How the Great Pyramid Was Built

by Zahi Hawass, Mark Lehner, Craig B. Smith

Book Overview

Going beyond even the expertise of archaeologists and historians, world-class engineer Craig B. Smith explores the planning and engineering behind the incredible Great Pyramid of Giza. How would the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 158834200X
• Release Date: December 2004
• Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.9" x 6.2"

Customer Reviews

Well Written

Craig B. Smith is not only an amazing man, but an excellent writer! I was fascinated by this book and the exceptional information it contained. I highly recommend it!

How The Great Pyramin Was Built

This is a great book! It is well written, covers a fascinating subject in an interesting manner, and is clear enough for non-engineers and scientists to enjoy. Using modern engineering systems and concepts, Mr. Smith explores,in depth,the many issues involved in building the Great Pyramid at Giza. He covers the design, the materials and their transport, the actual construction, and the labor. As an added bonus, the author provides substantial information about ancient Egyptian life and death and explains how their culture affected the design and construction of the Great Pyramid. Throughout the book, Mr. Smith lays out the known facts (with attributions), the conclusions he draws from those facts, and, most importantly, the reasoning that leads him to his conclusions. For anyone who has ever wondered how an ancient society, lacking most modern tools and knowledge, was able to build a structure on this grand scale and have it last for 4,000 years, this is the book for you.

Excellent analysis

The reader will have one question in mind after finishing "How the Great Pyramid Was Built": is this a book about Ancient Egypt, utilizing the tools of project management? Or a book about project management, using the Great Pyramid as an extended example? However, the answer is probably moot. Both project managers and Egyptophiles will gain excellent insights from reading Craig Smith's book. Dr. Zahi Hawass, the director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt, provides the foreword. The analysis of the necessary infrastructure and the organization of the workforce is throrough and engrossing. This book is not for the alternative theorist, but rather for the historically- and archaeologically-minded reader. One minor quibble: Smith appears to assume that the Egyptians knew that a triangle with sides of unit length 3, 4, and 5 would form a right triangle, whereas Richard Gillings (Mathematics in the Time of the Pharaohs) firmly rejects this notion. Still, they would seem to have had some sort of square or carpenter's ell. The first chapter, a general historical survey of ancient Egypt, does not add anything new, but is a good reminder for the casual reader and serves to anchor the building of the Great Pyramid in its historical era. All in all, a fascinating analysis that belongs on the shelves of both project managers and those interested in Egypt's most famous monument.