The Linguist and the Emperor: Napoleon and Champollion's Quest to Decipher the Rosetta Stone

by Daniel Meyerson

Book Overview

The deciphering of the Rosetta stone was one of the great intellectual triumphs of all time, unlocking the secrets of thousands of years of Egypt's ancient civilization. Yet in the past two centuries,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345450671
• ISBN13: 9780345450678
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Informative and entertaining

A wonderful book which has gotten too many negative reviews. There are actually many little stories here, besides the main one, all of which are fascinating and help to flesh out the main story. It's a fast easy read which reaches across thousands of years of history. It gave me a sense that all history is deeply interwoven.

Romantic History

I do agree with some of the other reviewers in that the intellectual part of the book is quite small. Champollion's deciphering of the heiroglyphs takes up only a few pages at the end, which comes quickly. I did, however, really like the book despite this. I enjoyed the author's breezy, romantic flair. It made me feel swept up in the mystery and romance and epic scale of the events. And I will never mind descriptions (however brief) of sexual fetishes and practices! Despite this, however, I don't feel that the book dwells on these things. It is more like a tapestry that weaves together the large movement of history as well as the small, earthly details. This is the sort of book to whet your appetite - if you like it and want more, you will find yourself exploring Egypt and Napoleon and Linguistics. I say, read it!