Creation Stories

Landscapes and the Human Imagination

By: Anthony Aveni

Narrated by: L.J. Ganser

An accessible exploration of how diverse cultures have explained humanity's origins through narratives about the natural environment

Drawing from a vast array of creation myths - Babylonian, Greek, Aztec, Maya, Inca, Chinese, Hindu, Navajo, Polynesian, African, Norse, Inuit, and more - this concise book uncovers both the similarities and differences in our attempts to explain the universe.

Anthony Aveni, an award-winning author and professor of astronomy and anthropology, examines the ways various cultures around the world have attempted to explain our origins, and what roles the natural environment plays in shaping these narratives. The book also celebrates the audacity of the human imagination.

Whether the first humans emerged from a cave, as in the Inca myths, or from bamboo stems, as the Bantu people of Africa believed, or whether the universe is simply the result of Vishnu's cyclical inhales and exhales, each of these fascinating stories reflects a deeper understanding of the culture it arose from as well as its place in the larger human narrative.

©2021 Anthony Aveni (P)2021 Tantor

Fun performance

I’ve listened over and over. Entertaining and curious, having grown up on mainly one creation story.

Don't get this book! Author makes errors!!!!!

started listening . Greek theogony was first but author got his gods completely wrong. said Zeus defeated Ournanos instead of Chronos! I doubled checked the book-audio then the actual myths. he was wrong in his writing. call me picky but basic factual error is inexcusable. I didn't bother finishing book as I assumed it might be replete with errors!