Scan barcode
luizasndr's review against another edition
2.0
Unfortunately for me this was a massive disappointment.
The actual phenomenon of egyptomania comprises probably 20% of the book - the rest is a depiction of how western countries managed to get wraped up in this egypt fascination through the lenses of egyption obelisks being move to and from certain countries.
Whilst I understand that the context in necessary, the context was more explored that the actual phenomenon. Someone that is more interested in the technicalities and mechanics will definitely enjoy this book more, but for someone like me that was interested more in the perception and fascination itself, I found the book was lacking.
The actual phenomenon of egyptomania comprises probably 20% of the book - the rest is a depiction of how western countries managed to get wraped up in this egypt fascination through the lenses of egyption obelisks being move to and from certain countries.
Whilst I understand that the context in necessary, the context was more explored that the actual phenomenon. Someone that is more interested in the technicalities and mechanics will definitely enjoy this book more, but for someone like me that was interested more in the perception and fascination itself, I found the book was lacking.
mrlzbth's review against another edition
2.0
I thought this book would mostly be about Ancient Egypt in pop culture, tracing how "Egyptomania" has manifested itself in different time periods to reflect people's changing interests and concerns. And the last part of the book, which talks about various movies, is close to what I expected. But the vast majority of the book is about the engineering required to move ancient obelisks from Egypt to various locations around the world. And in those sections Brier barely touches on "Egyptomania" other than to briefly list some of the varying types of merchandise that were produced after each obelisk arrived at its new home.
This just wasn't what I expected, and while portions of it were interesting, overall I felt it needed a lot more analysis to be a really great read.
This just wasn't what I expected, and while portions of it were interesting, overall I felt it needed a lot more analysis to be a really great read.
kellswitch's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this book, this was the first time I had read anything about how the fascination with Egypt has influenced and effected so many different cultures going all the way back to antiquity and is still ongoing today.
The author covers the worlds fascination with Egypt starting all the way back in ancient Greece to today and all the fun and serious ways people have chosen to show their love for this culture.
I found the cultural aspects of Egytomania to be the most entertaining, from the music sheets and perfume bottles to modern movies, from the exquisite and high end to the tacky, the creativity and...flexibility in reflecting ancient Egypt is incredible.
However there was also a much more serious and political side to this that I had not realized, the military actions of Napoleon and Wellington, the political manoeuvrings in gaining obelisks the physical challenges in gaining and moving the obelisks were a surprise to me, I had no idea New York even had an actual Egyptian obelisk!
The section on the moving of the three different obelisks got to be a bit slow and hard to get through, I understand wanting to include all the details since moving them is quite the engineering feat in and of itself, but reading about three in a row felt very repetitive in the end. This is my only quibble with the book, and even then it was a fascinating read, just slow.
When visuals are so important to the point of a book I really appreciate the inclusion of color plates as well as black and white images and this book does a very good job with this. The quality of the images is high and appropriate to the text and really enhance the experience.
This is a fun book and a very educational book and I am looking forward to reading more by this author on Egypt.
The author covers the worlds fascination with Egypt starting all the way back in ancient Greece to today and all the fun and serious ways people have chosen to show their love for this culture.
I found the cultural aspects of Egytomania to be the most entertaining, from the music sheets and perfume bottles to modern movies, from the exquisite and high end to the tacky, the creativity and...flexibility in reflecting ancient Egypt is incredible.
However there was also a much more serious and political side to this that I had not realized, the military actions of Napoleon and Wellington, the political manoeuvrings in gaining obelisks the physical challenges in gaining and moving the obelisks were a surprise to me, I had no idea New York even had an actual Egyptian obelisk!
The section on the moving of the three different obelisks got to be a bit slow and hard to get through, I understand wanting to include all the details since moving them is quite the engineering feat in and of itself, but reading about three in a row felt very repetitive in the end. This is my only quibble with the book, and even then it was a fascinating read, just slow.
When visuals are so important to the point of a book I really appreciate the inclusion of color plates as well as black and white images and this book does a very good job with this. The quality of the images is high and appropriate to the text and really enhance the experience.
This is a fun book and a very educational book and I am looking forward to reading more by this author on Egypt.
vegancleopatra's review
3.0
2.5 stars
I really enjoyed Brier's enthusiasm but overall I was disappointed in the book. I appreciated learning about the plethora of Egypt-themed items on the market previously and now. The amount of advertising using Ancient Egyptian themes is pretty incredible, although this was largely many years ago. Overall I understood Brier's interest in collecting the various items but it really just brought attention to the fact that my love of Ancient Egypt has everything to do with the actual history and figures rather than the items created that allude to them. But I will admit to finding some of the items entertaining and worthy of collection.
One of the biggest problems I had with the book was the numerous stories of the moving of obelisks to New York etc. There were approximately 70 pages of this fairly short non-fiction dedicated to the obelisk movements and I must say they were absolutely yawn worthy for me. Perhaps if you also have a keen interest in mechanical engineering and such you may find it more appealing, but really a paragraph per obelisk would have sufficed in my opinion.
I also questioned whether Brier was just talking hypothetical or actually believes that Ramesses is likely the Pharaoh involved in the "Exodus". Hopefully he does not actually believe it because most archaeologists and historians state that it did not happen, even many Biblical scholars. There simply is no evidence and I found it extremely annoying that Brier would even both to connect Ramesses to such nonsense.
I really enjoyed Brier's enthusiasm but overall I was disappointed in the book. I appreciated learning about the plethora of Egypt-themed items on the market previously and now. The amount of advertising using Ancient Egyptian themes is pretty incredible, although this was largely many years ago. Overall I understood Brier's interest in collecting the various items but it really just brought attention to the fact that my love of Ancient Egypt has everything to do with the actual history and figures rather than the items created that allude to them. But I will admit to finding some of the items entertaining and worthy of collection.
One of the biggest problems I had with the book was the numerous stories of the moving of obelisks to New York etc. There were approximately 70 pages of this fairly short non-fiction dedicated to the obelisk movements and I must say they were absolutely yawn worthy for me. Perhaps if you also have a keen interest in mechanical engineering and such you may find it more appealing, but really a paragraph per obelisk would have sufficed in my opinion.
I also questioned whether Brier was just talking hypothetical or actually believes that Ramesses is likely the Pharaoh involved in the "Exodus". Hopefully he does not actually believe it because most archaeologists and historians state that it did not happen, even many Biblical scholars. There simply is no evidence and I found it extremely annoying that Brier would even both to connect Ramesses to such nonsense.
More...