Reviews for Blazing the Trail: Waymarks in the Exploration of Symbols

The average rating for Blazing the Trail: Waymarks in the Exploration of Symbols based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-01-05 00:00:00 Jontor Wae Adrian Praetzellis' Death by Theory uses prose fiction in an attempt to expose the reader to various anthropological and archaeological theory concepts while maintaining a mystery novel effect. The book's author, an archaeologist with a Ph.D. in anthropology, also incorporates his own illustrations and diagrams to assist the reader in understanding some of these key concepts. The intended audience could be anyone with an interest in reading a mystery story, but the book is more likely to be digested by individuals with an interest or desire to learn core concepts of archaeological theory. The novel is arranged so that the reader is introduced to at least one, and sometimes more than one theory concept per chapter, and the book builds on these theories as the story progresses. Many of these lessons, in theory, are introduced to the reader through conversations between the characters who themselves are mostly archaeologists or students of archaeology and anthropology. By revealing what can be thought of as dry and difficult concepts in this way, the author attempts to lessen the blow and make the concepts more engaging and easier to follow. In fact, many of these interactions between characters read similar to a university lecture that gets peppered with queries and ideas from the students. One example of this type of narrative involves Dr. Hannah Green discussing New Archaeology with her nephew, Sean and another student named Sandra (pp 37-51). Praetzellis does a fair job in his attempt to teach these theory concepts in a more approachable manner. The book is peppered with analogies that attempt to assist in this different approach. Some, like comparing the acceptance of the theory of evolution to accepting there is an engine in the rental van without checking under the hood (p 25) give a very good way to explain that concept. Others, such as comparing archaeology to Major League Baseball (p 37) seem to fall flat. The book also has an over descriptive effort. In an attempt to write as a novelist, Praetzellis overuses descriptions of objects, people, and actions, and it can tend to be distractive. Another distraction is the use of illustrations that are placed throughout the novel. The reader, in the middle of reading a long passage of a particularly important theory concept is suddenly distracted by an illustration which tends to break the train of thought and is detrimental to the continuing comprehension of what is being read. This makes the book to read less like a mystery novel, but more like a series of lectures broken up with far fetched, over descriptive narrative. All things considered, Praetzellis does quite well in his presentation of the core archaeological theory concepts he wished the reader to learn. As an archaeologist himself, he also makes a good effort in his characters behaving the way various types of professional archaeologists would act, particularly in the late 1990s/early 2000s when the book was written and published. Other things date the book, such as the description of sex versus gender (p 105) where the character bd immediately and stereotypically asks about San Francisco, or when a thin woman is said to "be built like a poster girl for frikkin' anorexia" (p 129). In the past twenty years, much has changed on the acceptability of discussing these concepts in that manner. It was also distracting when the Dr. Green character would force the reader to go lookup Jewish or Yiddish terms in order to comprehend her intent. The best parts of this novel are when the author is teaching the reader the various theory concepts. He does it in a very understandable and logical way and makes comprehension of these concepts far easier than having a student read Marx, Durkheim, Boaz, or Wolf. Even though the mystery part of the novel doesn't really seem to get going until two-this of the way through the book, the outcome of the plot was entertaining and for some, it will be a surprise as to "whodunit." Some of the book's flaws, as previously mentioned, lie in the story itself. Some of it is dated, not funny when it tries to be, and overly descriptive. Death by Theory is a good tool to engage and educate on the dozen or so theories contained within. As a reader, one must be prepared to potentially glaze over some of the plot in order to get to the more didactic, and more critical content.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-11-13 00:00:00 Paul Sobel A part of archaeology's experimental introductory/undergraduate learning material that has developed over the past couple decades, this book helps introduce or supplement a basic understanding of archaeological theory. The book's narrative is not particularly interesting on it's own but enough to make you interested in continuing reading and often feels as though there isn't a clear central plot and the characters that were supposed to be were likable enough. However, the book's narrative is not the purpose of this books writing, which is so to provide an easier introduction to archaeological theory. In this it succeeds by being a much lighter read than equivalent introductions. This results in a decreased density of material that it covers as well. I would recommend this as more supplemental to someone's education on archaeology theory or archaeology in general alongside a more traditional text so as to reinforce what is learned. As others have noted, there isn't much reason for someone to read this book unless you have an interest in learning about archaeology.