Author Description

Why do we need oracles? For thousands of years rulers and generals, and ordinary men and women, have consulted them in times of need. In this fascinating exploration of the long life of oracles Michael Wood asks where they spring from and how they are interpreted, and why we still hunger for them. Oracles speak in riddles, and give ambiguous answers. Since earliest times, people trying to read them have argued with stunning ingenuity to twist the meaning to their desires- and equally often they get it wrong. This book examines the great stories and blunders surrounding actual oracles from Delphi and Dodona in classical Greece and to pre- Hispanic America, and at the powerful fictional oracles of literature, from Oedipus to Macbeth. But it also turns its gaze on modern examples, in the works of Kafka and in the film the Matrix, in the doctor's consulting room and the astrology columns of the press. Throughout, Michael Wood combines vivid story- telling and brilliantly perceptive analysis to give a sympathetic and entertaining account of humanity's persistent belief in 'signs'. Lively, engaging and revealing, THE ROAD TO DELPHI shows an ancient art at work, and invites us to think again about the different ways we deal with our longing for the certainties we know we can never have.