Customer Reviews

The Lost Tombs of Thebes: Ancient Egypt: Life in Paradise

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One of the best books on Egyptian archeology that I have seen in a while! Very well illustrated with photos(fold-outs)showing the reliefs and paintings from the tombs of the nobles, many not accessible to the general public. A fine job by Dr.Hawass and the photographer. A must have for those who love all things Egyptian. I hope that it is followed by another on the Valley of the Queens. Having heard Dr.Hawass lecture several times, one thing that I can say is that he does not suffer fools lightly. Anyone who believes that the ancient Egyptians needed help from ancient astronauts, demigods, magic, or that the pyramids are somehow the products of a much older civilization,will surely get a dose of Zahi's legendary temper. They deny the fact that the dwellers of Kemet where a very industrious and clever people. And as far as closing the tombs, I feel that more should be closed, especially that of Nefertari in the Valley of the queens to further stop the damage caused by constant tourist traffic. It is my belief that most tourist do not know where they are going, when they get there they do not know what they are looking at, and when they get back they do not know what they have seen!

I purchased this "coffee table" book with a little fear that it would duplicate other books--and particularly--other photos I have of the Thebean area.

There is a great deal of different material on the non-royal tombs away from the Valley of the Kings; and I found the text interesting and informative. I am one who can put up with Dr. Hawass' acknowledged vanity because I believe he has accomplished wonders in improving the whole Egypt experience.

The book is simply magnificent. Pictures are breathtaking and stunning.This is the second book I have of Zahi Hawass. The other being king tutankhamun:the treasures of the tomb which also is magnificient and stunning. Kudos to the Photographer and publisher Thames and Hudson for the excellent photographs and print quality.

The photos in this book, as in several of Hiwass' books, are gorgeous. Many of them are fold-outs. I love that aspect of the book.

The text, as is also typical for Hiwass, is written for readers with little or no knowledge of ancient Egypt. It's very frustrating to see these great photos, yet the descriptions that accompany them contain usually contain very little information. "Come let me tell you of my great adventures, ignorant little man," is the attitude of the author. Maybe the recent changes in Egypt will see a new head of the Antiquities Dept. there. God knows, we're sick of this overstuffed blowhard.

But the pictures are beautiful, don't forget!

THE END OF ZAHI HAWASS - SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE MEMORIES!!!!

So if I want to know something about Zahi , I'll just hear it from someone who knows the real hard - core facts. I couldn't trust Zahi to tell me how to enter any museum anywhere around the world whatsoever. I'd rather want to go there by myself or ask Robert Bauval or somene who does real research. I was in Denmark over 10 years ago in the Thorvaldsen museum exploring ancient egyptian artefacts and there was no Zahi there to tell me how old they were. The pictures are absoluely stunning , but the text in books written by Haiwass reads for me like rotten flesh. I can't trust someone who fantasizes about pharaohs and slaves and doesn't say anything or complain when tourists are being denied access to sites and when Egyptian authorities are showing disrespect and dishonour towards the people of modern Egypt to tell me that he knows more or less than others about ancient Egyptian culture. I've seen a couple of Zahi's books and they don't strike me of being particularly impressive although the photographs are nonetheless striking , which I feel is characteristic of a significant majority of some of the once myriad one - sided views only litterature on ancient Egypt which portrayed ancient Egypt in an extremely negative light over 20 to 30 years ago. Truth be known , the real curator of the ancient mysteries of Egypt , is the pyramid builders and those who had arrived before them and the wisdomkeepers of modern Egypt. I once spoke to a man who is a close friend of mine but has not yet discovered that there is life on other planets like other people can do by the use of simple arithmetical base logic , who told me that he had gone to Egypt himself to see if it was possible that pharaohs could have built the pyramids. He told me that the feeling he got was that he didn't feel that this was the work of pharaohs. That perhaps the culture which built those pyramids had to be pre - dynastic. So here we've got the testimony of a man who went there by himself and had no desire to invest in the attention of others just to become famous for the sake of it unlike Zahi Hawass who's just there to sell lies for products and connive people.
The current government of Egypt has not resigned , offered damage fee and reconstructed lost monumental evidence , at least not according to the content of recent DVD's I've been watching on ancient Egypt and the construction of the pyramids. Where was mr. Why doesn't the man just go all the way and go get himself a White House position? So long mr. Zahi , and thanks for all the memories. Zahi Hawass and the egyptian authorities'current behavior in regard to the inhabitants of the Giza plateu are two reasons for why we're hearing the term 'Egyptologist'mentioned with increasingly less amount of frequency. Well , at least I can wish mr. Zahi a happy 2010!!!