Pyramid

by Caroline Bingham

Climb inside the mysterious tombs of the Ancient Egyptians and discover what the Mayans sacrificed on their alters inside the chambers of the oldest buildings in the world.

Offering a unique introduction to nature through powerful visuals, the Eye Wonder reference series was developed for children ready for first books about the natural world. Full-color photography is paired with clearly written text to build a foundation for advanced exploration, helping show children a stunning new view of the world.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Picture Books, Science, Childrens

48 pages, Hardcover

Published July 5, 2004

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A children's book about pyramids, a bit smaller than A4 in size and about 50 pages long...

Some good illustrations and nice snips of information, as you would expect from the publisher Dorling Kindersley. Pyramids from Egypt, the Sudan, Java, India and Mexico were discussed. I enjoyed it.

A few facts I would like to remember, all regarding Egyptian pyramids.

The preservation of a person's face was important to the Egyptians, as they believed that a person's spirit had to recognise its body before the mummy could enter the afterlife. Noses were stuffed with peppercorns and cheeks with linen wads, to keep their shape.

After opening the body, the liver, intestines, lungs and stomach were removed. They were dried then placed in special jars, These were often topped with the ceramic heads of different gods. The heart was left inside the body. The Egyptians believed it gave a person their intelligence and emotions.

The pyramid builders dragged huge loads by hand on wooden sleds. There is a picture taken from a tomb carving made almost 4,000 years ago, showing 172 men pulling a massive stone statue.

The Egyptians kept cats as pets, and also mummified them. In the 1800s thousands of mummified cats were brought to England, ground up, and used as fertilizer.

All the pyramids were looted long ago. Luckily one pharaoh's tomb was missed by the robbers - Tutankhamun's tomb. The only reason the tomb had not been robbed long ago was because its entrance had been hidden by the building rubble of a tomb above it. Everything Tutankhamun may have needed in the afterlife was buried with him, including food, jewellery, and furniture. There were even six chariots.

The Great Pyramid is 138m (450 ft) high...as tall as a 50 storey skyscraper. It was originally covered in smooth white limestone, which would have shimmered in the sun. Archaeologists believe that it originally had a gold cap at the very top.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great little book from DK. Although it's written for children, it's perfectly fine for an adult reader who just happened to need one more book to complete his 2023 Reading Challenge. As usual for these "juvenile" DK books, despite the brevity, this one contained a few things I did not know, such as the bit about millions of mummified cats looted from Egypt and ground into fertilizer for use in England.

While ancient pyramids are imposing architectural wonders, they stand as monuments to human folly. Seemingly every ancient culture had its own religion, which contradicted all other religions at the time, and contradicts all religions today. And yet people believed - and continue to believe - all this baseless contradictory nonsense without anything approaching conclusive evidence. It's horrifying that some of these nonsensical religions convinced their marks to commit human sacrifice and waste stupendous resources building monuments in a vain quest for life after death. You'd think that in 2023 we'd be a little more advanced, but a glance at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2023 tells otherwise, with six of nine Justices taking their marching orders from the Pope.

[Jerry Jares · Rating 4 out of 5]

As one would expect, this book shows beautiful illustrations of the Egyptian pyramids. However, this author decided to extend her study of pyramids by looking at similar structures in Java, India and the Sudan. Then Caroline Bingham takes readers to Mayan and Aztec ruins that also are in pyramid shapes.

The photos, illustrations and cut-away drawings put the pyramids in perspective. I enjoyed the tour.

[superawesomekt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content of this book is actually fairly good, but the layout team made some serious errors. Some of the text is not high contrast enough and is difficult to make out. The book goes beyond Egyptology, so would be a good fit for children interested in modern and ancient pyramids or questions about if they are only in Egypt.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of usefull information.

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of brilliant information about the pyramids the desert and mumification of bodies