Science in Ancient Egypt

Science of the Past

by Geraldine Woods

Discusses the achievements of the ancient Egyptians in science, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, agriculture, and technology

Genres: Science, History, Nonfiction, Egypt, Historical, Ancient History, Picture Books

64 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1998

About the author

Geraldine Woods has taught English at every level from fifth grade through Advanced Placement, most recently at the Horace Mann School. She is the author of numerous nonfiction books for adults and children, including 25 Great Sentences and How They Got That Way. She lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the one on ancient Greece and Rome this is really a textbook for older kids. But I found it quite stimulating as an introduction to a subject I did not know a great deal about.

One thing is most obvious as one studies Egypt, Babylon and China: they all arise at the same time with pretty much the same basic understanding of the world. In other words, they clearly all were together just prior to the beginning of written history. This fits perfectly with the Biblical narrative that they all divided up at the tower of Babel at a point in time and began building civilizations, and not with the narrative that utterly primitive, recently-monkey-men suddenly started to build fabulous civilizations independently of each other.

Liked it. Reading the one on China now, too.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly good - this covers math, astronomy, engineering, and medicine. There are a number of places where it could be improved by simplification (often just omission). Illustrations are sometimes helpful, illuminating what has been described in the text, but at other times they are unclear or tangential.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Science in Ancient Egypt is a fairly solid introduction to the impact ancient Egypt had on the history of science. It covers a variety of areas, especially engineering, mathematics, medicine, time, astronomy, and more.

A lot of it overlaps with what you would read if you read much in the way of ancient Egyptian history (maybe half of it would have been new to me when I was 8, as I was interested in the subject), so it is most suitable for kids interested in science history specifically or new to ancient Egyptian history. I would also only recommend it with the caveat that the reader should be aware that the book is twenty years old so not all archaeological information will be current, and that a few typing errors (specifically in the numbers listed) change the meaning of sentences to be incorrect (10 centimetres in a metre, 36 and a quarter days in a year).

[Gus Scott-Exley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more of a booklet than a book, it is also clearly aimed at fairly young children which is not apparent without reading it. It's extremely speculative in nature and I feel like your money could be better spent elsewhere.

[Stone Family]

Ok