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May 22, 20181aa rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
A very readable and accessible book. There are numerous drawings of artifacts and many maps (the most interesting map, to me, was on page 236, showing where various minerals were available). The author is excellent at sticking to the archeology and making inferences from it and contrasting his take on the early history roughly 6000 BC to 2500 BC from the accounts of previous historians. About half the book is taken up explaining pre-pharonic history by telling the reader what archeologists have discovered in the last 110 years. I was most surprised just how peaceful Egyptian (well, Naqadian) society was prior to Narmer. He is also unembarrassed about ignorance about a whole host of topics.