Building the Great Pyramid is your gateway to Egyptology through the biggest of all pyramids at Giza. Based on the BBC documentary, the book is sophisticated, but if you’re looking for details for your project on ancient Egypt, this is a good place to start.
    Re-enactment pictures from the documentary, along with computer-generated models, bring the ancient civilization so alive you’d think CNN went back in time! Authors Jonathan Stamp and Kevin Jackson dish the real dirt in nine chapters, ranging from the physical presence of the pyramid to the metaphysical claims of pyramid power.
Learn that the people who built the pyramids were not slaves but more like a conscripted army. (In other words, The Pharaoh Wants You!) Sure, these men worked hard, but they were probably fed well, given decent shelter, and could go back to their villages and woo the girls with their pyramid-building exploits. (Hey, I met the pharaoh, gee he’s small for a god.) The authors also get into the engineering of hauling massive blocks into place, the race by linguists to crack the hieroglyphics code, and the launching of Egyptology as the bonafide science of archaeology.
    But perhaps the most fun is the last chapter. You might want to read it before you throw out the refrigerator and store your milk under a Styrofoam pyramid. (Psst. It’ll go bad.)

(Originally published in the July/Aug 2003 issue of YES Mag.)