Ancient Egypt: An illustrated reference to the myths, religions, pyramids and temples of the land of the pharaohs

Great read great book.

I really enjoyed this book. The photos are amazing. The topics cover a wide range of Egyptian history, including their religious practices, their burial rituals, their pharaohs, and their political structure. The information is not in-depth and does not cover Egyptian history in chronological order. Instead, Oaks divides the book into specific topics and offers just enough information to give the reader the feel of what Egyptian life was like

A friend picked this book up and gave it to me for my trip to Egypt. Our tour guide saw it and really liked it, so we gave it to her. She liked it because it covered topics that normally are not included. We have the softcover, which is a little big for a guidebook, but doable. I REALLY like the organization. The topics are in a logical order, and each topic is 2 pages. The explanations are short enough that it didn't put me to sleep, and it has great pictures. The book was very helpful during our tour. I am buying another copy of it!

I bought this book because i will be visiting Egypt in the fall.Since Egypt has a lot of history i decided to buy a book that would give me a good introduction to egyptian history.From the moment i picked up this book i was inmersed in it.The book has tons of ilustrations and is very well organized.The book talks about every single aspect of ancient egyptian history without boring you with every single detail.The book is a faboulous and complete intro which makes you read and read some more about Egypt and its history.It is my opinion that this is one of the best books on ancient Egypt out there.Just fantastic!!

This book has excellent photos. It's a good read, decent price and a great book for anyone interested in Ancient Egypt. The only downside (if you can call it that) is the size and weight - not one to read on your lap in bed.

This is one of those books that both looks good on a coffee table and has plenty of color plates to help your guests occupy some spare time. However, I am a fan of ancient Egypt and near-eastern archaeology as well, so I have also read the text, which I find to be very well written. Oakes and Gahlin have organized a fine book for someone who wants a big picture perspective on the history of the ancient Egyptians, covering everything from the Old Kingdom onward, and they even have some pretty good pre-dynastic material as well. I find their chronologies and timelines with alternate names to be particularly useful. For instance, wihtout a listing of alternate names in a chronology, someone looking for a Pharaoh named Nebkheperure might not know to also search under King Tut. BTW, this might also be a good time to mention that a very large collection of King Tut artifacts will be going on tour in the US this year. It's almost a once-in-a-lifetime event and nobody knows when it will happen next. The last time Tut went on tour was back in the late 70s.