Disappointingly flawed
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There's an immense amount of useful detail in this book and when the author's surveying Tolkien's work directly it's interesting and valuable, despite some annoying errors and typos.
But the analysis is poor. The obsession with Christianity is unsettling - the author's tries desperately to shoehorn various elements of the Christian mythos into the Middle Earth stories, without success. And in a few places it seems as if he's speaking about the Christian mythology as if it were true in its own right (i.e. history and not myth) and necessarily MUST appear in some veiled form in Tolkien, which is just nonsense.
Obviously, Tolkien was a committed Christian but this only informs his Middle Earth stories at second hand. The primary inspiration are the ancient myths, and especially ancient languages, which Tolkien studied and loved. Imposing a non-existent Christian subtext as if Tolkien were C S Lewis just doesn't wash.
Many of the borrowings, reworkings and analogies between Tolkien's works and different myth cycles are spelled out clearly. But this is only really successful where the author sticks within the bounds of existing Tolkien sholarship. Pretty much all of his personal suggestions and ideas are dubious and many are farcical. Witness the bizarre attempt to equate hobbits with rabbits...
I can only see this book being of interest to those who don't already have much knowledge of the subject or would like an invented Christian apologist's account of Tolkien's work, so perhaps it's more appropriate for a certain kind of American audience.
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Finding your way in Middle-Earth
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Although the Dummies series is well known and easily recognisable, this is the first book from the series that I have read. I consider myself fairly familiar with Tolkien's Middle-Earth, but it is still confusing even having read The Silmarillion twice! I found this book really helpful in setting everything out clearly in sections on geography, peoples, language etc. which are easy to understand but not at all patronising.
I read the book straight through, but it is the sort of thing you can dip in and out of and has a really good table of contents and index if you want to find a particular topic. As another reviewer has pointed out though, there are a few mistakes in the text - what is it with Americans Richard the Lionheart, eh?
May seem obvious, but you should really have read The Lord of the Rings, or at least seen the films, before you pick this book up, otherwise it's not going to make a whole lot of sense! The Hobbit and The Silmarillion are also referenced, but I don't think it's necessary that you have read these for this book to be helpful. Enjoy!
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A rushed job?
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Greg Harvey does not bring his usual close attention to detail in this book, and the printer or publisher shares some of the blame. There are numerous errors of syntax, grammar, and even of fact. E.g. we are told as early as p30 that the Weald is in 'southwestern England' (it's in southeastern England); Gondor is stated to be 'east of the Mountains of Shadow' on p 32 (it's on the west). On p133 we are told 'Orthanc...means 'Cunning Mind'', when it means 'Forked Height'; p 227 Legolas and Gimly are said to be Boromir's compatriots, but they come from different races and countries. On page 235 Harvey makes the usual American mistake of referring to Richard I of England as 'the Lionhearted', instead of 'the Lionheart'. 'Fenris...also slay Odin' (the past tense of 'slay' is 'slew' (p250). Poor typesetting on p171 has 'He makes a fascinating strongman because Tolkien his strength came from...; p252 has 'such that that she was willing'; p256 has 'lies to down to die'; p298 has 'He seems to saying that...'; p315 'saying with they will return'; and three errors on p318: 'walking through a woods'; 'he and Frodo are living one Mr. Bilbo's adventures' and 'For those of you who've haven't...'. These might seem carping criticisms, but the errors slow up the reading process, and should not occur in a book costing [...] in the UK. They cast a shadow on the whole book, which in many ways is a 'tour de force' and is well worth reading for the comprehensive information on the whole world of Middle Earth. Incidentally, Mr Harvey might have mentioned that when Aragorn saves the lives of Eowyn and Faramir, his quote that the 'hands of the king are the hands of a healer' refers to the tradition from ancient times of 'touching for the king's evil', (although this had specific reference to scrofula) of which I am sure he is aware.
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Well done Greg Harvey
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When you travel to a foreign land you want to carry a guide to help you. It should contain maps and terms. More than that you want enough information to feel comfortable and that you have been there before, not just some dictionary of terms.
Well this is your true guide from nanes to themes to understanding the ages and the aged. As with all guides even if you know the information it is niece to have it presented differently to give you new insights. One such presentation is the periodic depictions by "The 5th Wave" One of my favorite is the one with the lumber jack with his arm around the young female Ent; parents looking on say "I'm sure he is a nice lumberjack. I just don't like the idea of our daughter dating one."Bottom line is that the reading of any of Tolkien's books will be more enjoyable if you do not have to stop and look things up or gloss them over and miss some concept in exchange for reading time.
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All that is gold does not glitter
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A superb addition to add to your Middle Earth library from a rather unlikely source. I have several computer books for Dummies and found them an excellent source of information and true to form this book follows that well worn (and very successful) formula; get to the point, cut the waffle, and a bit of humour for good measure.
The book itself tackles a broad range of topics and attempts to explain Tolkien's sources and inspiration for, well, everything in the Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings and the Silmarilion. It's not to say that you may agree with everything and a book of this nature is bound to be subjective in some areas but on the whole the level of detail is excellent and will give you a clearer understanding of the ideas behind Middle Earth than some of the more sober looking tomes. However, that brings me to my only complaint? That cover. I'm sorry, it just can't sit next to my Tolkien books. It's too yellow. It really should be in a sensible quarter bound leather. Of course if that were the case I would have overlooked it and that would have been a great shame.
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