Review of 'The History of Ancient Egypt' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
One of the best lecture series I've had. Brier is as passionate a professor as you could hope for. He's also actively involved in what he's teaching. He mentions how he's undertaking a mummification project and also building a full scale replica of a 154ft Khufu ship.
The course begins in the Old Kingdom with some lectures focused around cultural topics, and then mostly progresses by dynasty to the Ptolemaic Dynasty and Cleopatra, with some break lectures in between.
Review of 'The History of Ancient Egypt' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This was a lot of fun.
Ancient Egypt is one of those things that's always been of interest, but it's weirdly difficult to really dig into in school unless you specify in it (and also unless you live in a place where even your college offers courses on it; I do not).
Listening to this was like taking that college class I really wanted to take but couldn't, and I'm grateful.
I liked how things were organized--mostly chronologically but with a few lectures set aside for specific subjects, like mummification--and the speed at which things moved. I felt like I got solid amounts of detail without feeling bogged down.
Bob Brier might be one of my favorite lecturers, too. He's so obviously excited about everything he's talking about, and he really wants you to be excited, too. The last lecture with the discussion of where to go from here really …
This was a lot of fun.
Ancient Egypt is one of those things that's always been of interest, but it's weirdly difficult to really dig into in school unless you specify in it (and also unless you live in a place where even your college offers courses on it; I do not).
Listening to this was like taking that college class I really wanted to take but couldn't, and I'm grateful.
I liked how things were organized--mostly chronologically but with a few lectures set aside for specific subjects, like mummification--and the speed at which things moved. I felt like I got solid amounts of detail without feeling bogged down.
Bob Brier might be one of my favorite lecturers, too. He's so obviously excited about everything he's talking about, and he really wants you to be excited, too. The last lecture with the discussion of where to go from here really drove that home. He recommended lots of different ways to continue learning (including a shout-out to the Amelia Peabody mysteries, which as he rightly points out were written by an actual Egyptologist) whatever you were most interested in, and he genuinely sounds like he's so psyched that you're going to be able to learn more things and pick out what is most interesting to you.
This is my first really in-depth nonfiction book/audiobook on Ancient Egypt, so I can't speak to how much was left out (I presume, given how much history is covered, a lot, simply due to time), but it felt like a really solid basis for continued studies and I've already poked about looking for what else is available to me.
