Under the Eaves of Architecture: The Aga Khan: Builder and Patron Book

If you like Egyptology, you will love this book. If you don't know what Egyptology means, you probably won't love this book. If you are like me, and you really want to like Egyptology but whenever you read anything about Egypt you feel as though your brain is being extracted through your naval cavity, who knows what you'll think of this book.

Mountains of the Pharaohs is interesting in that it endeavors to tell the whole story of how the Great Pyramids were built. It does this with minute detail which is sure to fascinate the scholar, but tends to leave the guys who don't like to get sand in their shoes, like me, a little lost. Hawass does throw a bone to guys like me by filling in the gaps of his historic puzzle with little anecdotes about what people in Ancient Egypt might have said or done in a certain situation. But, not even this occasional narrative departure enticed me because I was trapped in believing that he couldn't know what they actually said or did out of the historical artifacts he has collected. The author even admits to this. Hey, he's trying. I can't fault him for that.

So, very well-written. Obviously very well-studied. Just not very well-entertaining. At least for me, the average Djoser who prefers Memphis rub to Memphis statuaries. That's a little joke for all you Egyptologists out there. Take it or leave it.