and found not one, but two recent books about Homer’s Odyssey. The first (and the one I was actually there to get) is No-Man’s Lands: One Man’s Odyssey Through The Odyssey, by Scott Huler. The author became entranced with The Odyssey at about my age, and decided to take six months and retrace Odysseus’ journey.
The other, serendipitous find is Sailing Home: Using the Wisdom of Homer’s Odyssey to Navigate Life’s Perils and Pitfalls, by Zen teacher Norman Fischer. Apparently Fischer has been using stories from The Odyssey for years to help illustrate his teaching, and decided that there was a book in it.
I’m currently reading both; if I find either or both of them to be exceptionally good (or bad) I’ll report back!
Jeff Lilly | Druid Journal said
Serendipitous for me, too! Just this morning I was thinking about O Brother, Where Art Thou?, for no reason I could discern… Just enjoying remembering the movie. :-)
R.D. Hammond said
O rly! Let’s look at the review from the link you provided:
Sounds amazing. This is getting bought next paycheck and going directly to the table next to my bed.
executivepagan said
Jeff,
Huler mentions O Brother in the intro to his book…
R.D.,
Hope you like it! I’m most of the way through the first chapter and so far it’s at least as good as most of the self-help books I’ve seen. I particularly like what he has to say about waiting as a stage in and of itself, and the value of living that stage rather than just trying to get through it.
Hrafnkell said
How fascinating! I’d love to retrace Odysseus’ journey. Another journey it would be fun to reproduce would be Pausanias’ tour of Greece. The Fischer book sounds interesting too. Two good finds for certain.