The Complete Pyramids: Solving the Ancient Mysteries (The Complete Series) Review

The Complete Pyramids: Solving the Ancient Mysteries (The Complete Series)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
"The Complete Pyramids" is a gorgeous book, resplendent with photographs, diagrams and computer-generated images, and serves well as a near-comprehensive reference work on the pyramids of Egypt (that is, _all_ of them, not simply the Giza complex) for the layperson. The writing is less than inspiring but still serviceable, and the presentation will most definitely satisfy the "USA Today"-style at-a-glance needs of many people. For example, Lehner includes a rendered-to-scale figure of all of the pyramids of Egypt in cross-section, to give an idea of the chronology and scope of pyramid-building throughout Egyptian history. As a compendium of the conclusions and currently predominant ideas of modern Egyptology, this book probably has few peers.
Lehner often fails, however, to convey a real sense of the methodology involved in reaching these conclusions. Too often, we are told of the likely functions of specific features of the pyramids or their surrounding complexes without being told of the basis by which Egyptologists assign these functions. One notable exception to this is Lehner's treatment of recent attempts to elucidate the methods by which the pyramids were built. Perhaps this is due to Lehner's direct participation in such projects, but the relative care taken to explain the current state of knowledge regarding ancient Egyptian pyramid-building techniques stands in contrast to the lack of explication given to far too many other subjects. Thus, by comparison Paul Jordan's "Riddles of the Sphinx" is a superior work in this regard, if less focused on the pyramids.
The inclusion of such reasoning is necessary if only because the popular literature is so littered with "alternative" (most often, crank) views in which the pyramids are constructed by aliens or lost "Atlantean" civilizations of greater antiquity than Egypt. It would seem reasonable in such an atmosphere to provide the reader with the rationale for the modern archaeological view in addition to an exposition of it. Along these lines, Robert Bauval's "Orion" hypothesis for the alignment of the Giza pyramids merits a few sentences, but no substantive discussion is given to it. Perhaps my recent reading material has given me a particular bias, but even without having to answer the claims of "alternative" cranks, "The Complete Pyramids" would have benefited from more discussion of method along with the conclusions. Still, this is a fine book, and I recommend it.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Complete Pyramids: Solving the Ancient Mysteries (The Complete Series)


"A fully illustrated compendium of every major pyramid of ancient Egypt."-Atlanta Journal Constitution
Mark Lehner brings his many years of field research in Egypt to this definitive book. He examines the pyramids in unprecedented detail, covering the practical aspects-the quarries, ramps, and tools used in construction-as well as the conceptual ones.Professor Lehner surveys and describes the pyramids across their 3,000-year history, as well as explaining the rituals and mythology, the history of travelers, looters, and archaeologists, and the ways in which the pyramids were an integral part of the Egyptian state.The hundreds of illustrations include computer reconstructions and specially commissioned artists' perspective views of the pyramids and their interior chambers. The book is at once a definitive sourcebook and an entertaining guide for scholars, students, and travelers. 556 illustrations, 83 in color

Buy NowGet 34% OFF

Click here for more information about The Complete Pyramids: Solving the Ancient Mysteries (The Complete Series)

0 comments:

Post a Comment