The book is roughly 512 pages long. It is formatted as an intervirew that Bill Moyers, the host has, with some of the most intellectually enlightening people of our generation. The book is divided into two sections: Our changing American Values and American Values in the New Global Society. The topics discussed usually correspond to thetheme of the section. The book is culiminated from the TV of the same name that ran on PBS for a time. Among the people profiled are Noam Chomsky, arguable one of the most important intellectuals alive, Isaac Asimov, (1920-1992)an extremely prolific writer of science and science fiction, E.L Doctorow and Joseph Heller, who sadly died in December of last year.

The book is essantially Bill Moyers talking with men and women on the topics on which they usually major or like to discuss in. For example, Bill had a candid interview with Chomsky on the idea of democracy and how propoganda is used in it. He discussed with Steven Weinberg, an influential scientist, some of the ideas behind behind science and how truly beutiful science really is. And others from Isaac Asimov talking about the future to a couple of different black writers and acadamians talking about the role of racism in society and how it can be overcome.

This book is great for many reasons. One of them is the fact that it does, in my opinion of course, portray not just one side of the argument but in some senses it brings differnt people of different views and let them in a sense talk about things and look at things in a different way from what the other person said. There is a wealth of information. Plus, this book isn't "liberal" or "conservative." Its a book that presents a lot of different views. Most importantly it allows people to get and understand new ideas that could help them understand the world around them more and especially from people who have spent their whole life devoted to that topic. This book is like a dinner conversation with some of the most genius men of the past 20 or 30 years.

The ideas covered here are ideas from how life is led, to the problem with our educational system. It aint just about boring things that "an average Joe" wouldn't care about. I believe that this book can be very insightful even for the average intellect reader.

So buy this book and prepare to be immersed in incredible ideas and thoughts that could help you support or maybe change your own.

This is a mind-boggling book that demands a new way of not just thinking, but being, in order to achieve success that has thus far eluded you. Tracy Goss explains what a winning strategy is and isn't, dying before going into battle, making impossible declarations and many other concepts in a book that you will want to read and study over and over.

This book, and Steve Chandler's "17 Lies", would be the only two books you would ever need in your life if you wanted to learn how to be both POWERFUL and very, very happy. Tracy Goss succeeds in doing what no one thought could be done.....she has taken the MOST useful and exciting teaching from the Landmark Forum and made it accessible to everyone in this fine, fine, book. Werner Erhard should be very proud of this. Her book shows you EXACTLY how to reinvent yourself, anywhere, any time, no matter what your past history was. She shows you how to gracefully step outside of all past influences on your current life and reinvent yourself anew ANY WAY YOU WANT TO BE. Most self-help books cheer you on, but don't tell you exactly what to do. Tracy Goss does it all. Read carefully, read slowly, read as if you had a life-threatening disease and THIS was the cure.

I have never done an LGAT like est or Landmark Forum, though I have read some of their concepts and found them interesting. There was too much other, negative material to entice me into those programs. This book, however, puts forth what I understand to be the core teachings of those organizations, and I have found them powerful, challenging, exciting beyond belief. I disagree with the reviewer who thinks that you have to have had est training or the like to understand this book. It is written clearly, Ms. Goss defines all her jargon concisely, and she gets right to the heart of the matter of transformation (as opposed to change - a great distinction.) It is the best "self-help" book I have ever read and I highly recommend it far beyond the boundaries of business re-invention. As an artist, I found her concepts liberating, and as a person I truly do feel that I am in the process of transforming myself. And on top of all that, it coasts less than a tenth of the Landmark Forum Weekend seminar! My only complaint is that the book doesn't list discussion groups based around the information contained inside. Perhaps I'll have to go to an est or Forum site to have conversations about it...but I can't say enough about it.

I began reading JC books in the late 80's and could not get enough. The PBS Series still holds my interest and attention.
Having lost my copy of the original transcripts I purchased this edition without regard to the Editor and find this edition and this editing misses something from the original.
I am sure it will serve many that are unfamiliar with JC, but I want the un-edited version as it changed my life forever.

Since this book is basically the transcripts from Bill Moyer's excellent televised interviews with Joseph Campbell, "The Power of Myth" frequently comes off as a "Reader's Digest" coffee table condensation of Campbell's life and work. Since the interview, by its very nature is limited in its scope and focus, "The Power of Myth" simply does not possess the depth of Campbell's other work.

This really is no matter as what is present provides the reader with a fine introduction to Campbell's passionate devotion to World Myth. Campbell's life thesis, that man posseses the innate desire and need to create myth, is a compelling idea the binds us all to ourselves and each other.

"The Power of Myth" is NOT to be taken as a religious tome. In that context, it certainly does come off as a cockeyed New Age concoction of non-commitment. It is meant, however, to be taken as a work of deconstructionist literary criticsm that seeks to celebrate the common threads running through all cultures and perspectives.

Campbell openly celebrates man's ability to imagine as well as his devotion to ideas. He does not seek to debunk or trivialize the devout (one must be careful to realize this as they read Campbell). His scholarly intent as I see it, is to encourage and nurture the seed of faith inherent in all and encourage everyone to embark on their own heroic adventures of discovery.

"The Power of Myth" serves as an excellent bibliography of sorts as it lists the many great folktales and religious texts which demand re-reading. Campbell urges his audience to read for themselves and search for their own discoveries.

If one is searching for a far more in depth study of myth, I cannot praise enough Campbell's excellent "The Hero With A Thousand Faces". As is, "The Power of Myth" is a fine starting point.

This is the transcript of the Bill Moyers interview with Joseph Campbell done with him years and years ago-a stunning interview-a stunning book. Readers will enjoy the book format because let's face it-when Crazy Joe Campbell was talking-sometimes we needed more time than which was given to "absorb what was said." From talking about the Great Seal on the American dollar bill and it's mythological connections-to pouring over a letter from Chief Seattle to George Washington about the purchase of land, this book is never uninteresting.

And to give Bill Moyers due credit as well as an excellent journalist who always knows the right question to ask-and whom unlike a lot of journalists today-actually cares about what he is and was covering. In fact, sometimes Moyers says something quite insightful on his own-it is the coming together of two great minds in a question and answer format-that produces the end result of genius-pure genius. If you are unfamiliar with the Bill Moyers interview, I would recommend purchasing it on here, the 6 tapes, or waiting until PBS airs it again-they always do. Afterall, it's one of PBS's all time ratings grabber. The reason I say that is hearing the way Joe Campbell speaks, seeing in flesh just how engaging of a man he is-allows the reader to "imagine him speaking through the book." To me-that makes a huge difference.

This book is a winnner all the way-regardless of what religious background you hail from-what sort of philosophy if any you engage-this book will certainly impress you the reader. It could actually change someone's life in the context of stimulating someone's interest enough in mythology-to begin looking into it. Or, it can broaden your insight into your own spiritual life in of which you have already established. Any way you toss this book up-it's heads. So buy it.

This would have been an outstanding environment to have a great discussion over this "Beginnings" of Scripture. I say this because what is missing is a clear "conservative" voice. Certainly there are several whom one might label as providing this side's views. There are many such Old Testament stalwarts who could have did this admirably, e.g. Walter Kaiser to mention but one.

Thus, this book is very unbalanced as the liberal element is so prone to do: ignore the traditional, conservative opinion as well. You find it in all their works. While the conservative side most always reacts and interacts with the liberals, you rarely see it in the reverse. Thus, the poor unknowing layperson sees this as the total picture. Or hopefully not.

"Oh, Lord, open thou our eyes."

Perhaps if you haven't read these since childhood Sunday school, you still think these are simple stories. These compact stories all have deep issues about life and what it means to be human. I was surprised by the feeling that God may be wresting with what it means to be God and allow humans freedom. There almost seems to be a trial and error approach to creation. The people in Genesis are all exposed as being very human, with fractured families. The people on the video are also very human, and at time the discussions are very personal, like sitting in with an old friend. This book and videos offered an amazing number of views, and one shouldn't view them as dogma. I was particularly surprised by feminist and Koran views. I hope to read further by Burton Visotzky who was a participant. For an example of unique reading of Abraham and Isaac see Kierkegaard's "Fear and Trembling".

I don't agree...I found this book exciting. Most books today considering the question of Genesis are generally written by conservative believers and marketed to the faithful. We've been fed the conservative point of view fairly consistantly since the founding of this country. In my experience, I find that the conservative rarely reach out to conduct this kind of inquiry, instead focusing on "spreading the word" they personally endorse with very little time for others' interpretations of the bible's message. They rarely reccomend such books as this to their peers, for fear of the questions which may arise from the text. (this is, as I've said, based upon my own experiences, and doesn't apply to conservatives as a whole, I should hope.) I read and consider both camps, but have always seen the field as unbalanced in the conservative direction, especially here in the south. Welcome this book, read this book, and consider this book. It's a rare thing thoughtfully constructed.

Ideas of Grandiosity.
I would suggest that the individuals mentioned in this book be interviewed for their version of the experiences. Then determine if this book has taken some "fictional" license. But wouldn't we all like to paint a fantastic autobiographical picture of ourselves especially if our lineage had someone truly outstanding in it.

Joseph Jaworski was a practicing litigator when he learned about the concept of the "servant leader." Inspired, he left his legal practice and created the American Leadership Forum (ALF), which trains corporate leaders in using the servant-leader model. Synchronicty, which recounts Jaworski's journey, aspires to novelistic drama, and in fact, Jaworski describes the tale in terms of the traditional literary hero's quest. While not exactly the labors of Hercules, anecdotes in which Jaworski talks his way out of a mugging and meets his wife by passing her in an airport are entertaining, but less informative than the author might hope. The book contains a lot of New-Age jargon and collective-consciousness sermonizing. Nevertheless, for managers who want to be something more - leaders - we [...] recommend Synchronicity not as a useful how-to, but rather as a business leader's inspirational biography.

Talking of dreams, magical moments with animals, following hunches and coincidences, dealing with the pains of personal history, talking about life as if it were an adventure story of wonder and self-discovery; you could say this is no way to write a book about business leadership. But thank goodness Joseph Jaworski, with the help of friends and a visionary editor, had the courage to do just that. Because the result is as profound as it is compelling. Dialogue is at the heart of Joe’s leadership philosophy, and the style and integrity of his writing is such that it draws the reader’s mind into just that state. His words are no dry treatise, they leave the page and make a direct emotional connection. Some day, more books will be written this way, and the world will be wiser for it.