Peter Mavrikis' "Ancient Egypt" presents a visually stunning exploration of one of history's most intriguing civilizations. The standout feature of this book undoubtedly lies in its breathtaking photographs, offering readers a feast for the eyes. While the visual elements are a strong suit, certain aspects of the book leave room for improvement, affecting the overall reading experience.

The photography in "Ancient Egypt" is truly impressive, capturing the grandeur of iconic landmarks, intricate artifacts, and the timeless landscapes of this ancient civilization. Mavrikis skillfully brings the wonders of Ancient Egypt to life, providing readers with a vivid and immersive visual experience. The carefully curated images complement the historical information, making the book an aesthetically pleasing introduction to the subject.

Complementing the visual allure, the historical information presented in the book offers a broad overview of Ancient Egypt. Key aspects such as pyramid construction, the significance of the Nile, and religious beliefs are covered, providing a foundational understanding of this rich civilization. The inclusion of historical context enhances the reader's appreciation for the visual journey.

However, the three-star rating reflects certain shortcomings that impact the overall quality of the book. The writing style, while informative, lacks a certain depth and engagement that would elevate the narrative. The transitions between topics can feel abrupt, disrupting the flow and coherence of the book. A more seamless integration of historical information could enhance the reader's journey through Ancient Egypt.

The stunning photographs successfully capture the essence of Ancient Egypt, complementing the historical information provided. While the book serves as a visually appealing introduction to the subject, improvements in the writing style and narrative flow could enhance the overall reading experience.

This is a beautiful book to look at and read. I have visited Egypt and love reading and looking at pictures of the temples. This was a wonderful armchair journey back there. Even though there is a lot of information included the photographs are the stars. This book will make a great gift. Enjoy

Another sure fire winner for Amber Publishing. I have come to love the books by this publisher. The photographs never disappoint and whatever the theme it transports me full to a different place, which is much needed in these stressful times. I have always been fascinated by Egypt and it’s architectural wonders. I was lucky enough to visit a long time ago and this book captures beautifully the atmosphere and the sights that I saw. I like that the book was split into historical periods so you could see the development of skills and also follow the use of certain themes through the differing times. There is just enough dialogue to explain the history and background of each chosen photograph to inform but not bore. This is a great book for those that already have an interest in Egypt but also a great introduction for those who might want to discover this part of ancient history. All the major sites are covered as well as some lesser known but equally important ones. Loved it!

Sadly, I was unable to download this book in time before it was archived and this I was not able to either read or review it. My apologies.

I received a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review
Th photos in this book where quite well known, but the writing in this was quite good and I appreciated the descriptions that the author provided. anything on Egypt is perfection to me honestly.

A really good photography book on a few of the periods in ancient Egypt's history. More on places and a few things from the places. Nice introductory captions.

I'm always excited to see what photographic books Amber Books is releasing next. I visited Egypt only a year ago so I was interested in seeing what was covered in this book.
This book has lots of interesting photographs that are split up into the different time periods in Egyptian history. Each picture has a small caption related to the picture.
Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this book as much as I hoped as I found it a little confusing at times as the same temple would be featured sometimes in 3 or 4 different photos across different time periods in a way that you wouldn't realise it was repeating or related. It's also a bit of a hard layout to follow in digital copy.
I was sceptical of the research done for the book and the authors experience in Egypt to begin with as one of the first pictures in the book is of the Sphinx and Great Pyramids and it's definitely photo shopped as the placement in real life is different. Overall this would be a good coffee table book and a visual souvenir of someone's time in Egypt.
Thanks to Netgalley.com and Amber Books Ltd.

I am a massive fan of all things Ancient Egypt and I thought that this book was great.

I was lucky enough to visit Cairo back when I was in my early 20s and this was a great was to reminisce on some of the things that I saw too – I would love to visit again and also go down to the Luxor area.

The book has some excellent photography and it really makes you see how advanced the Ancient Egyptians were, their arts and crafts were simply amazing and the book really does a great job at showcasing them.

It is 5 stars from me for this one – very highly recommended!

There have been so many books published on this subject that the first question most will ask is how this book is different. As well, who is it intended for/will enjoy it the most. Those questions are easily answered: This is a book of photographs that mostly explore the sights/architecture of ancient Egypt; it provides a nice survey course on the topic through the images and accompanying captions.

The book breaks down by the periods of ancient Egypt: from prehistory to the old and new kingdoms to the Greco-Roman period and a bit later. Nearly the whole book is a page with one or more photographs, each with a caption description several sentences long. This means the images are large, often two pages, and you have just enough information to inspire and not be overwhelmed.

I was surprised at the breadth of topics this covers. E.g., the author made a point to discuss nearly every pyramid, many I had not seen before in any book (including ones that were completely gone and just a bit of rubble on the ground. Pyamids, mastabas, temples, and tombs took up the majority of the book. But there were also other interesting places such as the remains of fortresses or buildings that were nearly gone and did not stand the test of time. A few items found in the architecture were also shown, each saying when they were discovered.

What I liked about the book is that it showcased a lot of things I had never seen or thought about - such as the cave paintings or roman forts. There are also images of foreign rulers such as Hittite kings. More obvious topics such as Tutankamum were covered but not given too many pages. But a big chunk of the book was images of the many types of pyramids, all in various states.

It's a book I would love to go over before I actually traveled to Egypt. There were several places I had not heard of or read about (such as the roman fort or various monuments in Alexandria) that I would have wanted to make sure I could visit. The paragraphs that accompanied the images gave just enough information (almost always date and location) to answer the more immediate questions about that image's topic. I was further intrigued by all there is in Egypt to see as a result (beyond Tut's tomb, the great pyramid, and the Cairo museum).

In all, a lovely presentation with good photographs. The information is a survey type, meant to give meaning and a bit of info but of course leaving it open for you to further research what captures your interest. It's a book I will definitely read before a trip to Egypt. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

A fun exploration of Egypt, through photographs and brief tidbits about the art or architecture. Each chapter we explains the time period, then you get great photographs and information.

A book full of gorgeous pictures that made me travel to Egypt.
I loved the pictures and appreciated the texts.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I was obsessed with Egypt when I was younger. I remember going to the school library and always reading the books that they had on Ancient Egypt instead of new books. Not that remember much of about it now.

Ancient Egypt defiantly reminded me of all those years I spent pouring over those facilitating books, and it has renewed my interest in what the culture is like. I have always wanted to visit Egypt, and Ancient Egypt has just reinforced my desire.

It is split into 5 chapters, each showcasing different eras in Ancient Egypts history. They are: The Old Kingdom, The Middle Kingdom, The New Kingdom, The Late Period and the Greco-Roman Period.

With a plethora of stunning images to take you back through time, this is the prefect book to just pick up and be amazed at. Each image is given a short annotation so that you are not left clueless about what you are looking at. This is very handy as chances are that you may be planning you next trip around Egypt with this as your guide.

Most will probably enjoy the first 3 chapters; The Old Kingdom, The Middle Kingdom and The New Kingdom the most as most of Egypts notable sights are from these time periods. I wish that these three chapters had been expanded on more as my personal interest in Ancient Egypt is more towards these time periods and not the later ones when Ancient Rome had a large influence.

The perfect coffee table book, and I hope that it excites you as much as it does for me.

Ancient civilizations hold a certain allure for me, but I’ve been a particular fan of ancient Egypt since my “Love and Death in Ancient Egypt” art history class in undergrad—and I wish our textbook had photographs as striking as some of these.

This book would make an excellent reference book for artists, animators, writers and other creatives working with an Egyptian setting (or even more broadly, any ancient or desolate/desert setting). It’s also a great introduction to ancient Egyptian history for the casual history buff or collector of coffee table books, as the focus is on the photographs but the captions contain a fair amount of interesting, educational tidbits. It may be helpful for preliminary travel planning, though I wouldn’t count on it for much travel-wise beyond that.

The Likes: Beautiful, full-sized photographs and several spreads. The text looks a bit textbook, with its black-on-white serif type, but the focus was all on the photographs. I was thrilled to see shots from Hatshepsut’s temple, as she’s the reigning favorite as far as pharaohs go for this history buff. There were also some new artifacts I hadn’t seen before that were lovely surprises, like the funerary portrait in Faiyum, and even a new favorite—the ceiling at the Great Hypostyle Hall in Dendera. Stunning!

The Dislikes: Of course, the art history major in me would have loved to see more museum-like captions with standard information and formatting, though I realize there are space/formatting constraints at play here. At the least, it would have been helpful to see sizes of artifacts other than buildings where the size isn’t obvious, like the soldiers at the Tomb of Mesehti, Tutankhamun’s canopic jars, and the ushabtis. (Sure, there’s this thing called the internet, so I could look it up, but it ruins the moment!)

The photographs are generally presented chronologically in chapters divided by period (Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom, etc.), but the organization within each chapter seemed somewhat haphazard to me. I found it difficult to identify how photographs were grouped (by content/subject, location, date, etc.). A map of the important locations or a timeline of significant dates at the start of each chapter would have been helpful context.

On a side note, the layout was harder to deal with as an ebook, so I would recommend reading a print copy if possible.

Thank you NetGalley and Amber Books for this eArc In exchange for an honest review..

Egypt is one of my most favourite places . The architecture and the history is spellbinding .

This book is a great guide to Egypt with lots of photos that would come in very handy when planning a trip to There or even while on your trip as a quick handy guide to some of the major spots.

This book remembers me of a river cruseship journey up the Nile some ten years ago. It's been one of my most impressive travels and this book brings back fond memories and extends it. Now, in these pandemic times there is no way of returning there in person, and I welcome this book as a best case of replacing the travel itself. 

As the title says: it's visual, and that is its most prominent element. It's structured through the well-known historical eons of Egyptian history, starting in the Old Kingdom (the pyramids at Giza and the Great Sphinx) through Middle (Obelisks at Heliopolis) and New Kingdown (Pharaoh Ramses II, the Karnak Temple, the Theban Necropolis, and the Temple of Nefertari at Abu Simbel)  up to the Greco-Roman Period (Alexandria) with each period getting its equal share of attention. 

I can nearly feel the stones' heat with the vivid pictures again. Welcome to time travel witht his book at a really affordable price.

Ancient Egypt is a pictorial guide to Egypt during the Old Kingdom (ca. 2700-2100 BCE) through the Greco-Roman period (332BCE-395CE). Due out 14th Sept 2020 from Amber Books, it's 224 pages and will be available in flexibound format.

I found the photographs fascinating and well curated. Many of them are of "lesser known" antiquities and historical persons from a wide historical period. I have long been interested in Egyptology but didn't recognize very many of them.

The commentary text by author Trevor Naylor is engaging and accessible and provides a loose timeline history to tie the beautiful photographs together into a surprisingly cohesive whole. This would make a good choice for library, classroom library, homeschool, and similar uses. It's also a lovely book of photography in its own right and would be a nice gift for a student of ancient history.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Forget booking that 2 week vacation in Egypt - this book is cheaper, safer, and you don't get tour guides hurrying you along! I've read a few books about Egypt, but this has to be my favourite. The photos are absolutely stunning, with just enough information to let you know what you're looking at (making it easy to find further reading about anything that particularly interests you). A physical copy of "Ancient Egypt [Visual Explorer Guide]" is now at the top of my Christmas wish list!

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

I love books about Ancient Egypt, and this is no exception. The beautiful photography makes this a richly descriptive visual treat, and even though we have seen most of it before, the history and imagery of this wonderful place in time never pales or gets old.

The book is broken up into time frames, following the timeline of this fascinating ancient civilisation, taking the reader back into a world full of mystery, glamour, wealth and majesty. A lovely gift for the traveller, both armchair and physical, it will bring back happy memories for anyone who has been there and seen these treasures and magnificent places in real life, and delight anyone who dreams of going.

For the upcoming visitor, it will also fit snugly into a suitcase (for when we can once again travel freely). Until then, we live through books, and this is no exception.

Thanks to Net Galley, Amber Books and Peter Mavrikis for my ARC.

I have always wanted to visit Egypt. It will always be on my bucket list. This book makes me want to visit even more. Full of wonderful photographs of the pyramids. Egypt and her treasure. Alongside an informative description. Perfect for a reference book.
Many thank to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc in return for an honest review

I love ancient Egyptian culture and learning about the artifacts in tombs. This book has many pictures that show ancient Egypt and what when on during that period in history. This was a great visual book.