Ancient Egypt on 5 Deben a Day (Traveling on 5) Paperback – November 1, 2010

This is the perfect book for both academic and enthusiastic amateur alike. It accomplishes the difficult task of being chock-full of information (Ryan is a well-regarded and widely published college professor with many years' experience excavating in Egypt and beyond) whilst being readable, engaging and humorous. It is genuinely enjoyable!The book encourages the reader to consider ancient Egyptian culture through the eyes of an Egyptian traveler ca. 1250BC during the New Kingdom reign of Ramesses II. This is a pleasing twist on more traditional and frequently drier tourist/academic literature. The scope is wide-ranging but doesn't skimp on detail. Ryan provides general information for the visitor - what to wear, when to go, money, food, drink and social norms as well as a giving a broader perspective of the ancient land - its history, geography, religion, art and building practices. The traveler is guided from the north (Memphis, Saqqara, Giza etc), through Middle Egypt (Dahshur, the Fayyum, Amarna) and on towards the south (Thebes, Aswan and into Nubia - the north of modern Sudan).Thames and Hudson have a history of publishing finely presented works and this book is no exception. The text is complemented by well-chosen illustrations consisting of line drawings, paintings and photographs; many of the drawings come from classic early publications including Lepsius, Champollion, and the epic Description de l'Égypte. There are a couple of sections of full-color plates. Interesting facts are highlighted throughout in separate text boxes along with a selection of excerpts from ancient Egyptian spells, poems and letters. The books wraps up with maps/plans and a useful (and amusing) glossary/phrase list: "Nefer Kemet er-see er tay-ee khaset kheset."If you have a passion for Egypt or are a traveler looking for literary transportation to pastures new - buy this book!

This is a very well written and interesting book. A must for anyone interested in Ancient Egypt

This is a smart, witty book that explains life in ancient Egypt (during the reign of Ramses II) as though it is a travel book. It is loaded with a lot of information. Place names are the ancient Egyptian, not the Greek or Arabic names commonly used. I highly recommend this book!

OK, so it's not really a history. It does, however, provide fascinating insights into what it might have been like to visit Egypt in 1250 BCE. This is the drollest of a great series about travel to past cultures. If nothing else, you'll learn what a deben is!

This was easy to read, interesting, and helpful. I like the author's writing style and sense of humor. I will definitely buy the other Traveling on 5 books if they are this good.

This is probably not a standard kind of review, because I'll say right up front that I had the privilege of reading the book in manuscript and I'm proud to be a friend and colleague of the author for these past more than 20 years. (Egyptology is a fairly small world and in our field this is pretty common knowledge.) I have particular tastes in reading -- I like books that can transport me to another time or place or create another environment that I can see and sense around me. As soon as I started reading this book I realized that it fulfilled those expectations and was not simply a work of Egyptological reference. Also, even as an Egyptologist who has been publishing for more than 40 years, I found that I was learning things from this book and that Don's peerless hands-on familiarity with ancient Egypt's material culture had produced a book very pleasantly written but unobtrusively and un-ostentatiously full of information. In fact, books that present the entire gamut of information found in Ancient Egypt on 5 Deben a Day in such a balanced and compact form are pretty scarce. Those with whom I have shared this book have been uniformly enthusiastic. I encourage and indeed urge anyone curious about ancient Egypt -- and I know from experience (starting with my own voyage of discovery starting in my teenage years) that there are a lot of such people -- to give this book a try and take a trip to ancient Egypt.Edmund S. Meltzer PhD

Terrific introductory book but full of facts. I am an Egyptology student and found this book really helpful as a snapshot of Ancient Egypt at the time of Ramses II. I recommended it to a 15 year old staying with me who is fascinated by Egyptology and she loved it and intends to buy her own copy. It is just like a modern travel guide but written as a guide to a foreigner at the time of Ramses II. It full of facts presented in a unusual format with some great pictures showing you Egypt at that time. I particularly liked the one of Karnak. If you are coming to Egypt as a tourist then this book will be good background reading as most of the monuments you see are those described in the book. I have attended lectures by the author and he has a humorous, quirky style and the book is just like that too. 100% recommended

Good book that covers the subtle things in everyday life that usually get overlooked.

Bought for my husband who devours anything egyptian. I did wonder if it might be too light for him, but he loves it as it opens up the ordinary life of an egyptian citizen. He is finding the format of a time travelling guide book a pleasant change from the more academic approach. I look forward to reading it when he has finished. What a bargain.

Good read.........

I was a big fan of 'Ancient Rome on five Denarii a Day' and 'Ancient Athens on five drachma a day', so I thought I'd give this a shot.I've been looking for some sort of book on Ancient Egypt for complete novices, as the subject is a mystery to me, and I want to fix that.This book is your essential trip companion for a visit to Egypt c.1250 BC. The author knows his stuff, and has had hands-on experience excavating in Egypt.I was slightly concerned when I noticed that this is by a different author from the first two books, but this wasn't a problem. It follows the same style: Generally light-hearted, occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, but consistently informative.This is edu-tainment at its best. Like the other books, it's written in the style of a modern guidebook, with all the usual subjects - sights to see, food and drink, sanitation(!) and all sorts of other stuff, including a more detailed look at the city of Thebes, and even some 'useful phrases, including essentials such as "I need some bread and beer" (Too-ee her atee te henqet) and "Are there any hippos, crocodiles or snakes near here?" (Useful if going bathing in the Nile - In wen delboo mesehoo em-ra-poo hefawru aroo?"An educational read and excellent fun for both young and old. HIGHLY recommended.

I love Egypt - the searing heat, Nile, dust, history, temples, people, everything about it.Standing in the Valley of the Kings, Karnak or Luxor temples, Abu Simbel, sailing on the Nile in a feluka or reading a book of the dead, the Papyrus of Ani, this is just the guide needed to bring the world alive and populate it with human beings just living their lives in this extraordinary country and civilisation.E. A. Wallis Budge (1857 - 1934), the controversial Egyptologist who filled many of the British Museum's Egyptian displays or Zahi Hawass, the Director of Antiquities and enthusiastic exponent of Ancient Egypt, two men who share a passionate interest but on opposite sides of the mud wall utilised their experience and imagination to bring ancient Egypt alive. For those who do not have their experiences, this book is worth the money. Written in the same style as the rest of the series b ut with a different author (showing the skill of the editorial team), it is fun, informative and interesting.