Mar
07
The Golden Bough
By
Product Description
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: sins of the dying man in consideration of the sum of ten thousand rupees. Thus prepared to immolate himself on the altar of duty as a vicarious sacrifice for sin, the saint is introduced into the chamber of death, and closely embraces the dying rajah, saying to him, ” O King, I under… More >>
5 Comments
March 7th, 2010 at 3:33 am
This is NOT the foundation of modern anthropology. The reader from Oregon is absolutely right. It was considered a great work but is no longer held in such esteem. The idea that societies progressed from magic to religion is outdated. As Mary Douglas said, Frazer led comparative religion into a blind alley. Read something written in the last century if you want a real anthropological veiw.
Rating: 2 / 5
March 7th, 2010 at 4:28 am
A classic, Frazer’s “Golden Bough” has been read by a few generations of scholars. However, Frazer’s almost mythology standing as one of the first mythologists in Ancient History has led to an over-evaluation of some of his work, in my opinion. Written in ramble manner only confuses the reader and weakens Frazer’s arguements so that one may find it difficult to argue with specific passages. By the end, it seems that Frazer has gotten lost in his “search for Ur” and forgotten that his assumptions are meaningless until proven by text, records, and logic.
Rating: 3 / 5
March 7th, 2010 at 5:10 am
Finally, a book of magical study that does not involve ritual circles. I also appreciated the in-depth historical account, though some of it was a little silly. For instance, one part mentioned that women involved in bulb gathering were not to gather bulbs during their unclean period lest there be a bulb shortage.
Actually, compared to Green Magic, this is at least real, so I ought to a least give this a positive rating. It does tell decent history on the development of magic, and in the history itself it tells brief customs and also some examples of magic itself. Besides, one of the people rating Green Magic tried to get people not to vote for me.
Rating: 5 / 5
March 7th, 2010 at 7:12 am
OK, so you want to get the best total look at what once was out
there. This is where you start to study: The Moon, The Earth
Mother, the Grail, pick a card, any card. This is as close as you can get to someone that spent his whole life, gathering together the “Primary Source” stories that make up the very base or start of what we think we once were. Out of Fraser’s work came a lot of “Digging” and additional looking, but no one ever got quite so much into the 12 to 14 volumes….YES that’s right! St. Martin’s Press, in the old Flat Iron Building in New York, should still have a few sets. Get the complete set. And an OED and a good link (DSL, ISDN) on the WEB to an ISP that is not going to go up in “Smoke” and “Insider Profit Making”. Get this, and then follow your own best inner self, to where EVER it takes you, it’s where only you can go anyway, but you be there: “…and know it, as if for the first time…” as T.S. Elliot used to say.
Rating: 5 / 5
March 7th, 2010 at 8:38 am
It is an amazing book for people like me and you and the writer is also absolutely fascinating in his analysis of mankind.
Rating: 5 / 5