The Wisdom of the Odyssey

“Phil Cousineau always notices what nobody else does — a sure sign of a sharp writer. His odyssey through the Odyssey uncovers new sights at every site.”
— Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events

A fresh, modern companion to Homer’s Odyssey that illuminates its timeless lessons on change, resilience, and the search for home.

For nearly three thousand years, Homer’s Odyssey has captivated audiences with its tale of Odysseus’s perilous return journey after the Trojan War. In The Wisdom of the Odyssey, mythologist Phil Cousineau distills the epic into twenty-four chapters that mirror Homer’s original books and connect their lessons to our own lives. Readers follow Odysseus through his ordeals and changes of heart, as he’s sustained not only by cunning and grit but by love for his wife, Penelope; his son, Telemachus; and his homeland, the island of Ithaka. In his delightfully strange world of monsters, tricksters, and sorceresses, Homer reveals what it means to be human. Timed for release with Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated film adaptation, this volume shows how Odysseus’s enduring story is more relevant than ever, and how it can guide us toward perseverance, meaning, and a richer inner life.