The Encyclopedia of Preserved People: Pickled, Frozen, and Mummified Corpses from Around the World [Library Binding]

Natalie Jane Prior (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 11, 2003 | Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up

Preserved people can tell us things that skeletons can't-hairstyles and tattoos can tell us what people looked like, full stomachs can tell us what thev ate, and autopsies can reveal what diseases they suffered.

With sections on Egyptian mummies, bog bodies, Einstein's brain, and the Ice Man, The Encyclopedia of Preserved People provides a fascinating look at those men, women, and children whose bodies have been preserved until the present day. It proves that history is not about dull dates, but about people who laughed, cried, ate, and worked, just like us-yet who were also incredibly different. It includes an index and a bibliography and is illustrated by over 30 full-color photographs.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-This compendium is organized geographically and arranged alphabetically. The catalog of the macabre includes Africa (ancient Egyptians); Australasia, Asia, and the Pacific (e.g., Lady Dai and George Mallory); Europe (such as Iron Age bog bodies and Lenin); North America (Einstein's brain and the ill-fated Franklin expedition); and South America (Juanita the Ice Lady and Eva Peron). A final chapter lists techniques (such as DNA testing), tools (CAT scans), and topics (ancient diseases). A number of see-also references appear throughout. Small black-and-white and full-color photos, period engravings, and modern watercolors provide a measure of "ickiness" that should satisfy modestly demanding ghouls. The text is conversational in tone, and gleefully chatty when exploring such juicy topics as "Exploding Kings and Queens," but most entries are quite short. The endpapers provide global location maps for the corpses. Strangely missing from the list for further reading are such eloquent gems as James M. Deem's Bodies from the Bog (Houghton, 1998), Johan Reinhard's Discovering the Inca Ice Maiden (National Geographic, 1998), Christopher Sloan's Bury the Dead (National Geographic, 2002), and Donna M. Jackson's The Bone Detectives (Little, Brown, 1996). An attention-grabbing and browsable read.
Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

Preserved people can tell us things that skeletons can't-hairstyles and tattoos can tell us what people looked like, full stomachs can tell us what thev ate, and autopsies can reveal what diseases they suffered.

With sections on Egyptian mummies, bog bodies, Einstein's brain, and the Ice Man, The Encyclopedia of Preserved People provides a fascinating look at those men, women, and children whose bodies have been preserved until the present day. It proves that history is not about dull dates, but about people who laughed, cried, ate, and worked, just like us-yet who were also incredibly different. It includes an index and a bibliography and is illustrated by over 30 full-color photographs.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Library Binding: 64 pages
• Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers; 1 edition (March 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375922873
• ISBN-13: 978-0375922879
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,818,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Natalie Jane Prior was born in November 1963, a momentous month which saw the assassination of President Kennedy, the death of C.S. Lewis, and the first broadcast of Dr Who on British television. She has been writing compulsively since she was a child, and became a full time children's author in 1992. Natalie is the author of numerous books for many ages and has been published in more than twenty countries. Her work includes the picture books Sun and Star, and the internationally successful fantasy series Lily Quench, which has well over half a million copies in print, and which was broadcast on BBC Radio in 2006. Her new series, The Minivers, has recently been published by Penguin in Australia and will be published in the UK by Scholastic in 2010. Natalie lives in Brisbane, Australia, with her husband, young daughter, and two long-haired red miniature dachshunds.