Petra: The True And Suprising History Of the Lost City of Stone — Patrick Auerback (Introduction + 9 chapters + Conclusion) - August 1-10, 2017
This has to be the longest 1 hour and 3 minute book I read. Not that it was long, dry and boring, mind you. But that I could only read this in pieces, on my way work, on the commuter bus, so it took a lot longer!
Actually, this book was a very fascinating and enjoyable read. I did not read it for historical biblical reasons. I read it because it’s archeology, and those non-fiction book always interest me; being short was an added bonus. As I read it, the geniuses of these people astounded me. The whole history of these people is interesting. [Aside: I am not religious or [c]hristian, so take this with a grain of salt, if you are: it seems to me that the old testament bible shuns persons and peoples (yes, I have read the bible in it’s entirety more than once,) that are well advanced of their own race.]
I went online in the course of reading this book, and the images of their creations, including builds and the oasis, are jaw-dropping. It especially fascinates me how archeologist have discovered the way in which Nabataeans stone-carved their buildings. The aqueducts systems that they created out of natural landscape is something rather special too. The details in this book is another aspect that really added to the authenticity of the account.
The religion of these people indicate they borrowed heavily from their surrounding neighbors; had gods and goddess, and worshiped centered around sun and moon occurrences.
I did notice atleast two typos (soon instead of sun; hole instead of whole) and grammatical errors (semicolon instead of colon.)
One of the better non-fiction archeology books I have read. Short, concise, and full of little details.
Four stars.