Book Review - Tutankhamen: The Search for an Egyptian King by Joyce Tyldesley

Egyptology is just a fascinating subject, though I haven't really delved into it as much as I could have. I do read the occasional book on the subject though, and the latest that I've read is a book by Joyce Tyldesley called Tutankhamen: The Search for an Egyptian King. It's the story not just the boy king himself, but of finding his tomb and excavating it.

Tyldesley does go into a lot of detail on Egyptian burial practices, but she also talks about Howard Carter (the man credited with finding the tomb) and some of the other archaeological work that he did. She even gives a "best guess" of Tutankhamen's timeline and how his life and death may have panned out. Thankfully, she doesn't footnote this as she clarifies that it's her own speculation and nothing more.

I like that in history authors, when they don't automatically put their own biases into the book and state them as fact.

My review is up on Curled Up With a Good Book.

From the review:

Joyce Tyldesley has written many books on Egyptology, one of which was an excellent book on Nefertiti. When I saw that her latest book, Tutankhamen: The Search for an Egyptian King, was available, I had to have it. Tyldesley's current book does delve into Tutankhamen's history a bit, but it more addresses the archaeology of Howard Carter's immensely important find and the aftermath than it does the boy-king's actual life. Part of that is because so little is known, and part of it is because the story of the discovery and excavation of the tomb makes an excellent story in itself. While the book is slightly muddled, overall it's a very good tale of early 20th-century archaeology.

I also read her book on Nefertiti, and it was a very good read as well.

I encourage you to check out this author for Egyptian history. She's always interesting and a good read.