Book Review – Dinner with King Tut

Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations by Sam Kean
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was a bit iffy about a couple of things at the outset of this reading experience. Some “experimental archaeologists” I’ve read about in the past have struggled with the distinction between speculative re-creations and definitive proof about long-lost moments in the distant past. And when Sam Kean – whose nonfiction I enjoy – decided to interweave each chapter with a fictional account of people, places and things from the past, I admit I was skeptical. But the interviews and experiences share a sense of curiosity and fun rather than academic pedantry. And the fiction supplements the facts nicely. To be sure, a lot of this is pretty hard on the animals (even after the book makes it to agrarian societies). That difficulty aside, this is fascinating stuff.

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