The Golden Bough Audiobook By James G. Frazer cover art

The Golden Bough

Edition of 1894

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The Golden Bough

By: James G. Frazer
Narrated by: Robert Bethune
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Just as Proust derives an entire world of feeling, people and events from the taste of a madeleine, James G. Frazer brings us into a worldwide survey of religion, folklore, culture, symbolism, and ritual using the Priest of Nemi as his starting point. Starting from the image of the lonely, doomed high priest, prowling his precinct night and day, sword in hand, hardly daring to sleep as he awaited the assault of the man who would kill him and take his place, Frazer roams the world of ancient and modern religious and ceremonial practice in search of the underlying universals of human thought.

The Golden Bough quickly took its place in the fields of mythology, anthropology and comparative religion as a classic. Though clearly open to criticism from a modern perspective, it opened pathways of thought and interpretation that enabled later thinkers to explore perspectives that would not have been available otherwise. In many forms and guises, Frazer's ideas have flourished from his day to the present.

Public Domain (P)2013 Robert Bethune Classics Spirituality Mythology
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This is one of those books where I want to be left alone to listen for hours on end. Some mistaken conclusions are surely drawn, but the stories themselves are what does it for me. You can draw your own conclusions, if need be. I have to recommend this book due to the fact that it is just fascinating. I do not know if someone will ever be alive again that will have the drive to put another volume, building on this, into existence. I sure hope so. Superstition doesn't always die, but it always evolves. For me, it is best to try and understand their origins to help others be rid of their unnecessary superstition. This book helps to do just that.

A plethora of knowledge about superstition

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.. possibly too many. I recommend the abridged version, if there is one. Learned a lot.

Provides highly detailed examples..

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This is a classic anthropology reference book. The text contains descriptions of primitive rituals that took place in various cultures from around the world. This is a good source of data regarding many kinds of worship and practice - including human and animal sacrifice. The author notes numerous similarities between the mythologies and rituals of disparate civilizations.

Valuable Historical Information

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