The Unending Mystery: A Journey Through Labyrinths and Mazes, by David Willis McCullough

Retrieved from: someone else's library
(0375423060), 2004
Suggested by: I believe I cataloged a copy for my library
My Ratings: 9 Merit, 7 Interest, 6 Fun

I love labyrinths. I enjoy mazes, both the pencil/paper kind and those like Hampton Court where you actually walk between hedges. Rather, 20 years ago I enjoyed Hampton Court's Maze; I think I'm developing some claustrophobia of late, and the thought of high walls doesn't really do much for me.

Anyway, I thought this book would be fun. It's ... interesting, not exactly fun. There are plenty of details about the history of labyrinths, which are older than Minos and scattered throughout the world. The author generally focuses on Europe, and traces the change in outlook from mythology to spirituality to architecture to fun and back to spiritual. In the "fun" phase, he talks about the difference between labyrinths and mazes: the former has only one path to follow while the latter is about trickery and getting lost.

I wish he would have spent more time on the current (passing?) fad of labyrinths as spiritual devices. They are fascinating, and since that's where I came across them, that's where my interest lies. That's not to say that I'd never seen a maze before, but really labyrinths are different.

He did delve into the whole "corn maze" popularity, something I'd love to do but can't because being around corn pollen is like death on a plate to me. They look fun, and I've been assured by those who have tried them out that they are.

So a fun book, probably more one to skim unless you're doing a research paper, with lots of resources and notes directing readers towards others with backgrounds in either of the subjects.