Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Practical Guide - A Step-by-Step Approach to Learning Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs [Hardcover]

Janice Kamrin (Author), Gustavo Camps (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2004

This definitive educational tool provides a systematic, step-by-step approach to learning ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, complete with fun and increasingly challenging exercises and easy-to-reference sign and word lists.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Janice Kamrin holds a Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Pennsylvania, and she has taught, written, and lectured widely on the subject of ancient Egypt. She currently works with Zahi Hawass, Secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, on many of his publications.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (November 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081094961X
• ISBN-13: 978-0810949614
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,111,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great guide for enthusiasts, January 17, 2005

By 

Sara E. Orel (Kirksville, Missouri, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Practical Guide - A Step-by-Step Approach to Learning Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs (Hardcover)

Kamrin's Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs is a great introduction to the subject, and is designed to be eminently usable. This is the ideal book for someone who has time to really sit down and work with it, someone who has always wanted to know what it might be like to actually read hieroglyphs.

The ideal audience is a college student or even a high school student who has always wanted to know more about Egyptology than what he or she could get on the Discovery Channel. While it would not replace a year of university-level language study, it is not designed to do so.

The exercises are clear and doable (and there is a section of answers at the back!), and each section builds carefully on the section before. It is a beautiful book as well, nicely designed, with clear readable font and lovely coloured illustrations.

I have a recommendation, however -- you may not want to actually write in the book itself -- the paper is too nice quality for a workbook, which this is in a way. I recommend that you get yourself a notebook and copy out the exercises as you attempt them (a good way to really familiarize yourself with hieroglyphs), or photocopy the more complicated ones and work them on a photocopied page (you may well want to keep the book in better condition than erasing pencil or writing in ink may allow). Otherwise, this is a great book, and would be a lovely gift for someone who is really into ancient Egypt and ready to move beyond the really pretty picture books to see what Egyptology might really be like.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book, August 1, 2005

By 

Praxiteles (Washington D.C., USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Practical Guide - A Step-by-Step Approach to Learning Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs (Hardcover)

This is a great guide to learning to read from actual monuments and objects. I used the knowledge from the book to translate the faces of some Egyptian obelisks I saw while on vacation in Europe.

I recommend this book unequivocally.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars funzical wunzical, May 6, 2006

By 

Bruce D. Wilner "polymathic bibliophile" (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Practical Guide - A Step-by-Step Approach to Learning Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed learning hieroglyphics with Dr. Jan. Do not be fooled: they are not for the faint of heart. For those who are affrighted at Chinese and Japanese, hieroglyphics go even further toward multiplexing umpteen systems atop a single character set. But Dr. Jan endeavors to make it easy by using lively examples, color-coding some of the solutions, etc. If you have a strong memory and strong impetus, go for it. You will have a lot of fun and feel a tremendous sense of achievement.