The Road To Delphi: The Life and Afterlife of Oracles - Hardcover

Wood, Michael

3.7

56 ratings by Goodreads

9780701165468: The Road To Delphi: The Life and Afterlife of Oracles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0701165464 ISBN 13: 9780701165468

Publisher: Chatto & Windus, 2004

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In this fascinating and highly original book Michael Wood combines vivid story-telling and acutely perceptive analysis to give a sympathetic and entertaining account of humanity's persistent belief in 'signs'. He begins with the oracles of ancient Greece, explaining how people consulted them when they had to make crucial choices. Yet the key point was that the oracles spoke in riddles and gave ambiguous answers - it was up to humans to interpret what they said. Like horoscopes today, this allowed the hearers to fit the message to what they wanted, and sometimes, as in the disastrous tale of the Persian general Xerxes, or in the great drama of Oedipus and the riddle of the Sphinx, - and much later in Shakespeare's tale of Macbeth and the witches' prophesy - the listeners have got things horribly wrong. Michael Wood does not only look at Europe - he considers oracles in the old civilisations of the East, and particularly in pre-Hispanic America. He also explores modern examples, like the puzzles in the Kafka's fiction. And he brings the story up into our own lives, examining oracles in the film The Matrix and looking at the way we 'interpret' authorities we don't quite understand - as in the doctor's consulting room - or avidly puzzle out the meaning of astrology columns of the press. Lively, engaging and revealing, full of warmth and humanity as well as scholarship, The Road to Delphi is a book that sticks in the mind. It is remarkable both for the stories it tells, and the way it makes us think again about our dangerous longing to trust in signs - just as long as we have that tiny bit of freedom to twist them to promise what we hope for.

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Review:

"An immensely rich and provocative subject...Wood’s wide-ranging and penetrating scrutiny is cogently philosophical, keenly aesthetic, and gratifyingly entertaining."--"Booklist"
"There's a little something here for everyone...Sometimes erudite, sometimes esoteric, always unpredictable."--"Kirkus Reviews"
""The Road to Delphi "is a refreshingly original and sometimes startling rereading of oracles, from ancient ambiguities on through Shakespeare to our current perplexities of medicine and terrorism. For Wood, the gods keep returning, but only to confound us."--Harold Bloom, author of "The Western Canon"
"If not an oracular pronouncement, then a source of terrific and myriad pleasures. Michael Wood's "The Road to Delphi" is all that and then some."--James McManus, author of "Positively Fifth Street"
"An immensely rich and provocative subject...Wood's wide-ranging and penetrating scrutiny is cogently philosophical, keenly aesthetic, and gratifyingly entertaining."--"Booklist"

"There's a little something here for everyone...Sometimes erudite, sometimes esoteric, always unpredictable."--"Kirkus Reviews"

""The Road to Delphi "is a refreshingly original and sometimes startling rereading of oracles, from ancient ambiguities on through Shakespeare to our current perplexities of medicine and terrorism. For Wood, the gods keep returning, but only to confound us."--Harold Bloom, author of "The Western Canon"

"If not an oracular pronouncement, then a source of terrific and myriad pleasures. Michael Wood's "The Road to Delphi" is all that and then some."--James McManus, author of "Positively Fifth Street"

An immensely rich and provocative subject...Wood's wide-ranging and penetrating scrutiny is cogently philosophical, keenly aesthetic, and gratifyingly entertaining. "Booklist"

There's a little something here for everyone...Sometimes erudite, sometimes esoteric, always unpredictable. "Kirkus Reviews"

"The Road to Delphi "is a refreshingly original and sometimes startling rereading of oracles, from ancient ambiguities on through Shakespeare to our current perplexities of medicine and terrorism. For Wood, the gods keep returning, but only to confound us. "Harold Bloom, author of The Western Canon"

If not an oracular pronouncement, then a source of terrific and myriad pleasures. Michael Wood's "The Road to Delphi" is all that and then some. "James McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street""

"An immensely rich and provocative subject...Wood's wide-ranging and penetrating scrutiny is cogently philosophical, keenly aesthetic, and gratifyingly entertaining." --Booklist

"There's a little something here for everyone...Sometimes erudite, sometimes esoteric, always unpredictable." --Kirkus Reviews

"The Road to Delphi is a refreshingly original and sometimes startling rereading of oracles, from ancient ambiguities on through Shakespeare to our current perplexities of medicine and terrorism. For Wood, the gods keep returning, but only to confound us." --Harold Bloom, author of The Western Canon

"If not an oracular pronouncement, then a source of terrific and myriad pleasures. Michael Wood's The Road to Delphi is all that and then some." --James McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street

From the Publisher:

An endlessly intriguing topic - exploring the human desire to know the future, and the way this is linked to our passion for riddles and puzzles.

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