Claude Levi-StraussMyth and Meaning: Cracking the Code of Culture

Meaning and Myth is a short collection of Levi-Strauss' lectures. It is remarkable because it gives insight into the thoughts of this famous anthropologist. The recorded lectures were given orally, which creates new respect for the genius of a man who could speak so fluently and eloquently in a language that is not his native tongue.If you have no interest in anthropology, you will probably not enjoy the book, but if you have a stong interest, this is a great way to start to understand the mind of one of the world's greatest anthropologists.Also, the foreword by Wendy Doniger was one of the funniest, cleverest, most insightful forewords I have read. This surprised me immensely since I usually hate any part of a book not written by the author.I highly recommend "Mening and Myth: Cracking the Code of Culture" if you have an academic interest in the subject of anthropology and are looking for a starting point.

This book was hard to put down. While it's a very short text, it has really whet my appetite for more of his books. I would also recommend this book as an introduction to the work of Lévi-Strauss.Something that makes the book so accessible is that, as explained in the first few pages of the text, his ideas are simplified because he is discussing his ideas in English (his second language). However, they still maintain a richness that I think would be lost if someone else were to try to translate or simplify his ideas.

Levi-Strauss conveys a greater understanding of mythology and culture in less than 60 pages than other authors have in much larger volumes. He renounces the use of the term "primitive" in favor "non-literate". And he recognizes that while non-literate people have a different worldview that we do, they are still as intelligent as we are and driven by the same insatiable curiosity to understand the world and their place in it. He calls out those who would portray traditional peoples as unimaginative dullards preoccupied only with eating and sex, and points out that the mythmakers of traditional cultures were the intellectual equivalent of our greatest philosophers and scientists.Following in the tradition of some of the greatest thinkers from Plato to Penrose, Levi-Strauss recognizes that the human mind is simply a part of the cosmos, giving the mind the unique ability to understand the world. Using this understanding it is possible to identify underlying themes, "mythemes", to compare and contrast various myths.This book is a "must read" for anyone interested in understanding mythology and human culture.

Shows both the strengths and weaknesses of his approach to anthropology. If you find his elaborations on, for instance, myths on "twins" convincing, that is a great teat for you agreement with his whole project.

Good quick read. Lucid. Easy to understand.He reminds me of Jung, but with a particular difference. Jung puts himself into mythology first hand--it's all very much still alive for him. Levi-Strauss on the other hand is a bit more detached. They both have their roles.Do recommend.

Good quality, fast delivery.

If you know anything at all about Levi-Strauss, this will likely seem pretty darn sparse. It's quite short and only covers the very surface of the man's thinking. I felt like a decent Wikipedia article (which sadly does not exist -- Wikipedia is not particularly good on C. L-S, at least right now) would have been faster to read and much more useful. I notice there are many very positive reviews of this here, so perhaps I am in the minority. But this is a very superficial pamphlet, really, and I don't even feel it's a particularly good start. If I was stuck on a train for an hour and had nothing else to read, this would do the job, but at home with the Internet and a decent library at my disposal, it was only a wasted hour. This is no denigration of a great scholar, just a comment on this specific product.

This is the perfect summary of Levi-Strauss' thinking. It's an edited transcript of a series of lectures he made, and recapitulates the essence of his work. There's no easier or faster way to understand this seminal social scientist, either as an introduction to his other works or as a refresher.