[Free pdf] Exploring Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials: An Unauthorized Adventure Through The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass Exploring Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials: An Unauthorized Adventure Through The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass

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Exploring Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials: An Unauthorized Adventure Through The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass QN-40221 US/Data/Literature-Fiction 5/5 From 875 Reviews Lois H. Gresh ebooks | Download PDF | *ePub | DOC | audiobook

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful. RidiculousBy Anne BonnyLet me start by saying I have not read this book cover to cover, but it's also not that kind of book. It's organized into chapters about specific aspects of HDM, allowing you to read the chapters relevant to your own interests or studies.I have skimmed a few chapters, and overall the language and ideas are overly simplistic and geared toward young readers in a rather patronizing way.I read the chapter on witches the whole way through, as it is the most pertinent to my thesis and this is the only source I've found so far that devotes a whole chapter to Pullman's witches.Gresh's handling of actual witches is preposterous. A quick glance at the three-source biography for the chapter (two of which I'm pretty sure are essays, and one of which is an encyclopedia with no specific articles mentioned or anything) helps explain this, but it's still thoroughly disturbing. She mixes myths in with the truth, often in a way that begins with "Christians/witch hunters believed..." but by the end of the passage has taken on a tone of factuality. She blatantly insults modern witches, calling witchcraft a pseudo-religion and saying she has no idea why anyone would want this label but she suspects it makes girls feel cool to pretend they have supernatural powers. There are so many things wrong with that sentence I don't know where to begin.She also grasps at straws a lot, using Gaia as a primary connection between Pullman's witches and actual witchcraft, even though Gaia is not explicitly part of either so much as a concept that both HDM and her brief reading about the history of witches seemed to remind her of. Later, she assumes Pullman's witches cast magical circles simply because she has found other similarities with "real" witches (quotation marks hers, not mine). Most of the points and conclusions she makes are completely unfounded, or else based in misinformation, stereotypes or outrageous myths (she actually says modern witches become invisible, shape shift, use toads and hares, etc.) Thus, even if you come well-equipped with a background of accurate information on the subject, it's basically impossible to take anything new away from her writing because less than half of it is based on conclusive evidence or arguable links between Pullman's and actual witches.You would be much better off reading something like Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon and making your own connections to the witches in HDM; it would take less effort than trying to find anything of value on the subject here.12 of 12 people found the following review helpful. A nicely done exploration of the trillogy's concepts and chararctersBy Max JohnsonI wrote this mainly to balance out the rating of the previous (first) reviewer, who doesn't seem to realize that reviewing Gersh's book on its own merits and one's personal feelings about Pullman's "His Dark Materials" Trillogy are NOT the same thing!! That in mind, Gersh's book is an extremely entertaining and informative exploration of many of the major concepts ("Dust," "Daemons") and Character Types ("Witches")found in the books, in historical, folkloric, scientific, and theological perspective. It is nice suplementary reading for lovers of the trillogy of all ages.

His Dark Materials is one of the most popular, award-winning fantasies of all time, a bestselling trilogy hailed as "a modern classic" by The New York Times. Now, for the first time ever, Lois H. Gresh helps young readers examine Pullman's intricate universe with Exploring His Dark Materials, the ultimate companion guide. Gresh's fun, interactive book explores the complex science, religion, and fantastic elements of His Dark Materials in a way that's both informative and fun for younger readers. Exploring His Dark Materials is filled with sidebars, history, facts and an in-depth analysis of the books, answering questions like:*What are daemons?*Why is dust important to the series?* Is Dark Material real and how does it relate to our universe?* What are the origins of ghosts and shapeshifters?*And much more! Exploring His Dark Materials is a thrilling and essential guide for young adults to help them explore this fantastic and challenging fantasy world.