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The Wonders of the World #1
The Pyramids of Giza
The Pyramids of Giza have been beguiling humanity for more than 4500 years. Who built them? How? And why? And just why have so many people been prompted to believe so many weird things about them?
Join in one of the greatest intellectual adventures in history alongside the people who first reintroduced the pyramids to Europe in the Middle Ages, then plumbed their depths and learned at least some of their secrets over the centuries that followed. You'll meet discoverers and explorers along the way, such as the tireless English measurer who became the first Westerner to chart the interior of the Pyramid of Khufu, the Italian sea captain who unburied the Giza Sphinx, the Italian Indiana Jones who opened the Pyramid of Khafre, and the British Army colonel who blasted his way into the Pyramid of Menkaure using gunpowder. And you'll also meet scholars and scientists, misguided and otherwise, such as the team of savants who accompanied Napoleon's invasion of Egypt, the linguist who advanced a hundred wrong theories about Egyptian writing until he stumbled upon the right one, the respected astronomer who founded the modern cult of pyramidal pseudo-archaeology, and the naïve young believer who came to the pyramids as a devoted member of said cult and left them having founded the field of scientific archaeology as we know it today.
Finally, you'll journey back to the very beginning of recorded history to meet the extraordinary people who built the pyramids in the first place. You'll learn why they did so, and the most likely possibilities for how.
Many fictions have been told about the Pyramids of Giza -- but the truth is the most amazing tale of them all.
(This book is the first volume in a series of them called simply The Wonders of the World, whose aim is to accessibly chronicle some of the most remarkable achievements in human history. The series is premised on the idea that its subjects are indeed wondrous, and there's no reason why books about them should be one whit less exciting and inspiring than a good novel. My plan and my hope is to bring these wonders to life for you, using all of the skills I've collected during half a lifetime of researching and writing, without stinting on my commitment to rigorous historical accuracy.)
Join in one of the greatest intellectual adventures in history alongside the people who first reintroduced the pyramids to Europe in the Middle Ages, then plumbed their depths and learned at least some of their secrets over the centuries that followed. You'll meet discoverers and explorers along the way, such as the tireless English measurer who became the first Westerner to chart the interior of the Pyramid of Khufu, the Italian sea captain who unburied the Giza Sphinx, the Italian Indiana Jones who opened the Pyramid of Khafre, and the British Army colonel who blasted his way into the Pyramid of Menkaure using gunpowder. And you'll also meet scholars and scientists, misguided and otherwise, such as the team of savants who accompanied Napoleon's invasion of Egypt, the linguist who advanced a hundred wrong theories about Egyptian writing until he stumbled upon the right one, the respected astronomer who founded the modern cult of pyramidal pseudo-archaeology, and the naïve young believer who came to the pyramids as a devoted member of said cult and left them having founded the field of scientific archaeology as we know it today.
Finally, you'll journey back to the very beginning of recorded history to meet the extraordinary people who built the pyramids in the first place. You'll learn why they did so, and the most likely possibilities for how.
Many fictions have been told about the Pyramids of Giza -- but the truth is the most amazing tale of them all.
(This book is the first volume in a series of them called simply The Wonders of the World, whose aim is to accessibly chronicle some of the most remarkable achievements in human history. The series is premised on the idea that its subjects are indeed wondrous, and there's no reason why books about them should be one whit less exciting and inspiring than a good novel. My plan and my hope is to bring these wonders to life for you, using all of the skills I've collected during half a lifetime of researching and writing, without stinting on my commitment to rigorous historical accuracy.)
- GenresHistory
391 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 11, 2019
3 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 25, 2019
"The Pyramids of Giza" is a great introduction to the history of Egypt and the pyramids. I came to this book with the scattered knowledge of Egyptian history and mythology that ones gets by reading the occasional National Geographic article. This book does a good job of tracing the history of pyramid archaeology while simultaneously grounding that story by giving us an introduction to Egyptian history and mythology. My favorite part about the book is how the author evokes (as well as one can when we're talking about events that happened thousands of years ago) the historical periods when the various pyramids were built.
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February 2, 2022I read this book as it was released serially on the author's website, every other week, and always looked forward to each installment. In Mr Maher's hands, the pyramids are a gateway to learn not only about the society that built them, but all those who encountered them afterwards, and what they made of them. I probably never would have picked up a book about the pyramids if I hadn't been familiar with the author's work, but based on his excellent blogs and previous books I knew that the writing would be engaging, the research thorough, and so well-organized that it would just be a pleasure to read, and as usual I was right. :) If you're looking for a great gateway to this topic I recommend it.
July 3, 2020
I really enjoyed the author's approach to the topic - telling the story of discovering the pyramids by westerners.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews