ANCIENT EGYPT: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a quick overview of the state of the discipline. Although we tend to rely heavily on outdated chronology in describing ancient Egypt, archaeology has come so far that traditional views are in need of adjustment. It turns out that we don’t know as much as we thought we did. The book does not even try to offer a chronology which can be found easily elsewhere.

De esta colección el de la guerra fría de Mc Mahon me parece un compendio más logrado. Sobre el Egipto Antiguo, recomiendo el manual, también de Shaw, de la universidad de Oxford, aunque la edición española es bastante más vistosa que la inglesa. Se agradecen esas fotos a color.

The author certainly knows his stuff and is a great expert in his field. However the book could have done with some serious editorial oversight to make it readable for the non-specialist general reader. As it is, sadly it is wordy and turgid, and conveyed little sense of what ancient Egypt was like in any real way. The reader was not I'm any way transported in their imagination to ancient Egypt. Nor, surprisingly, was there any attempt to give a general historical overview of the flow of dynasties and rulers. Instead, much long-winded space was given to dense speculative discussion of one or two ancient artefacts. I came away feeling I couldn't see the wood for the trees. Disappointing.

This is not one of the better Very Short Introduction books. I could do without the fluffy discussion of ancient Egypt as portrayed in film and pop culture. There is so much history that is glossed over, maybe because the author is such an insider that he has lost perspective on what is important, and doesn't want to be bothered with "obvious" facts. The writing style is trying to be entertaining rather than informative. The author also puts in too much about his own work and projects and even lets some political opinions creep in. I learned more from Wikipedia than this book.