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Danser, Simon. "The Myths of Reality". Alternative Albion (an imprint of Heart of Albion Press, Wymeswold, LE12 6UJ, 2005. Pbk xiii, 205pp. Bibliog, index. ISBN 1-872883-80-X. £12.95

This book is something of a change for Heart of Albion, which has specialised in folklore, mythology and local history works in the past, but one which does fit in with publisher Bob Trubshaw's" foamycustard" project, which stands at the interface of mythology, folklore, cultural studies, philosophy, politics and just about anything else that's relevant. Indeed a sample chapter from this book is on the foamycustard website, so a visit to www.indigogroup.co.uk/foamycustard/ will give you a flavour of what is on offer here.

The book itself is very neatly produced and clearly written. The preface contains an extended mental health warning, which I felt was rather unnecessary, as those people most likely to read a book with the title "The Myths of Reality" are those who are going to be most comfortable with the ideas contained in the book. However, in these litigious times it's probably a good idea for publisher's to err on the safe side.

Also a quick glance at the bibliography (and something confirmed by reading the text) shows that there is much here that will be familiar to those who have followed debates in areas such as cultural studies, consciousness studies, philosophy of science, chaos theory, media studies and certain religious and mystical traditions. However, what makes this book original is it's breadth, covering the way that are notions of the "real" are mediated and indeed constructed, by social conventions, and in particular by mythic fragments (rarely do we see the full "myth" in action, more allusions to it).

Simon Danser (assuming the authorial ascription is true!) problematises our understanding of "reality" in chapters covering commerce, science, knowledge, causality, language, consciousness and self-identity. It is this scope that makes the book something of a rarity, in that whereas other books would deal with just one of these topics, the author here ties them altogether. It is perhaps this depth of rendering the "real" problematic that some readers may find, er, problematic. For example, many will find themselves agreeing with the author when he deals with the way the media constructs a version of the real (and one which generally speaking works mainly (but not exclusively) on behalf of those with power and money), but baulk at the questioning of the deeper scientific / philosophical assertions or those relating to the questioning of self-identity.

Yet, me for, on balance, I think that the author has succeeded in producing a coherent argument (narrative) with this book. It does not pretend to much more than an introduction to this area of discourse, and the bibliography will, I suspect introduce nearly all readers to many new and interesting works in various areas touched on here. You will need to have been very well read on what has been produced in the past few years to have read even half of the books here.

By it's very nature this book will be bound to provoke discussion with the reader (as indeed it should and intends to do). (And here one should note that it is a pity that the inter-active aspect of the foamycustard website has yet to be implemented!). If you're looking for a book for a reading circle this one can be recommended as it is bound to provoke arguments and even for solitary readers it will be rewarding reading. If there was a warning I would issue in conjunction with this book, it is that those with a conservative political outlook won't like the author's take on contemporary political issues, whereas those of a more progressive slant will find many of their views justified and amplified here.

The book is reasonably priced for what is not a mass-market paperback, but, as ever, if money is tight, well-worth getting from the library. One I shall probably be recommending to friends and even re-reading myself in due course.

8/10

Richard Alexander