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A review by jacki_f
Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs, A Brief History of Ancient Egypt by Barbara Mertz
3.0
Wildly uneven - at times fascinating, at others it's like reading one of those books in the Old Testament which are all "Seth begat Enosh begat Kenan begat Mahalalel". When it slows down and focuses on some of the fascinating individuals - Hemium, Hatshepsut, Akhenaton, Thutmose III - it is riveting.
Barbara Mertz was an archeologist who approaches Egyptian history from that perspective. (She also wrote novels under the nom de plume "Elizabeth Peters"). This means that she can explain how mummies are identified and what they can tell us about the lives of the individuals in a way that is really interesting. It also means that she might decide to explain at great length how pottery shards are dated and classified which is...not so interesting. She has a chatty writing style, prone to dropping lines like "I don't want to get started on this because it makes me lose my temper" or "It's not necessary to remember the names; they will not turn up again in these pages. I just put them in to show how thorough I am."
There's a ton of information packed into this relatively slim book. It gives you an overall history of Egypt as well as drilling down into some of the most interesting periods. There were parts when I would have loved an editor to rein her in but when it's good, it's terrific.
Barbara Mertz was an archeologist who approaches Egyptian history from that perspective. (She also wrote novels under the nom de plume "Elizabeth Peters"). This means that she can explain how mummies are identified and what they can tell us about the lives of the individuals in a way that is really interesting. It also means that she might decide to explain at great length how pottery shards are dated and classified which is...not so interesting. She has a chatty writing style, prone to dropping lines like "I don't want to get started on this because it makes me lose my temper" or "It's not necessary to remember the names; they will not turn up again in these pages. I just put them in to show how thorough I am."
There's a ton of information packed into this relatively slim book. It gives you an overall history of Egypt as well as drilling down into some of the most interesting periods. There were parts when I would have loved an editor to rein her in but when it's good, it's terrific.