Giza and the Pyramids: The Definitive History

Geez. I have this book. It is a geek reference book of the physical site. If you keep a dedicated bookcase on Egypt, If you even have a dedicated Egypt study workstation, this is an important Giza book.One star comments of the book being too heavy, too large, font too small are B.S. This is not a lap comic book to read in under 5 minutes. Get a dang reading desk like I use for this 6 pound beauty. Comments that it needs to be severely edited down is crazy talk of people who can't handle dull technical details about piles of rubble. You need to go find the coloring books in the kid section.I bought this book so I can study up before I re-visit the Giza site in 2021 for two weeks. The book has already helped me grasp the overall site geology and quarry complexity. If you are a detailed geek and want to know about the probable detailed digging, leveling, rubble moving and overall logistics of the site, well, this is a very useful reference book. I mean, the book is about them digging around for 42 years and 30 of which to slowly piece together a scrap book of their daily dig observations.When standing on the Giza Plateau and you scan the area, it looks like mixed and re-positioned rubble piles and holes. Because it is. And a great deal of the temple blocks have been dragged away. And most of the great digs of temples get re-covered in protective sand at the end of the dig season.I'm a member of two groups, the Egypt Exploration Society (EES) and American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE). And there is plenty of ongoing efforts to grasp what it all means. People listen to the one stars, and the two stars and pick interesting observations to evaluate and see if they fold into other hints picked up by other teams in the field. This all continues to be a very slow work-in-progress site.

Lehner and Hawass have really written the definitive history of the Giza plateau and the pyramids. I have visited the plateau 3 times and have spent hours wandering and exploring. I have read (almost) everything written on pyramid construction, and design and this book stands on its own. The beautiful images, maps and illustrations and the details of life as an Egyptologist on the plateau were fascinating. I learned much from the book, and yes it is heavy, but so worth the muscle required to lift it.The chapters on the three pyramids were well done, but my favorite was the chapter on the mastaba of Khentkawes.I think that the reason why there are so many one star ratings on this book is that the authors finally took a swipe at the new age kooks who ignore decades of data and archeological evidence in favour of conspiracy, UFOs, ancient astronaut theorists, selective use of facts and wild speculation. The sad thing is that more people will read this pseudo-history than the real thing. I think that the fans of wing nutty ancient Egyptian "history" don't like being called out.Well worth the price and the weight!!!

LIke Giza and the pyramids there, this book is monumental. As in large. But no less so in scope. The authors are the two most experienced and best informed scientists of our time where Giza is concerned. The book covers everything, including the most recent work with muon tomography. There seems to be no topic left without note. I simply open it and start reading somewhere. It is not a cover-to-cover thriller and does not conclude that aliens built them or milk won't curdle there. This is the best that serious science and archaeology can offer. It will be a principle source for many years to come. Its only fault, to me, is that it is not something one grabs and runs out the door with. Too heavy for that.

Wow! What an extraordinary book. Very well written and illustrated. Congratulations to Mark Lehner and Zahi Hawass. This is certainly the most comprehensive book ever written on Giza and the Pyramids. I am relatively new to the study of Egyptian history. After travelling to Egypt last October I became completely fascinated to this most rich history and just can't get enough of it. Before buying the book I read some of the customer reviews, several of them extremely negative and I became intrigued. Fortunately I did not give much credit to those negative reviews but it saddens me to realize that some pseudo 'customers' would post comments that are completely unsubstantiated. I guess it can only come from some lunatics who believe that the pyramids were really built by extra- terrestrials.

Explaining and Illustrating, in details,,important part of Egypt History. While I was reading I discovered that I did not know that much about the Pyramids of Giza. As a reference and a guide, Gize and Pyramids:The Definitive History, inspired me to read more books, watch documentary movies, and open a new horizon of Egypt History. I consider my self lucky to have a copy of this book. Dr. Zahi Hawass is a Prophet of the Ancient Egyptians history and genius archaeologists that lives in our time...

First, I actually have this book, and I'm not an internet conspiracy theorist with an ax to grind. This is a large, beautiful, high-quality book. It is exactly what it's called: the definitive history of Giza and the Pyramids. If you want to read about space aliens and such, don your tin-foil hat and watch Youtube videos to your heart's content. The rest of us will have this extraordinary book, which gives the best currently available information on what might be the most extraordinary site on the planet.

When received the binder of the book was broken and part of the spine was split

Fascinating book, highly detailed with an abundance of visual information. I had to tab the overall Giza maps to constantly reference back to these because the spacial quality of each monument holds vital information so important to the real story. I liked the idea that there is still so many unanswered questions and new information is constantly being discovered. The Giza plateau is a living statement of the past and not the dull, dry and dusty place that you might expect.

Es una pasada. Pero los autores son grandes especialistas en la materia y no se podía esperar nada q no fuese espectacular.

A very thorough look on all the various Egyptian tombs and workers residences over the millennia on the Giza plateau. Makes one realize there was a lot more going on there than just the three great pyramids. I highly recommend it.

Bellissimo libro sotto tutti i punti di vista. Questo testo e' certamente la storia "definitiva" delle piramidi. Piramidi che vengono descritte nel loro contesto originale (quando erano presenti templi, numerosi altri sepolcri e templi).Le fotografie sono di ottima qualita' come lo e' la veste grafica.

Una pena que no esté en castellano. Si te gusta Egipto y quieres tener una buena biblioteca, es un libro obligado. Increíble calidad. Magnificas fotos y texto muy trabajado. Lo recomiendo, y no lo hago con facilidad.

As you might expect, this is a gorgeous big book. What's really good about it is the number of detailed drawings and maps and lovely photos of the insides of tombs and pyramids that are usually inaccessible. A great Christmas present for your Egyptophile friends.