jjares reviewed Daily Life In Ancient Egypt: A Comprehensive Guide to Food, Clothing, Housing, Marriage, Family, and Religion on + 3414 more book reviews
This book is wonderful if the reader knows almost nothing about life in ancient Egypt. Otherwise, this book is redundant. Because the author wanted to be thorough, he divided the information into manageable bites. However, that meant he repeated information several times in different categories.
That wasn't the worst problem with this book because the author sucked the life out of the subject. Let me explain. What did the Egyptians wear, according to their status? We received no answer for that. We were told that the people wore linen cloth (from the flax they grew). He said they wore different clothing based on their "social station, occupation, or occasion." That is too vague to be informative.
The author repeated this. The information on the family was vague and uninformative. The same is true of religious rituals. The author names some festivals but does not explain what occurs. When I finished, I felt empty. I did not have a feel for daily life in ancient Egypt -- and that was the book's title. There were many words but little real information to understand daily life in Egypt.
That wasn't the worst problem with this book because the author sucked the life out of the subject. Let me explain. What did the Egyptians wear, according to their status? We received no answer for that. We were told that the people wore linen cloth (from the flax they grew). He said they wore different clothing based on their "social station, occupation, or occasion." That is too vague to be informative.
The author repeated this. The information on the family was vague and uninformative. The same is true of religious rituals. The author names some festivals but does not explain what occurs. When I finished, I felt empty. I did not have a feel for daily life in ancient Egypt -- and that was the book's title. There were many words but little real information to understand daily life in Egypt.
