Ancient Engineers [Mass Market Paperback]

L. Sprague De Camp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 12, 1987

The Pyramids of Giza, the Parthenon of Greece, the Great Wall of China, the Colosseum of Rome . . . Today, we stand in awe before these wonders of the ancient world. They hold our history and the deepest secrets of our past in their hidden recesses.

In THE ANCIENT ENGINEERS, L. Sprague de Camp delves into the heart of the mystery. He introduces us to the master builders who had the vision, the power, and the passion to reach for the clouds and touch the heavens. We share in some of the greatest technological triumphs of all time -- triumphs of the human mind, imagination, and spirit.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A reasonably scholarly but nonetheless accessible history of the great engineering feats of the human race up to the Renaissance, including a great chapter on Oriental architecture, a topic often neglected by such surveys.

Review

"History as it should be told." -- Isaac Asimov, The New York Times Book Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (January 12, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345320298
• ISBN-13: 978-0345320292
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,389,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating summary of the beginnings of technology., November 23, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Ancient Engineers (Mass Market Paperback)

In his inimitable clear style, L. Sprague de Camp shares the benefits of his vast knowledge with a general audience. Dividing his subject---the early days of engineering and technology---by period and place, he shows how often-humble beginnings led to spectacular structures. Reading this book made me wonder what our lives would be like, had as much energy been spent on doing something practical about the physical problems that beset human society as was done begging imaginary gods for never-forthcoming assistance

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ancient Engineering, April 29, 2000

By 

David N. Reiss (Haymarket, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ancient Engineers (Mass Market Paperback)

L. Spargue de Camp is better know as a great writer of classic science fiction. However, this is a good history book.

There are people in this world who choose to believe that things like how the Egyptians built the prymaids or how the Romans built roads are totally unknown to modern historians. This book shows that we do indeed know how the Egyptians built the prymaids. It shoulds that we know a lot more about ancient peoples that some would like you to believe.

This is a good book to own.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How we learned to do things, October 26, 2004

By 

David Brockert "constant reader" (Madison, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ancient Engineers (Paperback)

I thought that this would be a tad bit different since I know this author as a science fiction writer, but he did well and showed that he did his homework for this book. Being forty years old, some fallacies and wrong facts were due to be seen, but he really did a good job surveying the field of engineering from ancient times to the renaissance. He did not know that there was a whole civilization before the Sumerians in the fertile crescent and around the Black Sea, which was then a lake. There is some mention of the ancient Crete civilization that is rather puzzling and is related to the ancient Black Sea culture.
He uses an odd notation system for dates: Roman numerals for centuries, -xx for before common era, and +xx for common era. I found that I was translating the centuries to numbers to make it understandable to me.
The writing is more interesting than Sir Burton’s “The Book of the Sword”. There are quite a lot of good ideas and his explanations for the quirks of the ancient people, is really good.
Tuesday, July 13, 2004