Motel of the Mysteries (Paperback)

~ David Macaulay (Author)
Key Phrases: Sacred Urn, Motel of the Mysteries, Great Sign

Editorial Reviews

Review

"David Macaulay . . . is a superb craftsman and an imaginative writer and illustrator . . . His new book is a marvel of imagination and a comfortable satire. He projects a time when our civilization will have been buried . . . As always with Mr. Macaulay's books, wonderfully illustrated." (The New York Times )

"David Macaulay . . . is a superb craftsman and an imaginative writer and illustrator . . . His new book is a marvel of imagination and a comfortable satire. He projects a time when our civilization will have been buried . . . As always with Mr. Macaulay's books, wonderfully illustrated." -- Review

"David Macaulay . . . is a superb craftsman and an imaginative writer and illustrator . . . His new book is a marvel of imagination and a comfortable satire. He projects a time when our civilization will have been buried . . . As always with Mr. Macaulay's books, wonderfully illustrated." The New York Times

Product Description

It is the year 4022; all of the ancient country of Usa has been buried under many feet of detritus from a catastrophe that occurred back in 1985. Imagine, then, the excitement that Howard Carson, an amateur archeologist at best, experienced when in crossing the perimeter of an abandoned excavation site he felt the ground give way beneath him and found himself at the bottom of a shaft, which, judging from the DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging from an archaic doorknob, was clearly the entrance to a still-sealed burial chamber. Carson's incredible discoveries, including the remains of two bodies, one of then on a ceremonial bed facing an altar that appeared to be a means of communicating with the Gods and the other lying in a porcelain sarcophagus in the Inner Chamber, permitted him to piece together the whole fabric of that extraordinary civilization.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Graphia (October 11, 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395284252
• ISBN-13: 978-0395284254
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #67,800 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book ALL Archaeologists / Historians should read, July 25, 2003

By	Gordon K. Werner (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are a fan of David Macaulay's books about the contruction of such wonders as a Cathedral, Pyramid, City, Mill, etc ... then you will really enjoy this book about future archaeologists / explorers "discovering" the burried ruins of an American motel room in the 41st century ... and the miss-identification of just about every item found.

I think that this is a book that every archaeologist / historian should read because it perfectly explains the traps that we may fall into when trying to explain the past using present day knowledge and sensibilities.

The events portrayed in this book show the reader just how easy it is to make a mistake ... even when one's best intentions are at stake.

Then again, it is a David Macaulay (always great) and it is funny! Especially the Museum Gift Store items displayed at the end of the book.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A funny send up of a scholarly subject., August 17, 2001

By	Atheen M. Wilson "Atheen" (Mpls, MN United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book was actually a gift from my Mother who knows I enjoy things archaeological and historical. Since she`s more than a trifle eccentric and has a marvelous sense of the absurd, I've a sneaking suspicion she was poking a little fun at me--which is something I probably need once in a while for my own good.

The Motel of the Mysteries is a wonderful send up of the fields of archaeology and history. It's aim is doubtless to entertain, at which it's vastly successful, but over and above that the book makes quite clear what archaeology legitimately can and cannot do. I think it also points out that what is taken as "The Reality" of the past is often as much a function of current cultural biases and of the personal motives of individual researchers as it is of what actually occurred in the past. (This was made quite clear to me when I saw Knossos on Crete for the first time and realized that a great deal of imagination had gone into the reconstruction of the "Minoan" buildings there).

My favorite parts of Motel were Archaeologist Carson's interpretation of the hotel bathroom as the inner sanctum of a religious structure and the subsequent depiction of his assistant--ala Heinrich Schliemann with the Trojan treasure and Leonard Wooley with the Ur III treasure--wearing bathroom accoutrements as religious paraphernalia.

The author also pokes fun at museums and at all of us, when he includes a collection of "Souvenirs and Quality Reproductions" available for sale at the end of the book. My favorite is the coffee set based on the "sacred urn" (toilet). Goodness knows I've purchased my fair share of quality reproductions on my travels throughout the world!

This should be suggested reading for every college history and archeology major and required for those seeking degrees over BA in these fields!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Laugh out loud funny spoof of archeology, June 4, 2003

By	Stephen M. St Onge "Stephen M. St. Onge" (Mpls, MN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Macauley's other books, such as CASTLE, show our archeologists' recreations of times past. But what if it's ALL WRONG???

In MOTEL OF THE MYSTERIES, we get a marvelous story of a future archeologist finding, and completely misunderstanding, an ordinary motel room.

Great fun, and you'll never watch a Discover Channel special with quite that credulity again.