Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Beneath the Sands of Egypt: Adventures of an Unconventional Archaeologist” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Beneath the Sands of Egypt: Adventures of an Unconventional Archaeologist

Donald P. Ryan

3.52 · Rating details · 241 ratings · 37 reviews

“Donald Ryan is a rare bird—a field archaeologist who can write with verve and immediacy. I heartily recommend his book to all Egyptology buffs.”
—Barbara Mertz ( a.k.a. Elizabeth Peters), author of Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs

A real-life “Indiana Jones,” Donald P. Ryan, Ph.D., offers a breathtaking personal account of his adventures in archaeology in Beneath the Sands ...more

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 286 pages

Published June 29th 2010 by William Morrow

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Beneath the Sands of Egypt, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about Beneath the Sands of Egypt

Lists with This Book

Best Books About Egypt

422 books — 543 voters

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

The Stripping of the Altars by Eamon Duffy

Learn About History

350 books — 191 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.52 ·

Rating details

· 241 ratings · 37 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Beneath the Sands of Egypt: Adventures of an Unconventional Archaeologist

Jul 19, 2012 Isidore rated it it was ok

A pleasant, slight, rather self-indulgent memoir. There is no index, making it useless for research or reference. Ryan offers some interesting anecdotes about his personal experiences in the field, but I suspect most of the hard archaeological data can be found elsewhere. There are long digressions on Belzoni and excavator David Hogarth, and a sketch of the author's relationship with Thor Heyerdahl.

Minor but annoying errors (can HarperCollins not afford editors?) are scattered through the book, ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Nov 16, 2020 Susan Ferguson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nook, 2020, adventure, memoir

Donald Ryan chronicles his career from his first interest in exploration and archeology to his first digs and his efforts to finally get his PhD so he could be in charge of a dig himself. He goes through some tombs in the Valley of the Kings that were discovered years earlier and been sealed back up. He checks the condition of the tombs and sees if anything was left from the earlier digs and if any damage has been done by the flooding of the Valley. He also finds a tomb that had disappeared unde Donald Ryan chronicles his career from his first interest in exploration and archeology to his first digs and his efforts to finally get his PhD so he could be in charge of a dig himself. He goes through some tombs in the Valley of the Kings that were discovered years earlier and been sealed back up. He checks the condition of the tombs and sees if anything was left from the earlier digs and if any damage has been done by the flooding of the Valley. He also finds a tomb that had disappeared under the sands. It was known and already explored and had been plundered before. In it he finds the mummies of 2 women (as was reported - the tomb and been plundered and there was not much to identify these women). The way the left arm of one of the mummy's was bent and the fact her hand was in a fist led him to believe that she was probably royalty. Also, this tomb was near the tomb of Hatshepsut (who had not been found in her tomb). They built a new coffin for the mummies and restored them to the tomb and put a metal door and lock on it. Apparently this metal door and lock procedure is done with most tombs that have been reopened. Then a few years later he was denied the right to dig in the Valley of the Kings or in Egypt. The then-head of Antiquities in Egypt for famous for denying foreigners. He was in England at a conference when he ran into Thor Heyerdahl, a hero from his childhood. He went up and introduced himself and they talked a bit about the work he had been doing. Heyerdahl gave Donald his card and said if he was at a loose end, to call him. When he was denied access to Egypt, he did. He went to an interview and was hired as an assistant, which position he held up Heyerdahl's death. He has done many things besides digging in Egypt - trying to help an area in Hawaii chart the old petroglyphs and get some idea of how they went together and how to preserve them. He also did some work on ancient Egyptian rope-making and papyrus. He finally got back into Egypt under a new head of Antiquities and rechecked his old site where he had been working. He found one of the female mummies gone and learned the head had moved her to the museum to study more closely. He, too, believed she had been royal.
A wonderful look at the ups and downs of archeology, how it has changed and how many different things are involved. ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 20, 2013 Melissa rated it liked it

Donald Ryan wrote a fun yet sometime confusing biography of his professional archeological career.. This book gives a great historical background of archeological history in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, famous and no famous archeologists, practices and new scientific discoveries.

Dr. Ryan is a passionate and intelligent go getter that leans towards arrogance. His writing style is inviting but jumps around, as many biographys do. He also switches location from paragraph to paragraph leaving y ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Oct 05, 2010 Steven rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history, nonfiction, archaeology

A very enjoyable memoir of an archaeologist. As the sub-title indicates he is an "unconventional" archaeologist and this book goes into some of the details of his unusual career path from rock-climbing into tomb-exploration in Egypt. The chapters dealing with his explorations in Egypt were (to me, anyway) the most interesting. His association with Thor Heyerdahl was quite interesting as well. The book made me want to learn more about the Valley of the Kings and the history of its exploration. Th ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Oct 04, 2017 Jrobertus rated it liked it

I have mixed feelings about this book. It had some interesting narrative and revealed a good deal about the actual physical work of archeology. However, this is mostly a somewhat self-indulgent memoir of an unusual scholar. He spent a lot of tie as a rock climber and guide, couldn’t get along at the U of Washington and wound up educated at some second rate places. In spite of that he worked hard and conscientiously on digs in Egypt and made some discoveries. He was tapped by BBC for a documentar ...more

flag Like · see review

Aug 21, 2019 Alek Zayas-Dorchak rated it liked it

Taken on the grounds of an interesting little travelogue, I enjoyed reading this book. I did, and you might, too, if you enjoy travel writing. Having said that, most of the other reviewers are dead-on when they call it "self-indulgent." Donald P. Ryan does a lot of talking about Donald P. Ryan.
I picked it up expecting to learn about archaeology in Egypt, and I did, but not anywhere near as much as I learned about Donald's adventures vagabonding around Egypt. Not gonna lie, it gave me a lot of i ...more

flag Like · see review

Apr 12, 2018 Kitty rated it liked it · review of another edition

I wanted to give this a higher rating, I really did, because there were a lot of really intriguing and interesting bits in it. I picked it up on a whim and overall it was rather a decent book. But, like many previous reviewers, I agreed that it seems like a LOT of bragging about how great this guy was, and how lucky he was etc. etc. I admittedly had to skim over a lot of those parts because they were honestly getting a little obnoxious and repetitive.

It was interesting to hear more about Belzon ...more

flag Like · see review

Feb 21, 2018 John-Michael Lelievre rated it really liked it

A little more auto-biographical than what I was expecting but none-the-less a solid read. I've always been fascinated with archaelogy and ancient Egypt, so reading something from the hands that have actually done it was entertaining for me. He even manages to make reading about rope engaging.

Recommended if you, like me are interested in Ancient Egyptian Archaeology ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 13, 2019 Pamela Tracy rated it liked it

Shelves: memoir

I enjoyed the book and would read another. I especially liked the details, the history of rope as well as the conditions of the tombs. I liked the asides, the odd lodgings and heat/travel. Some parts went on a big long (rope, loved it for half). There were parts that were alive - crawling through tombs and parts I wanted more on - Thor.

flag Like · see review

Sep 16, 2017 Jane Thompson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Exploration

This is essentially an autobiography of an Egyptologist who has excavated many sites in the ancient country. I unfortunately do not possess the background or the knowledge to really appreciate this book, but some of it was interesting.

flag Like · see review

Jul 29, 2018 Natalie Lynner rated it did not like it

I’m not interested in egyptologists. This book taught me that.

flag Like · see review

Mar 06, 2021 Jess Mutch rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-library

Made me fall in love with archeology all over again.

flag Like · see review

Jan 23, 2011 Michelle added it

Beneath the Sands of Egypt is more than a memoir. It touches on Egyptian and archaeological history, highlighting pioneers in the industry and important finds already uncovered. Dr. Ryan also presents a cautionary tale about the field, the risks required to be successful, and the demanding physical and scholarly work required. Rather than becoming a lecture, Dr. Ryan presents his story with flair, highlighting the pros and cons of his chosen profession with an ardor that does not exist in most p Beneath the Sands of Egypt is more than a memoir. It touches on Egyptian and archaeological history, highlighting pioneers in the industry and important finds already uncovered. Dr. Ryan also presents a cautionary tale about the field, the risks required to be successful, and the demanding physical and scholarly work required. Rather than becoming a lecture, Dr. Ryan presents his story with flair, highlighting the pros and cons of his chosen profession with an ardor that does not exist in most people about their own career paths. His engagement and passion for the field creates a memoir that is enjoyable for anyone interested in science, in history and in taking risks.

Dr. Ryan admits that archaeology is a tough field in which to find success. He admits that it sometimes requires more luck than skill, requires working in harsh, almost punishing conditions, while balancing the local government's beauracratic requirements for permission to dig. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work for sometimes little reward. This does not include the time spent wining and dining prospective benefactors, the time spent researching and cataloging finds, and the time required writing papers and journal articles. Yet, in spite of all the negative aspects of the field, the reader cannot help but being attracted to it. One cannot help but imagine working alongside Dr. Ryan in the Valley of the Kings, sifting through dirt and ruble excavated from a recently re-opened tomb. While Dr. Ryan works hard to share the work behind a successful dig, his love of his profession also creates a child-like sense of wonder in the reader.

Memoirs are highly dependent on whether the reader relates to the author. Dr. Ryan is immensely likable. While he loves his profession, he is also in awe of the history he is excavating and those giants of the field in whose footsteps he is following. He remains humble at his good fortune and knows how lucky he is to have been able to accomplish everything he has done. Dr. Ryan's main goal is to share the love he has for archaeology, and he accomplishes this goal extremely well.

I have a secret. My secret childhood dream, and one that does continue to fill me with longing to this day, is to become an archaeologist. I have always wanted to experience the profound joy of uncovering pieces of history. When I was approached about reviewing Dr. Ryan's Beneath the Sands of Egypt, I knew that it was a novel I had to read, if only to glean better insight into the field of which I have always wanted to be a part. After finishing it, I remain convinced that archaeology is an amazing field. While Dr. Ryan's cautions have convinced me that it is not necessarily the profession of choice for me, I am more eager than ever to find a way to get involved as a volunteer, perhaps by finding a local dig with which to get some experience. If anything, Dr. Ryan has inspired me to take more risks about those things for which I am truly passionate.

Beneath the Sands of Egypt is a fun, inside look at the world of archaeology. Dr. Ryan does much to debunk the mystique caused by the Indiana Jones series while still keeping the subject matter interesting, and to this reader, appealing. His stories are fascinating and give the reader a greater appreciation for the artifacts already discovered. He does not shy away from describing the tedious, hard work required to be a successful archaeologist, and yet his enthusiasm for his chosen career path flows through the pages. Dr. Ryan loves what he does, and his memoir showcases this perfectly. ...more

flag Like · see review

Nov 22, 2013 G.A. Wilson rated it it was ok

I read this book to help me with research, hoping it would give me further insight into an archaeologist's life while on a dig. The passages pertaining to expeditions were interesting and helpful, but became repetitive after a while. The book focused more on the courage and daring exploits of the author, which eventually began to irritate me as I'm not a fan of the egotistical.

I was a bit miffed by a section of the book which described the author's experience of filming a documentary with the B ...more

flag Like · see review

Aug 07, 2013 Panda1602 rated it liked it · review of another edition

The title of this book resonated with me greatly so I decided to buy the book and read it. I was not under any false ideas of the book's content as it was quite clear on the back cover "...the extraordinary story of a man who has always embraced adventure whenever - and wherever - he finds it." In case I may have still been confused about the books content, the front cover has the words"Adventures of an Unconventional Archaeologist". So for me, this meant that should the reader choose to, they c ...more

flag Like · see review

May 11, 2012 Diane rated it liked it

Shelves: history, memoir-bio-autobio, non-fiction, exploration

This book is part memoir, part travel book, and part history of archaeology; as such, it never really hits stride in any of its genres. The part I enjoyed most was the history of archaeology. I really liked his comments comparing today’s archaeological methods with that of the 18th and early 19th century and the stories of people like Belzoni, Howard Carter, etc. I also liked that Ryan found interest in the mundane and “leftover” bits of archaeology, such as his willingness to study how rope was ...more

flag Like · see review

Oct 02, 2011 Kevin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Archaeology and Egyptology are subjects that I did not know much about but this book made me want to learn more. It is the account of episodes in the life of what appears to be a rather mundane archaeologist without any splashy finds or lurid tales to tell but it was written well enough to keep me interested. This was another of those books that I enjoy where the author found a good balance between telling the surface story and mixing in enough background information to give it some perspective ...more

flag Like · see review

Feb 22, 2011 Rebecca Huston rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, 21st-century, egypt, 20th-century

This one turned out to be different than I had expected. It's more about Donald Ryan's life in archaeology than about Egypt as the title may imply. Don't let that steer you away from this book. It's good, and one that I recommend very much to anyone who is interested in the subject.

Longer review can be found here:
http://www.epinions.com/review/Donald... ...more

flag Like · see review

Dec 31, 2012 Gail rated it liked it

Fun, fast read. Describes the hard scrabble life of an archaeologist as he scrambles to find funding for his next project. He is part wild child, part renaissance man. I was rooting for him all the way despite setbacks. He get some awesome opportunities, any one of which I would love to experience. And he is just crazy enough to keep the story interesting.

flag Like · see review

Jan 22, 2016 Lucas rated it liked it

I think this would be a great book for someone trying to map out a possible career in archaeology. I have long since moved past that dream, so it was a less effective treatment of the subject than I prefer at this moment in my life. I would recommend this book for others with a serious interest in the field, but not the general reader.

flag Like · see review

Sep 12, 2010 Katie Boggs rated it it was ok

The subject matter was fascinating, but the writing was just too pedestrian to flow. Maybe I was too distracted by life, but it is rare for me to take as long to finish a book as I did! I had a hard time maintaining interest despite the superb content.

flag Like · see review

Sep 20, 2010 Mark Terry rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this book a lot. In terms of my interest in archaeology I'm a bit more interested in the American Southwest, primarily Anasazi, but this was an engaging, entertaining, and educational book. Recommended. ...more

flag Like · see review

Feb 23, 2011 Patricia rated it really liked it

Shelves: travel

Interesting life and adventures. He was not a smooth author, and I often wondered where on earth the rest of his family was (ah yes, for this I did not pursue archaeology) but he has led an interesting life.

flag Like · see review

Apr 25, 2011 Trace rated it liked it

The author gets a little cheesy sometimes, often pointedly writing about his self-identified witty "one-liners" that he spouts to Egyptians, officials, etc. However, when he talks about his actual excavations, it is excellent. It is like I went to Egypt with my kooky college professor. ...more

flag Like · see review

Jul 22, 2011 Emily rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

i enjoyed this book. It is a memoir of an archeologist and Egyptologist. It provides a nice introduction to archeology and Egyptology. The author has a very readable style and has had a interesting life so far.

flag Like · see review

Dec 31, 2011 Brittany (UnderTheRadarBooks) rated it liked it · review of another edition

I have always been fascinated by archaeology so this memoir was very interesting to me. I loved the chapters about excavations and wished the entire book had been about them. I found some parts dry and a little boring but enjoying the author's point of view. ...more

flag Like · see review