Amazon.co.uk Review
You do not have to be a necrophiliac to enjoy this book, and the congress in question is not on the wrong side of the moral track, but The Mummy Congress was inspired by a kind of academic love-in for amateurs of preserved bodies. Heather Pringle, a science writer who lives in Vancouver, Canada, was inspired to write this fascinating book by attending the Third World Congress on Mummy Studies held in the Chilean town of Arica at the edge of the Atacama desert. She returned, as she says "almost feverish with excitement over the wonderful stories I'd heard there". The Mummy Congress recounts many of these extraordinary stories of the discovery of mummified bodies and the people who have spent their professional lives trying to recover as much information as they can about them. There are some great crime stories here such as that of the 2400-year-old Tollund man of Denmark and the other bog bodies of Europe, many of whom might have been human sacrifices. Our concern for the dead and for elaborate burial ceremonies date back at least 30,000 years. Over the millennia humans around the world have discovered that burial in peatbogs, deserts and ice can preserve some soft tissue--especially the skin and hair, even muscle and brains--almost indefinitely. But since there are few places in the world where such conditions persist, peoples since the Chinchorros of Chile and the ancient Egyptians have spent a lot of effort trying to replicate such processes of mummification and invent even better artificial ones. The scientific investigation of mummified bodies might not be for the fainthearted and is today very sophisticated, but according to Heather Pringle, those that pursue the cause "are unquestionably heroic... they debate earnestly... the ethics of putting the ancient dead on display... (and) ...never talk lightly or unfeelingly about their ailments... they show us that even the greatest kings and holiest of saints... once suffered the common toll of humanity-disease, injury and pain". The Mummy Congress is a great read and I suspect lots of friends and family will be subjected to many a "listen to this" or "would you believe" quote. There are 16 pages of illustrations including some spooky colour photos along with an index and bibliography and, by the way, the next Mummy Congress is to be held in Greenland. --Douglas Palmer

THE SUNDAY TIMES
'Pringle has written a book that is guaranteed to fascinate and entertain'

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews   Intriguing but annoying., 1 Mar 2004 By  "fgalassi" - See all my reviews Why do some people wish to have their bodies preserved after death? The question is not some academic mind teaser to be puzzled over in learned (and unreadable) journals, though there are plenty devoted to the subject. Whether or not you wish to be mummified, your choice says something about how you see your own death, and therefore your life. There are few questions more serious than this, though it is important to eschew the simple answer that mummification must reflect a purely materialistic view of life. That was definitely not the case for the ancient Egyptians, nor for the pre-Colombian civilisations of what is now Latin America. But even if you would not have yourself preserved, would you mummify your pet? People did, by the million, and there is a short story by Truman Capote about a woman with a freezer full of frozen, dead cats. The method is different, but the goal is the same. Inviting you to reflect on the goal is Pringle's objective. It would be unfair to steal the thunder and disclose Pringle's intelligent and thoughtful answers to these riddles, let's just say that her analogy between mummification and the current craze for thinness, fitness, and low fat foods, should give people pause (it won't, of course, but at least we Cassandras will be able to crow). Where the book is annoying is in its chatty style, the effort to make it attractive to people whose vocabulary does not stretch to polysyllabic words (and concepts) and whose mental horizons are shaped by the utterances of sports broadcasters. Serious matters can be discussed with dignity without reaching for the pomposity of academia. Pringle is obviously well above the jocks, so is this exaggerate informality the ill-advised choice of some editor? Was it necessary for us to know that while talking with a South American archaelogist, she found him intensely sexy? I doubt it. That was the subject of another book, called "What you do if while talking to someone about work you suddenly realise you want to hop into bed with them" (Yes, I promise to work on that title). That would be an interesting book in its own right, and would probably reveal as much about the human condition as the mummies. But mixing the two is hardly a good idea, because these distractions detract from what Pringle's work tries to do: force us to think about the modern age's ultimate taboos, ageing and dying.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   amusing, informative & weird!, 4 Jan 2002 By A Customer The Mummy Congress is as dramatic as it sounds. The cover photo is arresting & you have got to wonder what these "leading mummy experts" are like? What are their passions? How much intrigue can you squeeze from a perfectly preserved 2000 year old body? Ah, let Heather Pringle tell you! This is one weird read! Well written, amusing & informative about a world within a world filled with intrigue, humor & thoughts about the preservation of this bag of bones in which we walk our lives & the records, myths & stories of why we do it. Funnily enough, after traipsing all around the world on the heels of the mummy archaeologists, soaking up their stories & their passions, Heather Pringle learned that when they were asked if they would choose to be mummified, most said no, with quaint sincerity, because they wouldn't want to be stared at in museums or examined by curious scientists. Fascinating! Changed my mind about eternity, anorexia, grief & where the soul might really dw