5 comments about Angkor and the Khmer Civilization (Ancient Peoples and Places).

1. The most thoroughly researched text that I found regarding the temples and historic context of the "Classic" Khmer period. Not the best guide once you get to the site -- that would be Laur's illustrated guide. If you miss the boat on ordering both of these texts prior to your trip, you can get them both in the bookstore in Seim Reap. Some of the street vendors at the temples peddle illegal copies of the Coe book. Info as of 10/05.



2. I was at the SF Asian Museum seeing what turned out to be a not-great exhibit this weekend, and wandered into the book store thinking I'd pick something up in advance of a trip to Cambodia in the fall. Shock of shocks, I found that Coe, whom I've read avidly for his great coverage of the Maya, knows the Khmer as well.
   
   This book is as readable yet comprehensive as is his great work on the Maya, which I've absorbed over the past five years during a Maya obsession. I had a spare three hours this afternoon, and comfortably plowed through five detailed chapters. How frequently can you say that about an academic's work (other than the work in geology of my father-in-law, Dave Alt, and I guess Witold Rybczynski . . . .).
   
   Now I guess I need to pull out the Chocolate book (another surprise--written by Coe's wife and edited by him after her death) and delve back into that---



3. Coe reaches surprisingly far in his pre-historical research. His findings are highly informative, and he conducted research beginning with the earliest traces of civilization in Cambodia. While at first this may seem to hold less relevance than a discussion of more modern times, he successfully seams different eras in Khmer civilization together, so that one understands Khmer history as a smoothly flowing story. In his descriptions of Khmer culture and artifacts, it is clear that Coe is steeped in anthropological and archeological knowledge, and he succeeds in his goal of providing such information clearly.
   His style of writing is very clear and refreshing. It allows the reader to easily take in the vast information he presents. At just under two-hundred-fifty pages, Coe provides an abundance of information clearly and concisely. His writing is not dry or verbose, words that are all too often used to describe historical texts. Angkor presents all the information that an historical scholar could hope for, without presenting it in a lifeless manner.



4. The title "Angkor and the Khmer civilization" is misleading in that sense this book treats the Khmer civilization from the prehistory to the 21st century in mainland South East Asia. In this specific context this is an interesting book. In the context of the Khmer civilization restricted to Angkor I would recommend Charles' Higham "The civilization of Angkor ".The Civilization of AngkorCambodian Architecture: Eighth to Thirteenth Centuries (Handbook of Oriental Studies/Handbuch Der Orientalistik)The Archaeology of Mainland Southeast Asia: From 10,000 B.C. to the Fall of Angkor (Cambridge World Archaeology)The Khmers (The Peoples of South East Asia and the Pacific)A History of Cambodia



5. Strange that Michael Coe, one of the world's primary authorities on Maya culture, should devote this methodical and insightful research to the great Khmer capital of Angkor in Southeast Asia, without reviewing as well its astonishing architectural and cosmogonic parallels with the Maya of Mexico and Central America.

No comments about The Tarim Mummies.

3 comments about Greek Art and Archaeology, 4th Edition.

1. This was a required text for an art history course I took in college, and, being an art history major, I found this to be an easy read. It made the material easy to understand, and the color and black-white photographs were excellent. Pedley covers the entire spectrum of Greek art admirably, makes connections to primary sources, and outlines the various styles so that even a student NOT interested in the subject comes away with something. Anyone needing a reference on Ancient Greek Art or wanting to learn about the subject will find his book to be invaluable!



2. Great if you like archaeology, get the hardcover version too, its worth it, wont die over time!



3. I am so happy i got this book from amazon. It shipped fast and came in perfect condition. Best of all i got it for $75, instead of $130 if i bought it from my school.

5 comments about The Mummies of Urumchi.

1. A rather good look at a very interesting mystery of pre-historic European migrations. Central to this has been the discovery of mummies some three to four-thousand years old who posses what is termed a "Caucasian" appearance, both biologically and culturally. Elizabeth Barber is an expert on ancient textiles and the first part of this book, involved in a description of mummies' textiles (from observations made on a visit there) is in her element and makes what could have been a dreadfully tedious description quite lively. It ends up being the best discussion in the book. In fact I give this book an additional star over other scholarly books of this sort - rather bland usually - for causing me to read with deep interest page after page about what is really an analysis of textile stitching. After describing the better-preserved mummies and analyzing their goods and textile weaves and patterns, she then approaches the whole question of their origins and especially in whether one can link this culture to the theoretical proto Indo-European language-speakers. At this point there is an interesting but rather plainly-written collection of a good deal of information provided by explorers into the region, and comparisons to other cultures such as the Celts, and some linguistic analysis. Although it kept my interest, the jumping between time, place and peoples could sometimes be confusing. And I kept having to search through the maps to remember where we were in relation to where, as these parts of Asia are not very familiar to us. It lacks at the end a good tie-up of loose ends or a summary, that seems required after such a lengthy heaping of theories.



2. When most people think of mummies, they think of ancient Egypt, or maybe South America. In truth, mummification can occur whenever the conditions are right, and the arid Tarim River basin in Western China has revealed a large number of mummified bodies, thousands of years old.

   What sets these mummies out from others is their probable ethinicity. The author displays with great lucidity the thesis that these people were not Asian at all, but rather were closely related to the Celts.

   She does this by covering a wide range of available evidence, such as funeral practices, cloth, and language, as well as looking at the geography of the region and exptraploating as to how it may have affected the patterns of settlement three thousand years ago or more. At the end, I was convinced by her arguments, and in the process gained a better appreciation of the Celts, whom I had assumed I understood reasonably well. This is only possible because of the author's breadth of knowledge and research, well presented in a sparsely worded style.

   This book is a great combination of popular science and academic sholarship. I like it the more as the author has the intellectual honesty to admit the points on which her thesis may be lacking in evidence. This does much to inspire confidence in the work as a whole.

   Having just finished reading Tournament of Shadows, I prefer this book for its coverage of the Tarim River basin by far.




3. I bought this book because I heard an interview with charming Elizabeth Barber about mummies in China. By the time the book was finished she had covered -- almost effortlessly -- a world where weather, textiles, religion, migration, agriculture, geography, mysticism, and so many other fields somehow come together.

   These events happen in exotic, unfamiliar and inaccessible places but they are surprisingly relevant to our own lives. So many of the side lessons -- like a bad weather year in east Asia could cause a wave of invasions as far as Moscow, and did for millenia -- have helped to make the conflict-prone post-9/11 days a bit more understandable, sadly.

   It's hard to believe that her short lessons about things like dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) and paleolinguistics (word origins and the people who used them) could turn into almost every day concepts, but it's true! Imagine -- we can what the weather was in the Swedish summer of 863 B.C.E. because of tree trunks from around the world! It's a mark of mastery to take a subject so large and present it clearly, and Ms. Barber has done so.




4. I enjoyed reading this book but did skip over some of the details of the textiles once I got the point. My textile-mad friend who is a spinner and knitter was more interested in this aspect. I enjoyed seeing how the scientists deduced the origin of these mummies, not just from textiles but from historical documents, the records in ancient cities in the area and carbon dating, paths of migration - they certainly have to know a lot in order to develop the understanding of these ancient people. For me, it is interesting that the ancestors of the Scots were also the ancestors of these mummies.



5. I bought this book & read it soon after it was printed. I thought it was a great book at the time and I still get it out & read from it occasionally. I was thoroughly captivated by Barber's writing and the subject matter.

5 comments about Human Evolution: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions).

1. Valdivielso's review has it right. This is a tightly and carefully organized summary, and it requires careful reading. In addition, each chapter ends with a valuable "Points to Watch," which alert readers to on-going debates and uncertainties. Bravo!



2. This book is everything that the VSI (Very Short Introductions) are supposed to be: it's short, it's to the point and it's up-to-date. It reviews all the major events in the history of thought on human evolution, as well as all the major landmarks of that evolution as we understand them today. When there are several differing interpretations of fossil evidence, Wood impartially points out all the strengths and weaknesses of different positions. Although this is not a book on evolution in general, the early chapters position human evolution within the context of primate evolution, and even more briefly, under the evolution of life. For the review of evolution in general, "Evolution: A Very Short Introduction" would be an excellent choice.



3. An impressively thorough and concise narrative. Keeps one's attention and is fact filled. Instantly made me a "Very Short Introduction" fan.



4. Did you ever have a high school teacher or college professor who had the unhappy knack of making even the most exciting topics deadly boring the moment he or she began lecturing on them? I bet so. I know I did.
   
   I ask this because struggling through Bernard Wood's Human Evolution took me back to those classes. There are few topics more intellectually exciting than the one Professor Wood takes on. There are few treatments of it more deadly. Readers who pick this book up expecting to read lively prose describing the search for hominid fossils in Africa and Asia will be unpleasantly surprised. Instead, what Wood gives us is a (mercifully short) treatise on methodology and taxonomy, with just enough brief accounts of field work to keep the reader plodding through to the end.
   
   What Wood's written, in short, is a brief textbook, not a narrative intended for an educated lay audience. There are pages of charts outlining hominin taxa and comparing human and chimpanzee anatomical features. And there are lots of sentences like this one: "The shape and size of the true pelvis, combined with what can be extrapolated from adult brain sizes about the brain size of a H. ergaster neonate suggests that the head was small enough to be oriented transversely all the way through the birth canal, and thus it did not need to be rotated after negotiating the pelvic inlet" (86). Holy cow.
   
   Look: I don't expect that every science writer will be a Loren Eiseley, Rachel Carson, or Stephen Hawking. But it would be nice if science writers who take a crack at the popular market would actually try to interest their readers. Use Wood's book as a quick and convenient taxonomic guide, to be consulted but not read straight through, and spend your time on more readable narratives such as (for example) Nicholas Wade's Before the Dawn, Ann Gibbons' The First Human, or Donald Johanson's books on Lucy.



5. This is a very good book. In a mere 131 pages the author introduces us not only to the evolutionary history of mankind, but also to the methods of how and why we know, in short to the science of paleo-anthropology. Focus is on the fossils, and how we date their ages. The author also introduces the use of DNA to explore human pre-history. Most of all, he never minimizes the problems, the doubts, and the uncertainties of the science. This little book clearly shows that the first dozen pages of the Bible can not be literally true. Any creationist who has not read this or a similar book (e.g. Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins, 2005) can not know what he is talking about.

No comments about Archaeology Essentials: Theories, Methods and Practice, Abridged Edition.

5 comments about Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice.

1. Renfrew and Bahn have set up great book, almost a catalogue, about archaeological practice. Fairly every subject they mention is laid out with great precision, and the accompanying schemes and pictures couldn't have been chosen better. If you like to dive into the subject of archaeology, whether it concerns its history, their dating methods, excavation practices, the goals archaeology pursues or whatever else, you can't go wrong here.



2. It is well written, and lavishly illustrated. It is the kind of book that makes you want to get up and start an excavation. If you are interested in the past, and how to figure out the mysteries of the past, then this book is a gold mine. I loved the way that it took complex subjects and made them so easy to understand. Why it was enjoyable. What a wonderful and special book. I really recommend this book.



3. my 87 year old M-i-L is at SFSU this semester. Taking an Archaeology Methods course. The only thing I know about the book is it's damned expensive. Glad I could get it used from Amazon



4. We were assigned to tests for my Principle of Archaeology class this semester. This one and the one from Sharer-Ashmore. I bought both of them. The material in both is specific, it covers all the major topics of the discipline and they are great.
   
   What sets this one apart, is the format. It is easier for beginners to digest the information and is not filled with dense data that will end up confusing most who read. I would recommend it for both classes and for others who wish to know more about the discipline



5. I did a lot of research and finally got this one from the library, but I ordered it from Amazon.com about three chapters in because I loved it so much.
   
   It covers each topic with in archaeology in good depth, but not too much information. There are great inlays with information on particular sites that illustrate the points discussed in the chapter. I have a minor in Archaeology and I found this book to be an excellent refresher and very interesting.

5 comments about Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization.

1. These books are nonsense. Any books whose titles include any of the words 'mysterious', 'secrets', 'Templar', 'alien', 'code', 'supernatural', 'mythic', 'cosmic', are just giving away the fact that they are unscientific rubbish. They are based on wishes and dreams, but we should all know that children wish, adults decide.



2. As Far as I know no one else has informed us about all of these underwater places where people, at one time, lived. As always Handcock makes you think.



3. I believe this is a far more important book than most people realize. While the author suffers from a lack of editing and brevity, he more than makes up for it in his subject selection and hands-on detective work. I read the entire book and it was a detailed, highly convincing argument that mankind has done a really slipshod job of investigating our history in terms of looking at the oceans of the world.
   
   I thought the photographs in the book were fantastic and my only complaint is that there weren't more of them! Especially interesting were the underwater photos of Yonaguni which I find almost impossible to believe could be natural phenomena. I wish Mr. Hancock had also put together a DVD release of this material as I think that the actual pictures tell a story that the written word itself can hardly match. The author does actually mention the difficulty of underwater photography in the various locations he travels and this is part of the importance of the book; that is, that we need advances in our ability to image places we are investigating in order to tell the story to the public and thereby capture both imagination and funding in order to continue exploring the hidden history of mankind.
   
   Those who gave this book bad reviews are ignoring the fact that, to my knowledge, modern history has absolutely no explanation at all for formations like Yonaguni, if it is indeed man-made. The author's book is, as far as I can tell, one of the only attempts to provide any kind of real explanation for this. Yonaguni is an anomaly whose only other explanation (that it is a natural formation) is almost impossible to believe.
   
   With some additional editing, etc., in a second edition, this book could easily rate five stars. And the subject matter is important enough that it needs to.



4. The photos of underwater dives are what originally interested me in buying the book. Hancock's thorough method of gathering facts to support his version of history are what made me a believer. He inspired me to use my skills in satellite imagery analysis to search for proof from above that civilization is much older than is commonly thought. My search resulted in a book Noah's Ark, Discovering the Science of Man's Oldest Mystery that offers amazing proof that both supports and expands Graham's book.



5. Graham Hanock continues to blow my mind with his brilliant deductions, make you open up for possibilites outside the box. I had first heard about the mindblowing underwater monuments off the Japanese coast. I couldn't put the book down and three of my other family members were pulled into the earthshattering theories that truly make you rethink what exactly occurred in our very ancient past. I couldn't put it down and grew nearly intoxicated on all of the amazing possibilites those monument signfies. I recommen it you can keep an open mind this book will impress and inspire thought for you as wall

5 comments about The Complete Pyramids: Solving the Ancient Mysteries.

1. 
   The author Mark Lehner has written or contributed to a number of historical books, several of them on Egyptian history and this I think is the best of them all. The pyramids were one of the seven wonders of the world and still are one of the world's wonders, although far removed from the glorious sight that they must have been in ancient times.
   
   It is probably true to say that more has been written about the pyramids than any other man made structure on earth and that includes the Great Wall of China and our own Stonehenge. Much of what has been written about the pyramids has been conjecture and to put it kindly stretching the truth to make a good story. The author himself is no stranger to putting forward theories of his own regarding the pyramids and it is up to the reader's how much credence they place in these and other theories. What we do know is that the pyramids were built to precise measurements, so accurate in fact that even today with all the modern building equipment at our disposal we would struggle to emulate the ancient builders. They were also aligned in a particular direction and calculations of where exactly the stars appeared in the Egyptian night sky at the time of their construction, could suggest that at least one of their uses was astronomical
   
   This book quite rightly concentrates on the main Egyptian pyramids and the sphinx and covers all the latest data formulated by today's archaeologists and scientists. This includes how the pyramids were thought to have been built, a Herculean task in itself. Also there are exciting computer generated images of the inside of the pyramids, in fact just about every question you could ask is answered for you in this superb book, even down to a guide for visiting the pyramids themselves.



2. A well written and well documented information on the pyramids. It does not cover ALL of the pyramids in Egypt, but does cover many less-visited ones also. A great reference work and printed on glossy paper that holds small details in photographs well. Many black & white photos along with some color photos.
   Has well thought out diagrams of each pyramid and cutaways of important areas along with surrounding temple plans.
   A MUST for your reference library!



3. I think this is a very fine book. Mark Lehner is an excellent Egyptologist and is well renown in his field. The book explains a lot about how the pyramids were built and debunking some old myths.
   
   Excellent!



4. Good value for the money. A quality product with good text and very good color values on the photos and graphics. A nice addition to my ref. collection.



5. This book is everything it is advertised to be. Gives so much information and was delivered in just 4 days.

5 comments about The Complete World of Human Evolution.

1. This book came out at about the same time as Carl Zimmer's "Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins." Zimmer's book is far more readable, but contains less detail.
   
   Stringer and Andrews get into considerable detail about the history of human evolution as it is perceived by contemporary scientists. The book is divided into three broad sections: the search for our ancestors, the fossil evidence of their existence and how the evidence is interpreted.
   
   The authors do an excellent job of providing an immense amount of information without bogging down the reader in scientific jargon. Advanced theories and methodologies are explained in terms that a layperson can grasp.
   
   Overall an excellent introduction to the subject for the motivated reader. Most people, however, would probably find Zimmer's book more palatable.
   
   The one thing I really didn't like about this book was the authors propagandizing for extremist global warming views. Reading their chapter on the subject, one would never imagine that there are thousands of respected scientists who don't agree with the alarmists. Of course, both Springer and Andrews, their institutions and colleagues stand to benefit from continued government funding of the "threat." Gee, no one would expect that scientists could be seduced by the prospect of easy money.
   
   Jerry



2. Excellent! Author deals with the subject in a articulate and coherent manner.



3. Chris Stringer and Peter Andrews did a superlative job with the book. It is the best one I have read on the subject. It is beautifully illustrated with copious colored photos and drawings. The pages are of thick quality paper. The topic is covered thoroughly and competently. It is very up to date and educational. It would make a great gift, a great reference book, a great textbook for an anthropology course, or just a great read for yourself. I think that it is priced at only one-fourth of its real value and I love bargains.
   Ralph Hermansen, March 7, 2007



4. This book gives a good introduction into the origins and ancestry of the human species. It is divided into three parts.
   The first part gives insight in how the research field operates with chapters about the geological timescale, human variation, analytical techniques, dating technologies, taphonomy, etc. What is especially good about this segment is that it also discusses six excavation sites so you get a real feel about what paleoanthropology is all about. This is all done in a short, understandable way, but without simplifying things.
   The second part covers the fossil evidence and takes us on the trail of our origins. It covers some 30 million years of history. Beginning with the origins of primates, it takes you on a tour covering the fossils of amongst others Proconsul, Australopithecus Africanus, Homo Ergaster, Homo Erectus, the Neanderthals, Homo Floresiensis, Homo Sapiens. These are all discussed in short chapters doing justice to the scientific issues concerning them (and there are a lot, because all the evidence is scarce and incomplete). Other issues, what makes an ape, migration (multi-regional versus out of Africa), Neanderthal DNA, and others, are also discussed separately.
   The third part interprets the evidence. Discussing locomotion in apes and humans, feeding habits, use of tools, art etc.
   All in all this book gives a short but clear cut introduction into this field. It is well ordered, written clearly and accompanied by beautiful photography, illustrations and graphics. I also read Carl Zimmer's Smithsonian Intimate guide to human origins but prefer this one because it does more justice to the scientific difficulties and complexities that this field of research has to cope with. (But by all means read that one also! Or his Parasite Rex, which was great!)



5. I am not an expert in this area. I saw a TV series on Discovery channel and I got interested. This book offers SO MUCH information!! It is written rigorously like an academic book, but the wealth of pictures, photos, make it an interesting read. I learned a lot from this book. I also like the fact that they provide lots of facts, and not so much speculation. I'd recommend it to people who are interested in learning more about human evolution.