- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; First Edition edition (4 Sep 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0002570912
- ISBN-13: 978-0002570916
- Product Dimensions: 22 x 14.4 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
913,484 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #91 in Books > History > Other Historical Subjects > Paleography
- See Complete Table of Contents
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Jean-François Champollion's biography is neatly interwoven with Napoleonic history and the functions of Egyptian hieroglyphs in The Keys of Egypt. A gifted bookseller's son born in Revolutionary France, Champollion was to become "gripped by energetic enthusiasm" for Egypt. By the age of 12, he was studying several ancient languages and amid a "wave of Egyptomania", he would beat rivals to discover the key to deciphering hieroglyphs. If this was a race, it was a marathon. The breakthrough came after "20 years of obsessive hard work", not through the quick fix solution often thought to have been provided by the Rosetta Stone. The Keys of Egypt details Champollion's life and work, which was hampered by politics, poverty and an almost hypochondriacal series of health problems. Its sources include letters and journals, the authors having undertaken researches in major libraries and museums. Chapters on Champollion's travels in Italy and Egypt include a good smattering of excerpts from his writings. Although no bibliography is given, there is a helpful passage on various levels of further reading. Highly instructive and fast-paced, The Keys of Egypt is perhaps less dramatic than it might be in portraying troubled times and ground-breaking discovery. It is, however, a clearly expressed and wide-ranging book explaining the complexity of hieroglyphic interpretation and revealing the man whose achievements "meant the discovery of a whole new civilization". --Karen Tiley
Simon Singh in the Sunday Telegraph, August 27th, 2000
The story behind the decipherment, as told by Lesley and Roy Adkins, is a ripping tale of obsession and rivalry... The Adkins duo succeed in providing a fascinating and elegantly written biography of Champollion, doing justice to one of the great stories of academic heroism
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
For anyone who has heard about Champollion and decipherment of hieroglyphics this is a good combination of biog and description of the process. The image of the millennial, untouched antiquities of Egypt suddenly disturbed from 1798 on stays with you quite painfully. The negative 2-star review was probably written by a descendant of Young! The main problem I have with this book is the constant harking on about Champollion's illnesses, but more crucially the lack of space devoted to the process by which C. went from reading name cartouches to actually deciphering the language's nuts and bolts... But the subject matter is compelling in the extreme, and the romantic but bitchy background of Revolutionary and post-Rev. French academics adds some nice colour.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Adkins' are well known authors in the field of Archaeology,
and have always been able to turn what can be a dry and dusty subject(pun intended), into something which can fascinate and draw the reader in.
and have always been able to turn what can be a dry and dusty subject(pun intended), into something which can fascinate and draw the reader in.
The tale of the race to read the ancient hieroglyphics is set in a time period of european-wide revolt. Knowing that the results of his own work could go against his very faith, and the beliefs and work of his friends and colleagues, he Battles against what to you or I would be insurmountable obstacles of the body as well as the mind. This amazing tale takes you through a hostile and primitive egpyt, to the underbelly of Napoleonic France and back again into the elite circles of France's Bourgoisie.
The book has a brilliant narrative style, and never dwells too long on any one subject, but gives you enough to allow you to follow their trains of thought. Simply one of the most gripping, and well-told stories I have ever read. You do not need to know anything about archaeology, or history. You don't even need to be massively interested in either to appreciate what is probably one of the most amazing tales of coincidence, treachery, rivalry,human madness and greed.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I enjoyed this book -which I would define as a biography both of Champollion and of the hieroglyphic writing decipherment- very much. First of all it defines perfectly the historical and political context in which the discoveries were done. The description of the Napoleon expedition to Egypt is among the best I have ever read. The life of Champollion, the main subject of the book, is very well narrated and put into its context within the history of France, from the Revolution to Louis Philip. The description of the hieroglyphic writing decipherment is painted with a master stroke permitting the reader believe he has acquired some knowledge of the language and the problems of its reading presents. Further insight is provided when it lists different readings of the same name and the causes of this fact.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fascinating.
I was always going to love this book about deciphering hieroglyphics. During my time at university I took a few modules on linguistics, I love Ancient Egypt and I have visited the... Read more
Published 4 months ago by S O'Hara
Excellent
I have been to Egypt, the first time was in 1993, and I made my mind up that I'd like to study Egyptology. Read more
Published on 10 Nov 2007 by Mrs. A. M. Chadwick
Great book to read just BEFORE you visit the monuments!!
I saw the book's review by Simon Singh and assumed I'd be getting an Egyptian version of Code Book - but actually there's a lots less about the actual science of decoding of the... Read more
Published on 20 April 2007 by T. R. Allen
Tedious
This book conveys almost no excitement whatsoever over what should in principle be a most enthralling subject. Read more
Published on 1 Nov 2005 by W. JAMES
Hieroglyphics Are "Figurative, Symbolic and Phoenetic"
If you are like me, you learned at some point that Napoleon's forces had located the Rosetta Stone while invading Egypt, leading to the rediscovery of how to read ancient Egyptian. Read more
Published on 18 May 2004 by Donald Mitchell
Simply Fascinating
...A must for all Egypt geeks, this book brings to life the frantic race to decipher the Hieroglyphics and all of the obstacles that Champillion had to overcome.
Published on 30 July 2002 by The Main Dave
This was great read
A great book about the frenchmen Champollion and the quest to decipher hieroglyphs. Read this when first published as hardback and couldnt put it down. Read more
Published on 25 Sep 2001
Gripping
Very enjoyable and well-paced. Also, it has to be said,unusually well-written. I bought it after reading a superb review in The Mail on Sunday and the journalist was right here.
Published on 15 Oct 2000
Misleading subtitle makes for dull read
The decipherment of ancient scripts and languages is an extremely complex, often obscure, intellectual task: any attempt to tell the story of it in an interesting and accessible... Read more
Published on 12 Oct 2000
An epic story of how hieroglyphs were deciphered
The authors have done a marvellous job in telling the story of how hieroglyphs were deciphered by the Frenchman Champollion, and the bitter rivalry between him and other scholars,... Read more
Published on 1 Oct 2000
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > Historical
- Books > Biography > Political > Countries & Regions > Africa
- Books > Biography > Political > Countries & Regions > France
- Books > History > Ancient History & Civilisation > Egypt
- Books > History > Archaeology > By Period > Egyptian
- Books > History > Archaeology > By Region > African
- Books > History > Archaeology > By Region > European
- Books > History > Countries & Regions > Africa > Northern > Egypt
- Books > History > Other Historical Subjects > Paleography
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
