Each volume of the ART & ARCHITECTURE series is opulently illustrated. The highly readable texts give you concentrated information on accessing well and lesser known sites in the world of art. An image of every piece of art that is described is included, allowing readers to easily recognize the original on site. Insets on cultural-historical topics and illustrated glossaries, summaries, and timelines supplement the body text - leaving a deeper, more lasting impression of the material that is covered. Convenient compact format makes these books particularly handy to take along as a guide while viewing the great works featured within.
I really liked this book. The layout was chronological and the size and feel of the book, pages, glossiness added to the great experience that took me back in time and let me explore places I'll probably never get to go in my lifetime. Seeing the insides of beautiful mosques and the tombs of ancient mummies one page at a time. Also, with over 600 pages, you learn that there is way more to Eqypt than just the striking pyramids.
To be honest, I bought this book for its photographs. I love Egypt but I never had the chance to visit! So, this book has everything! History, photos of amazing places around Egypt, statues and sights... Whenever I want to "visit" Egypt, I open this book (which is amazing by the way! The layout, the pages, the cover...) and let my mind travel there!
Beautiful photographs, but what I really appreciated about this book was its Appendix. It includes an excellent selected chronology with a foldout timeline, a selected list of hieroglyph cartouches (royal names), a list of hieroglyphs for nomes, a visual list of standard depictions of the Egyptian gods, a short guide to basic Egyptian architectural forms, and more.
So, while this book is a short, very high-level overview that packs in (and by necessity, skims over) a great deal of Egyptian history, it is also a handy, user-friendly reference guide to refer back to as I try to keep myself oriented as I delve deeper into specific eras.
This book's great for people obsessed about ancient Egypt like myself. A huge guide through egyptian art and culture, I specially recommed it to people who take interest in art history. Probably useful while travelling to Egypt :)
BEAUTIFUL pictures, but reads so much like a textbook that I sometimes found it hard to follow. Once you understand the information, it's very informative. But I would have enjoyed it more if it had been more easily understandable.
For a subject I truly enjoy, this book was very difficult to read. It was worse than a high-school textbook. The only good part are the lovely pictures.