The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Cambell

The book "Hero with a Thousand Faces" is a superb book that discusses how most cultures have stories that share similarities with those of other cultures. Joseph Campbell, the author, has made it his life's work to study the myths of other cultures and his comparative descriptions lead one to acknowledge that there are parts of the human psyche that are common throughout the world and through time.

My only critique of the book is that unless you have at least a small background in reading mythologies or are used to university level books, it may take you a couple dozen pages to get into the flow the author is presenting in. Otherwise its great.

An excellent excerpt, that serves as a summary of the book, is as follows:

"Mythology has been interpreted by the modern intellect as a primitive, fumbling effort to explain the world of nature (Frazer); as a production of poetical fantasy from prehistoric times, misunderstood by succeeding ages (Muller); as a repository of allegorical instruction, to shape the individual to his group (Durkheim); as a group dream, symptomatic of archetypal urges within the depths of the human psyche (Jung); as the traditional vehicle of man's profoundest insights (Coomarawamy); and as God's Revelation to His children (the church). Mythology is all of these. The various judgements are determined by the viewpoints of the judges. For when scrutinized in terms not of what is but of how it functions, of how it served mankind in the past, of how it may serve today, mythology shows itself to be as amenable as life itself to the obsessions and requirements of the individual, the race, the age."

I would highly recommend this book for those who like mythology and for those who are interested in writing or telling stories.