When the Beginning Began: Stories about God, the Creatures, and Us Review

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(More customer reviews)Wearing simultaneously the hats of story-teller, dedicated scholar, and observant Jew, Professor Julius Lester has crafted an engaging clutch of stories which present the Bible's account of the world's creation. These stories use as their point of departure many of the "midrashim", the rabbinic stories of centuries past, which came into being to amplify and clarify what is sometimes only implicit in the text. He does so utilizing the same skills he has used so effectively before: humor, imaginative language, and a willingness to flirt with irreverence for the sake of opening the reader up to new possibilities to be found in this ancient recounting of how God brought the world and its creatures into being.
Rabbi Marc Gellman's excellent book, "Does God Have A Big Toe?", explores similar territory but Professor Lester's work lends itself especially well to oral presentation. The conversations amongst the minstering angels are hip, funny and thought-provoking, and will send readers of any religious persuasion back to the opening chapters of Genesis with eyes and minds opened wide. Emily Lisker's droll full-color illustrations do a lovely job of opening up the text even further.
This book will find a place of honor on my shelf, alongside others which serve as gateways to a deeper understanding of our Scriptural legacy.

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Orphan of the Sun Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a story - a mystery - told from the point of view of an adolescent girl. There are all the best parts of any teenage girl book: growing awareness of self, growing awareness of romance, growing awareness of the world. There are people who, in the words of GWB, misunderestimate Meryt. Meryt is chief among them.
Additionally, there are fantastic details of the world in which Meryt resides. It's not told in a clinical way, though, but instead in so natural a manner that you feel a part of ancient Egypt.
The plot is sufficiently complex and is well developed. The supporting characters are also very well developed, and some you will like, while some you will... not like so much. Meryt, though, is a wonderful character with whom most girls will relate readily.
A great read for a girl - be she 15 or 35.
(*)>

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The Gods of Egypt Review

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(More customer reviews)I have always considered Traunecker's work to be of the highest quality. He has an insight into the mechanics of ancient Egyptian cosmologies, theologies, and mythologies that is both direct and free of unnecessary random (and rambling) thought. His assessments are clinical but always interesting, and his work on the El Qa'la temple site is NOT to be missed by anyone who can get their hands on IFAO's pub. Be that as it may, this short book packs a scholarly punch. All of Traunecker's hard-earned, on-site assessments of the gods of ancient Egypt -- their cults, qualities, relevance, and destinies -- can be found in rather tidy, enlightening fashion. A must-have quick reference for many of its tidbits...though Dr. Traunecker does contradict at least one or two minor points he previously asserted in some of his published work. Bottom line -- Immortals (and Immortalettes) of Ancient Egypt from one of the best pros in the business! Get it.

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Sticks, Stones, & Shadows: Building the Egyptian Pyramids Review

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(More customer reviews)Pyramid building, according to the author, should be placed not in the context of only Ancient Egyptian technology, but rather in that of Near Eastern technology. This book is devoted to understanding the methods used by the Ancient Egyptians to build the pyramids. Numerous illustrations and excellent evidence complete this professional, believable and backed-up discussion, which will be of much use to interested readers.

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What do the pyramids of Egypt really represent? What could have driven so many to so great, and often so dangerous, an effort? Was the motivation religious or practical?

Richly illustrated with more than 300 photographs and drawings, Sticks, Stones, and Shadows presents an entirely original approach to the subject of pyramid building. Unlike other books discussing these majestic structures, this book reveals the connection between devices that served both a practical need for survival and a spiritual belief in gods and goddesses. Few have closely examined Egyptian technologies and techniques from the origins of pyramid development to the step-by-step details of how the ground was leveled, how the site was oriented, and how the stone was raised and placed to meet at a distant point in the sky.

Nevertheless, this is much more than a how-to-do-it book. Martin Isler also asks and answers questions virtually ignored for the last century. He discloses, for example, the ancient use of shadows--now denigrated to the ornamental back-yard sundial--but once an important tool for telling the height of an object, geographical directions, the seasons of the year, and the time of day. Isler also reinterprets the ancient "stretching of the cord" ceremony, which once was thought to have only religious significance but here is shown as the means of establishing the sides of a pyramid.

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