Synopses & Reviews
When science journalist Heather Pringle was dispatched to a remote part of northern Chile to cover a little-known scientific conference, she found herself in the midst of the most passionate gathering of her working life dozens of mummy experts lodged in a rambling seaside hotel, battling over the implications of their latest discoveries. Infected with their mania, Pringle spent the next year circling the globe, stopping in to visit the leading scientists so she could see firsthand the breathtaking delicacy and unexpected importance of their work.
In The Mummy Congress, she recounts the intriguing findings from her travels, bringing to life the hitherto unknown worlds of the long-dead, and revealing what mummies have to tell us about ourselves.
Review
"An engrossing discussion, lurid title aside, of mummies: how they're made, where they're found, what scientists and historians learn from them....The author has done her homework, revealing a subject far more complex and interesting than it might seem at first." Kirkus
Review
"Pringle's mummy experts are livelier than a crypt full of stacked corpses. This is high praise given how successfully the author animates the dead in this delightfully macabre piece of mortuary globe-trotting....Pringle's mummies and the men and women who love them make for fascinating and lively reading; this book is sure to have, as they say, a very long shelf life." Publishers Weekly
Review
"...Heather Pringle has done a remarkable job. I read The Mummy Congress with scarcely a pause." Evan S. Connell, author of Son of the Morning Star
Review
"...It has been joked that mummy congresses are meetings of mummies, not about mummies. Heather Pringle certainly dispels that notion." Niels Lynnerup, co-organizer of the upcoming World Congress on Mummy Studies
Review
"Science writing at its best. The riveting story of intrepid researchers who reconstruct the dead." Paul Hoffman, author of The Man Who Loved Only Numbers
Review
"Pringle is a crackshot storyteller...Her writing is clear, direct and intense." New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
An acclaimed journalist unravels the mysteries of mummies by following the scientists who devote their lives to studying them. The World Congress on Mummy Studies brings together mummy experts from all over the world and airs their latest findings. 16-page color insert.
Synopsis
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 ReviewPerhaps 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.
About the Author
Heather Pringle is a journalist and writer who has written on archaeology and ancient cultures in numerous magazines including Discover, National Geographic Traveler, New Scientist, Science, and Geo. She is also the author of two books, including In Search of Ancient North America. She lives in Vancouver, Canada.
Table of Contents
The Congress -- The dissector's knife -- Hosts -- Drug barons -- Crime stories -- Invaders from the West -- Master race -- The merchants of mummy -- Celebrites -- The incorruptibles -- Despots -- Children -- Self-preservation -- Coda.