Pyramid: Beyond Imagination - Hardcover

Jackson, Kevin; Stamp, Jonathan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0563488034 ISBN 13: 9780563488033

Publisher: BBC Books, 2002

Synopsis

The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the World, and the only one left standing. With the help of computer-generated imagery, this book brings IVth Dynasty Egypt to life and shows how and why this most extraordinary monument was built.

About this title

Review

Pyramid is the book of the major BBC documentary, which examines through re-enactments and computer simulations not just how the Great Pyramid was built, but a great deal of the social background of ancient Egypt. As the authors contend in their Introduction, the pyramids have long been "the object of speculation that ranges from the contentious via the merely fanciful to the frankly insane". Their own book aims to be none of these things.

Kevin Jackson and Jonathan Stamp's account of how the pyramids may have been built covers various possibilities, and shows that the Great Pyramid could have been built in around 20 years by a workforce of quite manageable proportions. But perhaps the two most interesting sections of the book are the chapter on the everyday life of a Pyramid builder--a willing conscript, not a slave--and the last few chapters, on those who have explored and examined the pyramids over the centuries, and their often weird and wonderful theories.

Although this is, really, an attractively-illustrated coffee-table book, the text is informative and clear. In places, though, the authors talk down to the reader; in discussing the three spiritual aspects of a person, the ka, ba and akh, for example, they write "Those who find it hard to assimilate this curious idea might find it helpful to recall the Christian idea of the Trinity." But despite that, those who enjoyed the TV documentary will find this a useful companion to it. -—David V Barrett

Edition details

• Publisher: BBC Books
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0563488034
• ISBN 13: 9780563488033
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192