Customer Reviews

The Egyptian Jukebox: A Conundrum

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you enjoy puzzles which carefully interweave illustration and prose, this is a good pick. The puzzle is challenging enough not to be boring, but it's not mind-numbingly hard like some others (notably Christopher Manson's "Maze," the only book of this genre I've liked better than this one). The illustrations are beautiful, and the aura of enigma created by the puzzle enticing. The only drawback I would cite is that once you make a certain intuitive leap in the puzzle's trickery, a bit of busy work lies before you to finish. But reaching that leap is reward enough. A good pick, if you can track it down.

It was never returned, and I mourn its absence.

To me, The Egyptian Jukebox is the "Myst" of book puzzles. With a central theme that mixes Egyptology with Rock & Roll, woven together with intriguing little trinkets, cryptic narration, and a deceivingly simple riddle to solve ("Where do my worlds join?"), it will draw in anyone who ever dreamed of solving an ancient mystery or unearthing a lost treasure.

Many with short attention spans will discard The Egyptian Jukebox before long. There are no instructions explaining how to even begin. But if you are a creative thinker and problem solver (and perhaps just a little obsessive), this puzzle will be both amusing and rewarding. The solution will amuse you, but like a favorite novel, will leave you wishing that the book never came to an end.

I have just entered the magical world of Nick Bantock and am just itching to read more. This book was listed on the cover of The Museum at Purgatory. I would love to help unravel the mystery. PLEASE REPRINT!

For those of you trying to get hold of this (as of 2005) out of print volume, I recommend ebay or abebooks. I paid only US$12 for a very nice used copy and I treasure it.

From an artistic point of view it's really a breathtaking little volume. Bantock really does put a lot of care and thought into his constructions and collages and you can spend hours examining them (as an engineer I like that sort of art!)

I did cheat and look up the answer, but for puzzle fans I would recommend sticking with it a while. I did notice that all the drawers had different patterns on the edges which appeared to be coordinates, and figured out that Ln and Wd meant lenght and width, but besides that some of the clues were truly puzzling. But then I worked on Riven for weeks and finally had to look up a cheat to finish it...

In any case, as popular as Bantock's other works are I am surprised that it hasn't been reprinted recently. If I am decoding the publishers page correctly I think that mine is a third printing, but that is not a negative since I enjoy the book collectible or not.

The highest praise I can give any book (and this one) is that Iwish to the heavens there were more books like it. Work at the levelof "The Egyptian Jukebox" and Kit Williams' "Masquerade" are few and far between. The main difference is that I never independently solved "Masquerade", whereas I solved "Jukebox" in one stay-up-late evening. I wish the fun had lasted longer (hence the rating of "8" rather than "10"), but while it lasted it was a thrill

Warning: This book will have you up way past your bedtime! The Egyptian Jukebox is a cabinet containing ten separate drawers, each with its own mystery. You solve these by examining the contents of each drawer, and reading the cryptic clues left behind by an eccentric millionaire. Once you solve these ten puzzles, you must solve the greatest riddle of them all...This book is both a work of art and one of the toughest puzzles you will ever solve. It kept me up for two weeks straight!

This is a fun book for anyone who likes multidimensional, multi-faceted puzzles. The wordplay, visual and cultural parts of the solution will give folks hours of fun.

Another masterwork of collage art this book is a conundrum indeed. If you like the artwork of Bantock and fancy yourself a modern day Sherlock Holmes this is the book for you. Fair warning, you're gonna need a Watson.

Other of Bantock's works have pulled me in completely: the half-seen mysteries of Griffin and Sabine, the quirky afterlife of his Museum at Purgatory. This one just didn't, though. It features the same great artwork, collage and assemblage that combine widely disparate elements. At best, Bantock evokes the mystery and sense of mythology I've seen in Joseph Cornell's work, but with deeper layering.

The self-conscious challenge to the reader just never engaged me, though. I can deal with obscurity and I like puzzles, at least some kinds. I enjoy this book's imagery but, on the whole, it just didn't engage me the way Bantock's other books have done.

-- wiredweird

In the tradition of Nick Bantock, it is an artful mystery more complex than many of his other works (all of which I intend to collect). It is short and combines both the metaphysical and curious ancient artifacts from other cultures. I am taken on a journey and led to think of possible connections between the items. I am sure I will reread this work many times. Each time finding something new. It's a journey in intimate archeology. I wonder what someone would think of me if they looked through my life's souveniers?