Ancient Egypt is certainly the most 'alien' of the Mediterranean civilisations. Certainly the most spectacular and the one that expressed itself in the way we modern Europeans least understand. But also for ancient Europeans, because the fascination with ancient Egypt goes back a long way. It must be said that the discoveries made during the now countless excavation campaigns, among which the tomb of Tutantkamon shines, and the resulting Tut-mania, have only amplified things.
Nielsen's essay is as accurate as it is deeply political in pointing the finger at the deep, systemic colonialism and racism that permeate the attitude of the essentially white academic world when it comes to Egyptian artefacts. It is extremely important to read it, perhaps before going to admire the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin, to realise that, like so many things in our Western world, we sit on a heritage derived from robbery.

Egyptomaniacs by Dr. Nicky Nielsen
Genre: History, Non-Fiction
Publisher: Pen & Sword
Publish Date: 30 August 2020
Star Rating: 5 Star

I love this book! It's one of those little gems that pulls you in and then you can't put down. Ancient Egypt is a fascination for me, as it is for most people. Its mysterious, dramatic and it has elements of the supernatural weaving throughout it. Hollywood also loves ancient Egypt making great Films like the ‘Mummy’ franchise that pulls people like me in more. However, can you tell fact from fiction or a good Hollywood tale? can I?

Nielsen has provided us with a wonderful summary of what's real and what's not in an engaging read that also delves into where and how the fake stories came about and how they grew. From the aliens' theory to the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb this book doesn’t disappoint. It has I admit taken a slight shine off of the more fantastical tales of Ancient Egypt but if I’m honest, in my heart of hearts they were obviously false but it has not dampened my obsession for all things Ancient Egyptian.

I highly recommend this book to those obsessed with ancient Egypt, history lovers, and fans of a good tale.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

*4.5 stars*

Someone wrote about my obsession!

Yes, I admit it. I’m one of them. Ever since the fifth grade and many months studying Egypt in all its facets – religion, agriculture, art, pyramids, I too have been obsessed. Who knew that social studies unit would spark an interest that hasn’t diminished at all. This read took that interest and offered reasons why that history, of a culture I’ve never experienced or visited, continues to fascinate me…

Offering insights into how Ancient Egypt has reached such mythical historical proportions was interesting and, despite railing against it, offered reasons why this ancient culture continues to fascinate myself and many others. Squashing some facts as fiction may have burst my bubble a little (who doesn’t want the romantic view if possible?) but I came away feeling I knew that history even better…

"The Greek historian Hecataeus of Abdera declared during the 4th century BCE that the Egyptian civilization was unsurpassed in the arts and in good governance, surpassing even that of the Greeks. During the Renaissance, several ecclesiastical nobles, including the Borgia Pope Alexander VI claimed their descent from the Egyptian god Osiris. In the 1920s, the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings prompted one of the first true media frenzies in history. For thousands of years, the Pharaonic culture has been a source of almost endless fascination and obsession. But to what extent is the popular view of ancient Egypt at all accurate?

In Egyptomaniacs: How We Became Obsessed With Ancient Egypt, Egyptologist Dr Nicky Nielsen examines the popular view of Egypt as an exotic, esoteric, mystical culture obsessed with death and overflowing with mummies and pyramids. The book traces our obsession with ancient Egypt throughout history and methodically investigates, explains and strips away some of the most popular misconceptions about the Pharaohs and their civilization."

I feel so seen.

I think it's the perfect book for anyone who's interested with Ancient Egypt and want to learn about the history of this fascination.
It's well written, well researched, interesting and informative.
It's highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

There's no doubt about it: We ARE obsessed with Ancient Egypt! "Egyptomaniacs", for me, has made that obsession grow. This is a clearly written book that was a pleasure to read. I suspect it feels like a much "lighter" read than it actually is, as I seem to have come away knowing a lot more than I did - without feeling like my head has been packed full. I still can't pinpoint exactly what it was that sparked my imagination and kept the embers burning, but I think that might be the point. This is definitely a book that an Ancient Egyptian enthusiast should have in their collection.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Love Egyptian history? Think you know it all? THINK AGAIN! This book was a fabulous read on Egypt and a lot of the misconceptions that we have built over time. If I was to break it all down, this review might never end!
I have loved Egyptian history for years. I found a book on Cleopatra when I was in 4th grade, and it has been a rabbit hole for me ever since! From Ramses II, to lost cities, the lost tomb of Alexander the Great, the mystery of the Sphinx, pyramids... well the list goes on!

Dr. Nielsen goes through and systematically explains, corrects, and describes Egypt in a way that will bring it to life, crush a few dreams (not really), and rebuild your love of Egypt with ease! Fabulous and fun - I could not get enough of this book!

This book is written in a clear and concise style. The enjoyable sections cover a wider range of topics in our enduring fascination with the civilization of Ancient Egypt something that will only ratchet up with the 100th Anniversary of the 'Discovery' of King Tutankhamun's tomb.

From the history of egpytology to the museum holdings this book looks at the issues now dominated by the decolonisation debates, it does so in a reasonably even handed way without being too preachy but will not sit easily with some.

Some interesting material covered in this book which will serve as another in the canon on Egyptology.

Well-written and very readable. Egyptomaniacs is a fascinating and well-argued look at "How we became obsessed with Ancient Egypt." Written in two parts (part one - Investigating Ancient Egypt; part two - Inventing Ancient Egypt), the book explores the emotions, perceptions, and beliefs about Egypt (as the author clearly states in the prologue). I really enjoyed this book and, more importantly, am better informed about Ancient Egypt.

For the longest time, I have enjoyed a fascination with Egypt. It may have started as a child, hearing Bible songs about asking Pharaoh to let the People go! Pyramids and camels may added to the appeal! Ancient Egypt is a mystical period in history full of unknowns and unreadable language. My love of art history and English filled me in on the confusing Roman and Persian periods with the Greeks mixed in! And then I discovered murder mystery novels set at the rise of British interest in Egypt and my love of Egypt-orientated works was fixed! Egyptomaniacs by Dr. Nicky Nielsen doesn’t disappoint and is a welcomed addition to my collection! It is full of amazing facts, hysterical myths and deep reflections on the job of work of modern Egyptologists have to do! I read it straight through!

The book sets out to “…chart this fascination from the sources of the ancient Egyptians themselves, to the writings of Greek and Roman authors, Arabic scholars and European travellers. It will examine popular tropes and misconceptions about ancient Egypt, many of which are still in vogue today, and identify their antecedents.“ and delivers on this and then some! It is broken into two parts.

Part one focuses on the history of ancient Egypt and how it has been perceived, pursued and reflected at different points in time. I loved the examination of the artistic representations in particular, it is so relevant to the current discussion on how we reflect diversity without prejudice. Whilst a serious discussion, the ironic tone at points had me laughing! I shan’t soon forget what I learnt!

Part two looks at modern day myths that have arisen around ancient Egypt and how they have been incorporated into pop culture. Dr Nicky Nielsen sums up the part for me with this quote:

“Fundamentally, it comes down to communication. If the scholarly community does not produce and make available good, scientific knowledge in a form and medium that is understandable, engaging and on platforms people enjoy engaging with, some will turn instead to the far bettermarketed pseudoscientific theories for explanation.”

From “Egyptomaniacs” by Dr. Nicky Nielsen
It is applicable far beyond Egyptology and is so insightful as to how humans process story and facts. Reflections on the exclusion of the advances made in Egyptology by those in the East as well as the modern politics and perceptions of Egypt were delightful surprises.

Perhaps it is my perchance for Egypt or perhaps it’s the engaging writing but all in all, I loved this book! It is a five out of five on the enJOYment scale and highly recommended!

* A word of warning to my friends: I may spurt unexpected, interesting to me, Egyptian facts at anytime in our future conversations! I learnt far too much not to share!

I've always been interested in the history of archaeology, so it seemed likely that Egyptomaniacs would be an ideal non-fiction book for me and I'm glad to say that turned out to be the case.

It's all about Egypt, as the title suggests, looking at how Egypt has been perceived by a wide variety of historians through from ancient times to the modern day, as well as how it has been portrayed in the media (focussing on either Cleopatra or rampaging mummies, for the most part). It finishes off with a look at why there is currently so much interest in the role of aliens as the builders of the pyramids, not to mention a few other issues around who created ancient artefacts and where they should end up when found.

It's an enjoyable read, well-paced and full of interest without being dry. I'd consider myself fairly well-read but there were definitely things I didn't know about before and I hope the author gets a chance to write more books in this line.

I really enjoyed this book. I felt that Dr Nielsen gave wonderful walk through the history of the wests obsession with ancient Egypt. Looking at the Egyptian culture as the ultimate "other" also shined light on how the west also looks at cultures and picks and chooses what it wants to believe. The book was an easy and fun read and not too overly scholarly for the casual historian like myself

I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Since childhood there were two things that could always catch my interest and ignite passion: dinosaurs and Ancient Egypt. In fact, I wanted to be a paleontologist or Egyptologist, if possible both. I ended up being an art historian for East Asian art but my love for both topics never vanished. So when I saw this book on Netgalley, I had to request it and luckily, my wish was granted.
I’ve always asked myself why I loved Ancient Egypt so much and found out that it’s a mixture of many things: how old and long-lasting the culture was; the beauty of Egyptian art; the breathtaking monuments; the fantastic otherness of the culture; and the unsolved mysteries. In essence, it’s the beauty and curious human nature that made AE so attractive. But why AE and not, say, the Celtics?

As this book traces, it’s no coincidence that my love for AE came in to existence bur rather based on millennia old fascination with the culture, from Ancient Greece to modern popular media. In fact, I remember watching and devouring books, documentaries, movies and other material talking about AE.
Nielsen takes on these renditions and explains where they came from, what they mean and how they shape our contemporary perception of AE, including discussions of questionable interpretations, debunked theories and conspiracies and a thorough dismantling of racist and colonialist ideas.

Nielsen starts with the Ancient Greek interpretation of AE, discussing famous texts and plays talking about Egypt. Here we find the first traces of exoticizing elements that othered Egyptian culture: Egypt was the ultimate other, “a place where everything is opposite to the Greek world, everything from writing to daily ablutions.” The Romans copied the Greek interpretation that continually shifted from (begrudging) admiration and paternalistic condescension and exoticism. It wasn’t a contradiction to revere AE for its political power and cultural impact while othering and critiquing it for other aspects, sometimes even the same things. Depending on the context, Egypt’s power and culture served either to criticize AE or to claim ownership of Egyptian heritage and thus elevate Greek and Roman civilization as equal.
In fact, linking AE to one’s own culture was essential for national and history making because not only the Greeks and Romans claimed cultural and racial linkage and thus ownership of AE. This tradition continued through the Middle Ages to our time. Through debunked racial theories and genetical analysis, Westerners continually claim true ownership of AE artefacts which not only serves to legitimize the looted and stolen objects in museums but also for nationalistic and white supremacist purposes. More on this later.

Coming back to the Romans: Nielsen always traces the history of the interpretation and places it within its historical context, therefore when he talks about how Romans viewed AE, he also explains the political situation of Egypt at that moment in time. Therefore, the reader can follow his arguments clearly and understand the political, social and cultural impact on the interpretations because nothing happens in a vacuum and is strongly influenced by what is happening.
For example, Egypt became a protectorate/province of the Roman Empire. During this time, it was essential for Romans to create a distinct image of inferiority: Egypt had to be politically and culturally inferior to Rome in order to legitimize dominion over the lands. This was done, for example, by ridiculing cultural norms and religion, the latter spawning a great flood of religious destruction of “paganism”. Egypt also provided important resources for Rome, including grains and other foods, that sustained the Roman Empire. Despite this, Romans liked to portray this necessity and reliance as simply paying due tribute instead of dependency on Egyptian goods.

Its also during these times where Egyptian hieroglyphs are misrepresented. Romans, who could have consulted living Egyptians using hieroglyphs, simply claimed that the symbols had no syllabic meaning but rather represented ideas and concepts. This false notion was carried through the next several centuries and not fully debunked until the late 19th century.
Or rather, not fully debunked in Europe because during the Middle Ages there were a number of significant Egyptologists from Arab descent that had studied AE, from history to language, and advanced the field. However, as is usual, Europeans never consulted these sources and therefore had to re-invent the wheel because they were behind several centuries.
In fact, one of the earliest intellectuals to emphasize the importance of exploring and protecting ancient heritage was Al-Baghdadi whose ideas were more advanced of those of European archaeologists of much later periods.

I also really love how Nielsen consistently criticizes Eurocentric perspectives, clearly and concisely shows how colonialist and imperialist ideas and needs play a role in AE reception and how Europeans are directly responsible for much of the destruction of cultural heritage in the last three centuries.
As an art historian, I’m knowledgeable of museological practices and the history of museums so I was really happy that Nielsen not only mentions looted art but very clearly names and criticizes the racist and colonialist history, even mentioning contemporary calls to decolonize museums. Europeans and US Americans – let’s be real here, we’re talking about White people – took over control of the country at various points in time and plundered the lands. Many important artefacts are still in museums, from Berlin, London and Paris to Boston. Nielsen also mentions the arts market and I really appreciate him going into detail and showing how art dealers are essentially laundering artefacts. The semi-legal nature of art sellers is questionable and complicit at best.
In one instance Nielsen wonders how forged provenance documents could have convinced the curators of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. This case was interesting because the forged documents claimed specific artefacts had been taken out of Egypt and sold before a specific date where it still had been allowed. However, it was later found out that the artefact in question had been looted during the Arab Spring in 2011 and was sold through backchannels. Nielsen wonders how that was possible and I can say this: it is quite possible that the curators and other staff members of the museums knew and just hoped they wouldn’t get caught. I know this because I have talked to many people within the industry. Most of the are aware of the history of museums and are very interested in NOT acquiring black market goods and return artefacts. However, I have had conversations where a “questionable” provenance was simply to be ignored otherwise it would cause problems. I’m writing this in the most non-committal and neutral way possible but let me tell you, people often know when an object has a dark history and some decide to ignore it. So it’s absolutely in the realm of possibility that someone knew the documents were forged and just didn’t care.

Continuing with the Middle Ages, Nielsen also shows how the AE found in Ancient Greece and Rome was slowly divorced from those interpretation and casted in more generic Orientalist terms. This can be viewed, for example, in artistic representations where Biblical scenes taking place in AE are filled with White figures in an Italian scenery with anachronistic clothing. The death of Cleopatra or the Rescue of Moses from the River come to mind. Many light-skinned, fair-haired naked women exposing their perky breasts or Middle Age princesses looking at their equally pasty slaves saving an equally pasty Moses. From all the paintings Nielsen mentions, I have seen exactly one dark-skinned person, a Black slave. This misrepresentation of AE has continued until today, where we have a whole White cast of mummies, damsels, archaeologists and pantheon of goddesses and gods, from Taylor’s Cleopatra to Cameron’s Gods of Egypt. Probably one of the few movies that comes minimally close to reality is the animated movie The Prince of Egypt and this one also tackles a favorite trope: Biblical stories.
Talking about tropes, there are many other popular notions on AE that Nielsen discusses and traces the history and contemporary impact, including: the curse of tombs and mummies; exotic femme fatales; mysticism; and the racist idea that AE culture was actually White and/or aliens.

The mummy curse was especially hilarious because this came to be when the press got angry. Some rich dude named Carnarvon died months after the archaeologist he had sponsored found Tutankhamun’s tomb. Carnarvon had sold exclusive rights to The Times. Other newspapers were forced to essentially reiterate what The Times was publishing which angered pretty much everyone else working in the press. So, what did the press do?
They started wildly speculating about what might be going on and invented stories, including the mummy curse. After Carnarvon died some other people loosely related to the excavations died for completely different, unrelated reasons. This didn’t stop the press from spreading bogus ideas of an Ancient Egyptian curses killing off people. The effect of this wide-spread lie can be found in popular media with movies tackling this topic, from white-and-black movies showing sexy women sleeping with archaeologists to the best movie on mummies ever made, The Mummy (1999).


Nielsen also talks about the racist, jingoistic and machismo interpretations of AE, starting from the obsessions of dictators (especially fascists) with erecting phallic symbols to their powers in shapes of obelisks, either by stealing ancient artefacts or building new ones. From Napoleon to Mussolini, Hitler, Trujillo and even the United States – the obelisk became a symbol of power, linking contemporary politics to Ancient Egypt and thereby giving it a thin veneer of historical respectability and connections to a culture that was seen as monumental, long-lasting and powerful.
This goes hand in hand with the ideas of White Europeans and Americans who couldn’t (and still some can’t) fathom how non-White cultures could build these monuments. Some connected the Pyramids of Giza with the Abrahamic god, claiming that they were built by god and that the measurements had some kind of mystical, religious meaning. Some even said that the pyramids were grain reserves built by Joseph. That the pyramids are even hollow, show any signs of ever storing grain or being the most impractical shape for storing grain doesn’t matter to them. In fact, this spawned religious and conspiracy groups, namely the Jehova’s Witnesses. Yep, you read that right, they believe the pyramids are grain storage. Others believe they are conductors for electricity, satellites or other machines, mainly those who believe aliens built them.
Others found answers through racism, claiming that no non-White culture ever prospered or lived for long and that only White people survive and create greatness (Nielsen quotes an American Southern Confederate here, in case it wasn’t obvious enough) and that the actual builders of the pyramids were White people from Europe that made up the elite, while the slaves, you guessed it, were Black and Brown people.
Nielsen thoroughly and meticulously debunks each and every single racist and white supremacist idea, using no uncertain terms and calling it out as it is, from toxic masculinity and its obsession with phallic symbols of power to white supremacist ahistorical fantasies of eugenics, racial inferiority and the inability to think that non-Whites could have complex cultures. What I really appreciated his Nielsen being absolutely clear that even conspiracy theories are, at their core, racist because the core premise is that non-White cultures could not possibly be sophisticated enough to think of complex structures, let alone being able to build them. And so, people start finding “solutions” by stripping these cultures from intellect and agency and whitewashing history by claiming divine machinations or outright white supremacy. Even the idea that it actually was aliens is racist because these people, despite the colossal amount of evidence refuting their ideas, simply ignore facts and insist on being correct because, again, these cultures couldn’t have been able to build the structures. This is also combined with a strongly right-wing hatred for intellectual work and academia. This anti-intellectualism is rampant until today and has spawned other dangerous fringe groups that are slowly gaining more power and tractions, like the anti-vaxx movement. And let’s not forget that eugenics is coming back in fashion and their proponents are planning the mass murder of vulnerable communities. It’s a rise of fascist genocidal ideas masked as mass “entertainment” through bogus conspiracy theories. But Nielsen shows, through research and data, that more and more people, at least in the US, start believing these theories. Yes, the number of people who think the pyramids were built by aliens is rising in the US. Believing in the inherent “natural” and “biological” inferiority of others begins with “benign” things like the pyramids and ends with genocide.


To summarize, Nielsen has written a fascinating, well-written and rigorously researched book on Western reception of Ancient Egypt. He traces the complex history of our fascination with a culture that has made us dream and fantasize for millennia. Each chapter deals with a different topic, from Ancient Greece and Rome, on to the Middle Ages, followed by the 17th-19th century and ending with 20th and 21st centuries. From representations in literature, art and popular media to the political significance of monuments during colonialism, fascism and slavery up until “modern” conspiracy theories of aliens. In doing so, he clearly shows how some tropes have survived time and again and how current views of Ancient Egypt, be it from museological display and interpretation to conspiracy theories, are based on a long tradition of Orientalist, Eurocentric interpretation.
It is a phenomenal book with lots of information, yet incredibly well-written and accessible. It was honestly a joy to read because it was engaging, fun, critical, well-researched and witty. Nielsen states things very clearly and doesn’t shy away from naming things for what they are but also includes funny remarks and light humor that makes his reading not only more enjoyable but also breaks the sometimes-exhausting barrage of racist ideas.
I learned a lot reading it because despite the fact that I had analysed my own reasons for why I loved Ancient Egypt on my own (and also critically examined the colonialist and Orientalist aspect), Nielsen gave me historical context needed to fully understand the scope and impact. I have learned a lot and was thoroughly entertained.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in culture and especially in Ancient Egypt. It’s a marvelous book and it deserves all the attention.

trigger warning
racism, slavery, being forced out of your home

This book is all about reception of Ancient Egypt culture - starting from contemporaries like the Greeks and Romans to what we find today in politics and media, looking for the source of the wests ongoing fascination with it.

Since I am studying egyptology, some parts of this, and especially the history of Ancient Egypt and egyptology, were already known to me. But even in those areas, the author managed to find details I didn't know about, that have not been included in my curriculum so far.

In General, this book has all I could wish for, especially in the area of colonisation - because that's a topic that is still left out today as not important when you're learning as a white person from other white persons. Let's be real, the topic is too complex to ignore, and far too important. Proveniance of exponats is iffy, and as a museum worker, you're paid for keeping them safe, not for giving them away, even if it would be the morally right thing to do, and I'd welcome conversations about the topic in the university context so you're not left alone with it should you come into the situation where you have to decide.
The most we talked about it was the comment that nobody wants to switch places with the people in Berlin who guard the Nefertiti bust.

This book also gives voice to the Arab scholars who talked in the "lost years" about Egypt and Egyptian language and signage, when the white were too busy killing their neighbors to care about the orient. Again, we never talked about the topic. If I should ever manage to learn Arabian, I'd be interested in diving deeper in that area of research.

While being enormously interesting, the chapter about fascist regimes usage of Egyptian symbolic was hard to read. It started comparatively funny with loads of dick jokes about obelisks and their admirers, to delve into race theories propagated by the nazi regime in Germany, and then going back to slavery in UK and America with slave owners having the problem of admiring Ancient Egyptian culture, but owning African people. So of course, the Egyptians have had to be white, to fit in the theories. These parts played a large role in my being able to stomach only so many pages in a day.

I'd recommend this book both to people who come with some knowledge as well as novices who'd like to know more. We get a short and comprehensible version of Egyptian history, starting with Alexander, over to the Romans and Persians, getting to Napoleon and French-British squabbles, arriving in the 21st century and revolution of 2011 to 2019 when this book was written.
We have pharohs, mummies and pyramids. Well cited source material and further reading.

I will look out for more of this author.

I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who has loved Egypt since childhood, this book sparked intense interest. It did not disappoint. The details in the book create why we love ancient Egypt and how its mystery makes it one of the greatest stories in history.

Egyptomaniacs is an in-depth analysis of Ancient Egypt, both it's discovery and the subsequent media frenzy and perceived mythology in the wake of said discovery. The author, Dr. Nicky Nielsen, is an accomplished lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Manchester and has published numerous works of academic research in this field. The author breaks the book down into two larger sections: one focusing on the ways in which Egypt has been studied from the Classical period to the Napoleonic Era. Also featured is the rise of the Egyptian tourism industry and an in-depth analysis of the ways in which fascist and nationalist regimes have used Egyptian symbolism and culture for their own devices. The second portion of the books explores the ways that popular mythology about Egyptian culture have formed and propagated through the collective psyche. The author writes at length about how ancient Egypt has been portrayed in popular culture, including several interesting pseudoscience theories about aliens.

As a reader, I loved the Egypt that I saw in movies as a child. I remember picking up an Eyewitness book on Egypt at my local library. This book has re-shaped and re-formed my ideas about Egypt. Of course, as I am now an adult, I understand that the Egypt I saw in popular culture was something that had been embellished and hyperbolized through the filter of mass media. This is a must-read for anyone who has an affinity for the ancient Egypt as depicted in pop culture. Not only is it a fantastic, well-written exploration of our obsession with Egypt, it is also a striking critique of pop culture through time. The author's analysis of the human obsession with an ancient culture can be applied to any subject that has been run through the mass media filter. As a Texan, I understand that the Alamo is a symbol of hope for many, but it is also a mythologized point in our history that was not as glamorous as the movies make it out to be.

Overall, I enjoyed the pacing and structure of this book as a nonfiction monograph. I felt the writing style was conversational and easy to read, even for someone who is not prone to academic reading. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in the topic it presents.

I received a galley copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Erratum:
"the tri-factor of ancient Egyptian mysticism and the occult." I think maybe the author meant 'trifecta'? Very strictly-speaking, trifecta isn't the correct term and there are three factors listed before this phrase, but the way the phrase is worded seems to make trifecta a better fit that tri-factor, which is not commonly-used terminiology.

Like many people, no doubt, I've long had an interest in ancient Egypt. I've written a middle-grade humorous novel about a young Cleopatra (Cleoprankster), and there was a section in one of my mature sci-fi novels (Tears in Time) set in ancient Egypt. I also plan on writing at least one more set wholly in ancient Egypt, but trust me when I say I am far from an expert and wouldn't even try to pretend I was. I have read many books on the subject, enjoyed many documentaries, and often enjoy fictional films about it. I was thrilled to be given the chance to view this one and then to review it, and I did not regret it.

I have to say up front that I am always suspicious of authors who put their credentials along with their name on the cover. Often this means they're charlatans, especially if they're talking about new diet regimes! You don't get authors like Neil deGrasse Tyson and Richard Dawkins putting 'Dr' in front of their name or 'PhD' after it, but in this case it's fine because the author, originally from Denmark is, to quote his bio page from the University of Manchester, "...a Lecturer in Egyptology teaching both traditional undergraduate units as well as distance learning. He is also the programme director on the MA Egyptology programme." He did his PhD research at the University of Liverpool investigating subsistence strategies and craft production at the Ramesside fortress site of Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham, obtaining his PhD in 2016. This guy knows what he's talking about!

The book is pithy, with a light tone, but a serious intent. It pulls no punches and suffers no fools, and I love that kind of writing! I especially loved the way he took down the "pyramidology" and "ancient alien visitors" garbage. This kind of scientific fraud and appalling ignorance, which nearly always (but not exclusively) seems to come from the right wing curiously enough, is particularly harmful at times like these when we have a serious and deadly virus literally rampaging across the globe and idiot hucksters standing up and recommending unproven 'miracle drug cures' and 'the injecting of household disinfectants to clean out the virus' - and that's just the president of one country.

But I digress. Egyptian obsession, as the author details, goes back way beyond our current era, and it keeps renewing itself every few years as some new discovery triggers a resurgence of interest. The fact is, again as the author makes clear, that the actual reality of ancient Egypt is fantastical and enthralling enough. Making up fake stories about it, like the ridiculous mummy's curse of Tutankhamen, and inane claims like the one that the pyramids of Gizeh were built to store grain by the Biblical Joseph is not only unnecessary, it's an insulting lie that doesn't even gild the lily.

The author covers these topics from the building of the pyramids and the growth of Egyptian culture and power, right up through modern day. The text is wide-ranging, covering not only scholarly works, but also how this work is viewed in the media and by the entertainment industry. There are eight chapters:

The Classical Experience of Ancient Egypt
Cabinets of Curiosity
Death on the Nile
A Tragic Case of the -isms
Tutmania and the Media
The Mummy, The Mummy, and The Mummy Again
Ancient Aliens
Who Owns Ancient Egypt?

Not all was plain sailing. This book was only available to a reviewer like me through an ebook, and once again the publisher kow-towed to the monolithic, almost monopolistic power of Amazon, and once again Amazon turned the printed word to Kindling. I flatly refuse to do any sort of business with Amazon. I do not care if it costs me sales. I would rather have peace of mind that I am not supporting the Amazon business model in any way, shape or form.

The text itself wasn't so bad, but unless your work is essentially nothing more than plan vanilla text, Amazon will slice, dice, and julienne it. Amazon hates pretty. It hates organized and neat. It hates drop-caps, for example, and will instead drop your text to the next line. In fact, it will quite randomly put a new line in and drop your text to the next line whether you intended it or not at any point in the book. Some of the text was blood-red for reasons I've never been able to figure out, but I've seen this frequently in Kindle books.

There are photographs included in the back of this book which surprisingly survived the process remarkably well, although I think Amazon ditched at least one of them. I was unaware of the pictures until I finished the book, so I'd already looked-up some of these images online where I could find them. This is mostly tied to the section discussing artistic portrayals of ancient Egypt.

The book had an extensive notes and references section and an index, although none of this was clickable - you can't, for example, go to the note from the text, nor can you return to the text from the note, be warned. Same applies to the index. I'm guessing this book was never intended to be an ebook and was simply dumped into that format for reviewers. It's never a good idea to treat reviewers so cavalierly! It might come back to bite you!

The content list is a mess; it's completely unformatted, with some chapters being clickable (although once you click to a chapter there's no way to click back to the content list, which you may wish to do since the list is so closely printed that you could well tap the wrong chapter and wish to go back and start over. The chapter titles are all on separate lines except for five and six which are jammed together on the same line (Chapter 5 Chapter 6).

Chapter 8 is the only chapter title that is clickable, but it doesn't take you to chapter eight! I never read epilogues and prologues so it wasn't an issue for me that they're not clickable, but the text heading for each chapter wasn't listed with the chapter header ('Chapter 1' and so on)! It was listed separately after all the chapter numbers had been listed - and some of those were clickable! Very confusing. Amazon are idiots. I'm sorry, but they are.

Note that I also checked this out in the Bluefire Reader and Adobe Digital Editions versions, which are far better formatted but much less easy to read on a phone which is where I do most of my reading since I always have it with me. The problem with the PDF version though is that it's an exact copy of how the print version will look and people who know me will also know that I do not approve of the wasted space on these semi-academic print books.

Trees are the only entity on Earth which is actively engaged full time in combating the greenhouse gases causing climate change, so hacking them down to produce books is a thoroughly bad idea, and worse, not respecting the dead trees by leaving acres of white space on every page in a print book is a disgrace in my opinion. Naturally no one wants the entire page to be obliterated with densely-packed text! Readability alone requires some sort of intelligent formatting, but it's still not necessary to have massive margins and extra insert pages identifying part this and part that. Please! Respect the trees before it's too late for all of us.

Those are technical issues though that can be fixed, like, for example, the fact that the book description on Net Galley has the book title wrong! The title on the cover and the title of the page are correct, but the description thinks that the book title is: "Pyramidiots: How We Became Obsessed With Ancient Egypt." I prefer the actual title to that one. As far as the content of the text is concerned though, there's nothing wrong with it. I loved this book and I commend it unreservedly except for the Amazon edition!