ears ago when I first thought up this idea and began work on it, I didn't realize the size of what I had chosen to do. When you begin to try and list resources for the history of the entire world, it kinda makes you shrink like a spider on a hot stove. There is SO MUCH material out there that it is a little hard at times to make selections. Then again, sometimes time periods overlap, or are traditionally handled together, that the distinction becomes quite difficult. For example, take Medieval History, probably my all time favorite. The period from approximately 450 A.D. to the mid 1600's is considered variously as the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, Medieval History, The Renaissance, etc., so I combined them into one room of the castle since I feel, as others do, that you cannot study one without the others. So they should, therefore, be considered and taken together. That overlap happens all throughout history and has made this job a litte more difficult than I at first thought it would be.

Also, I am a stickler for detail. I guess you could call me a compulsive-obsessive in that regard. I want it to be perfect. Sometimes, that can get a little frustrating and has led me more than once to scrap it and start again. But, I feel that as hard a critic as I am on myself, if I think it is okay, then maybe you will too. This has been hard to overcome in some rooms, especially the one concerning the Dawn of Mankind. The information has been hard to find, so I have hesitated to open it. Not that there is not a lot of it out there, but it has been hard to find various places that have something different to offer. And that is a major theme in this idea. To offer as many DIFFERENT and varied sources of information as possible. For example, this is a history of Mankind. I could put dinosaurs in here, but what has that to do with man? There isn't much written history of early man, just cave pictures and archaeological digs. It is hard to find some of the information. The same can be said of Mythology in a way. If you have a copy of Bulfinch's Mythology, you got just about all there is to know of one type in one volume. There is alot of information in that volume, but you just have one source. What I have strived for is VARIETY.

It is like one of my professors told me while I was in graduate school. Your credentials look better if you DON'T get your graduate degree from the same university that you got your undergradute degree. It shows lack of diversity. See what I mean? If you use one source for everything, you only get one viewpoint, one idea, one philosophy. And that is what I did not want. I want this project to be as vast, and as diverse and philosophically different as I can make it. That keeps it new, refreshing, and gives you many different and even conflicting viewpoints. That is what education is all about. Lets learn as much as we can and as many different ways as we can. Then we are more capable of making up our own minds about the subject we are studing. That is what science, education, and discovery are all about. Let's try to find something new, something we never knew before. Then, we have added to mankinds vast store of knowledge and enriched our own lives as well.

About the Construction:

nique, unusual, and informative is what I have striven for in Odin's Castle. A useful and enjoyable place and not a waste of web space. I have done my best to make each room as beautiful as possible, while trying to hold down the graphics a little bit. Not because I don't like graphics, but you know, or should, that the more you put on a page, the longer it takes to load. I wanted people to enjoy coming to my Castle because of its beauty and because they didn't have to wait forever for the page to load. Know what I mean? I don't know how many times I have moved on because a page took what seemed like forever to load. It is also not fair to those of you who don't have lightning fast modems either to tie you up loading graphics that, depending upon your browser, you may or may not even be able to see. My Castle looks best with Netscape 4.0 or greater, but works equally well with Microsoft Explorer 4.0 and above. Ideal screen resolution is at least 640x480, but resolution of 800x600 is best with resolutions up to 1600x1200 displaying equally well (thats for those of you with those big "WideScreen" monitors......). I have gone to consistant graphics throughout the Castle which will help the pages load faster and quicker once the main page has loaded. Also, I still have not gone to frames and probably never will, or at least until they make all web browsers frame friendly and capable of reading the HTML code to display properly. Many schools and colleges use the Castle as a resource and sometimes they do not have "state of the art" equipment and browsers, so I want to keep it easy for them to access the Castle at all times.

When the Castle is updated, any new or additional information will be annotated with a "new" graphic to indicate that it is a new addition since the last update. I occassionally make URL changes when links move or change and these are common and do not result in a new tag. At the bottom of each page will be indicated the last time that particular page was updated. I am constantly searching, and when I do find something new, I won't hesitate to add it to the collection. Also, if you should have comments, suggestions, or links that you would like to see added to the Castle, please e-mail me. There is an e-mail address at the bottom of each page which looks like the example below. Please feel free to let me know what you think. It is the only way I have to know how my work is received.

About Me:

doubt you will find much of value here It is probably the boring part of your visit. You've come to the part about me. Well I won't bore you for long. My name is Paul Gwynn. That is about all. I am well over 21 but not quite 100. I am a retired USAF Senior NCO and Vietnam Vet. I am happily married to the most enchanting and lovely person I have ever met. You can read about our faerie tale romance is you wish by clicking here. I have a Master's degree in Education and am currently a Doctral candidate for a PhD in Education at the University of North Texas, Denton Texas. I have been interested in history, most especially Medieval, Viking, and Mythology firstly, and American Western (1800-1900), since I was old enough to know who King Arthur and Hopalong Cassidy were. It has been one of my hobbies for all those yeas. I have used Odin as an online name for nearly twenty years now. It dates back to my days in the military working with the old Honeywell computers. Those that had 18" changeable hard drive platters, 12" tape back up reels and air conditioned clean rooms. Rember those days? Boy, have we come a long way since then. Also, being of Welsh ancestry, with a little Scotch-Irish and English thrown in, I am sure that some of my ancient ancestors were Vikings. The name kinda comes with the territory. Anyway, several years ago when I came up with this idea, what better name to call my Castle. Well, that's all about me. I won't bore you anymore. Enjoy your stay in Odin's Castle, and come back often. The drawbridge will always be down, and you will always be welcomed with a glad heart.