I read this book when I was on the USS Tarawa sailing around the Med. I was much intrigued by it and wished I could devote much time to visiting archaeological spots of interest. The book is divided into four major parts: the Book of the Statues, which related the story of the diggings at Pompeii with its spotlight on J. winckelmann and of Heinrich Schliemann's excavations of Troy and Mycenae, and of Arthur Evans' work on Crete. Part two is the Book of the Pyramids, which featured Champollin, Belzoni, Lepsius, Mariette, Petrie, Carter, and Camarron--great Egyptologists all. Part 3, the Book of the Towers, told of work of Botta on Nineveh, Groteland on decipherment of Babylonian writing, Rawlinson, Layard, Geo. Smith, and others and their work in Assyria. Part 4, the Book of the Temples, probably the most interesting for me and certainly the most fertile field for further work, is about the empires of the Toltecs, Aztecs, and Mayas. This is a great book, I said to myself when I finished reading it. ( )

(final paragraph only transcribed here)
Clearly and dramatically written: eg description of opening of Tomb of Tutankhamen is quite gripping. Very well translated: the only book translated from German I have ever come across that reads easily. An outstanding specimen of a work of popularization.
(notes written 1953)

My desert island shelf contains all my favorite books which I have encountered since I began reading decades ago. I would want these books if I could have no others.

This book infected me with a passion for archaeology and ancient civilizations. I read it once every year or so. It is nothing less than breathtaking! --JJM 10/10/05