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Heather Anne Pringle
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The Mummy Congress: Science, Obsession, and the Everlasting Dead Paperback – June 19, 2002

by Heather Pringle (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 52 ratings
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Now available in paperback -- The Mummy Congress is "clear, direct and intense . . . all the stories sparkle. Pringle is a crack-shot storyteller." --New York Times Book Review

Perhaps the most eccentric of all scientific meetings, the World Congress on Mummy Studies brings together mummy experts from all over the globe and airs their latest findings. Who are these scientists, and what draws them to this morbid yet captivating field The Mummy Congress, written by acclaimed science journalist Heather Pringle, examines not just the world of mummies, but also the people obsessed with them.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    384 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Hyperion
  4. Publication date
    June 19, 2002
  5. Grade level
    8 and up
  6. Reading age
    18 years and up
  7. Dimensions
    5 x 1 x 7.75 inches
  8. ISBN-10
    0786884630
  9. ISBN-13
    978-0786884636
  10. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Clear, direct and intense . . . all the stories sparkle. Pringle is a crack-shot storyteller."―The New York Times Book Review

"The author animates the dead in this delightfully macabre piece of mortuary globe-trotting."―Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"By balancing the eerie fascination for mummies and the colorful personalities of those who have made mummies their avocation, Pringle's book outclasses any Hollywood horror flick in entertainment as well as information value."―Booklist, Starred Review

"Delightfully unpleasant."―Washington Post Book World

About the Author

Heather Pringle is a journalist and writer who has written on archaeology and ancient cultures in numerous magazines, including Science, Geo, New Scientist, National Geographic Traveler, and Discover. She is also the author of two books, including In Search of Ancient North America. She lives in Vancouver, Canada.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hyperion; Reprint edition (June 19, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0786884630
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0786884636
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 8 and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 1 x 7.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 52 ratings

About the author

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Heather Anne Pringle

Heather Anne Pringle

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
52 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars If You Love Mummy Sciences Then You Need To Read This Book
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2017
Verified Purchase
I love this book. If you have a squeamish stomach or aren't as big a nerd as I am about mummies, then you probably won't be interested in it. But if you any sort of fascination with mummies and the people who study them then you will want to read this book. Heather Pringle is a very to-the-point and honest author and does an excellent job tackling this subject.
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Mary M Rao
4.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating look at all the different kinds of mummies ...
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2014
Verified Purchase
A fascinating look at all the different kinds of mummies, their histories and a glimpse of future mummies too.
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Bunny
5.0 out of 5 stars I loved the chapter on mummies that were discovered in China ...
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2014
Verified Purchase
This book is a fascinating read. It talks about numerous cultures where mumification has been done. (not just the Egyptians). I loved the chapter on mummies that were discovered in China who are obviously caucasion Beautifully preserved. This is one of the funniest books I have ever read.
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Emma J. Flocke
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2019
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The Mummy Congress is intelligent, insightful, and interesting. I read it twice.
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Kelly Howard
3.0 out of 5 stars Great subject, so-so execution (heh heh)
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2017
Verified Purchase
I love weird, off-kilter non-fiction books & have quite a collection of them on natural history, science of all types, exploration, travel, etc. This one just misses getting a 4 star rating, but certain aspects of Ms Pringle's writing caused me to hold back.

The book is basically interesting --it'd be hard to make mummies totally boring, I think-- but Pringle takes an intrinsically interesting subject yet seems to feel she has to pump it up to make it more alluring. For example, the book is full of vivid but oddly misplaced adverbs & adjectives, such as when she describes some skeletons as "grinning shamelessly." What would skeletons be ashamed of? These nonsensical additions are all over the place & definitely do not enrich the experience.

The final nail in the 4 star coffin came when she refers to Mark Twain's bit in "Roughing It" about mummies. When I first ran across her mention of this, I was delighted; it's been one of my favorite books since before I was a teenager (okay, I was a weird kid). For those unfortunates who've not read it, it's about Twain's travels around Europe & the Holy Land. They go to Egypt & Twain talks about how there's so many mummies that they use them as fuel for the railroads instead of wood. He has the engineer of a train telling the stoker something along the lines of, these peasants don't burn worth a damn & he should throw on some kings (that's not a quote, obviously; Twain was hilarious. I don't have the book handy). The problem is, Pringle seriously does not seem to understand that Twain was a humorist being facetious; she seems to take him literally & cautions that there probably weren't that many kings & that mummies probably weren't used as locomotive fuel. Honestly, I couldn't decide whether to slap my forehead unto a coma or roll my eyes 'til they fell out of my head.

Mary Roach did a much more entertaining treatment of mummies & other bodies as part her book about what happens to our corpuses (corpi?) when we die, "Stiff." It's a fairly hilarious book that also has me tearing up at the end of her chapter on organ donation, every time I read it.
5 people found this helpful
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D Kelleher
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating book
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2017
Verified Purchase
Well written and full of new info. I promptly bought a copy for my sister. We love this kind of stuff.
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Mary F
4.0 out of 5 stars good quick read
Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2013
Verified Purchase
Although the subject of mummies is not covered in any detail, the book is still an interesting and enjoyable overview.
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M. S. Butch
3.0 out of 5 stars good for beginners
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2001
Verified Purchase
This book is an interesting, chatty, survey of mummies worldwide for people who don't already know a good deal about it. I don't know much about mummification technique, and would like to know more, as well as more about the biotech techniques currently being used to study mummies. This book gave me a bit of new info, but it is general in nature and does not cover any subject in much depth. Thus, interspersed with paragraphs about discoveries are discussions of the morality of examining mummies, colorful bios of people in the mummy business, detours into mummy collectors and Resurrection men, etc. If that kind of pleasant, meandering survey is what you are looking for, for a weekend's entertainment, this book is very good. If you want more real mummy detail, you will become impatient reading through all of the other stuff (I did).
7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
ぎんぱ‾る
4.0 out of 5 stars ミイラ好き必読
Reviewed in Japan on August 4, 2002
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人類の果てない欲望「永遠の生」を表わすもののひとつ、ミイラ。
この本はミイラ会議なる不思議な会議をきっかけにして様々な事柄を考えてみた本である。
エジプトのミイラに代表される宗教的な意味合いのミイラとしての語り口ではなく、純粋に「永久死体」を研究しつづけている（時には異様とも思える行為をする）人々、そしてされた人々、世界中の永久死体の話が書かれている。
人類の求めるものは果たして何なのか･･･最終章に書かれている生と美、そして「永遠」への果てしない欲望は、単なる「ミイラ」研究書としてだけでは終らない。最後まで興味をもって読めた一冊。
7 people found this helpful
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