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Books > How the Great Pyramid Was Built
Reviews
Reviews by: Dr.
Elizabeth Brooks, UCLA, Albert Dorman, FASCE, FAIA. Chairman Emeritus,
AECOM Technology Corporation, Gilbert Taylor, Booklist Magazine,
Smithsonian Institution Press, John Molloy, Mark F. Jenkins, “RMS,” Google
Groups, Belle Dessler, BookLoons Reviews.
• “Cross-over," whether it is in music or archaeology can create a new
experience, a new understanding. It takes someone from another field of
expertise to see what the experts don't see. This book compels me to go
back to Egypt to see the pyramids again and anew.
Unlike much contemporary work done by non-Egyptologists, Craig Smith’s
book is as solid as the great pyramid of Khufu and fascinating at the same
time. It uses the best scholarship from ancient times to today to lay the
foundation. The building blocks are the analytical skills of an engineer,
the passion of a historian, and the wonder of a visitor to the pyramid who
asks, " How did they do it?" How did they plan and build the great
pyramid? Craig Smith sets out to answer the question for himself and for
us. In doing so, he sets straight a lot of myths and misconceptions. The
historical overview alone is worth the price.
Craig Smith takes us back to the people that dreamed of, designed, and
built the pyramids in a way that allows us to identify with individuals. I
believe that if Zahi Hawass were the great Khufu, then Craig Smith would
have been his vizier Hemiunu, who was responsible for building the Great
Pyramid for his pharaoh.
Craig Smith has constructed a pyramid of a book. It is tribute to all
those ancient Egyptians who labored to build one of the greatest public
works projects the world has ever known.
-Elizabeth Brooks, Ph.D.
Director, Humanities and Social Sciences
UCLA Extension
____________
• The Great Pyramid has been the subject of
speculation for centuries, some of it literally galactic in tone. Craig
smith’s down-to-earth analysis is written in an entertaining style,
accessible to generalists and specialists alike.
-Albert Dorman, FASCE, FAIA
Chairman Emeritus, AECOM Technology Corporation
____________
• Although how the Egyptian pyramids were constructed is unknown, there
are technological and physical constraints that allow engineers to imagine
how it was done (without invoking helpful aliens). First, throw out the
wheel and the pulley, for the ancient Egyptians lacked these tools;
second, estimate the labor force required; and third, establish a schedule
that ensures the pyramid will be ready to receive the pharaonic mummy.
Within these parameters, Smith, a public works engineer by profession,
produces a fascinating scenario for the erection circa 2550 B.C.E. of the
Great Pyramid of Khufu. Smith assumes that a project manager directed
affairs; he reasonably speculates that this was Khufu's vizier, Hemiunu.
Smith converts material descriptions and mathematical calculations into an
almost audible narrative, so that readers hear Hemiunu think aloud as he
reflects on the defects of previous pyramids and plans out a monument to
impress the gods and astound posterity. This impressive, accessible
analysis is an absolute necessity for the basic Egyptology collection.
-Gilbert Taylor
Booklist Magazine, December 1, 2004, pg 632
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved.
____________
• A world-class engineer explains for the first time how the Great Pyramid
was actually built.
Going beyond even the expertise of archaeologists and historians,
world-class engineer Craig Smith takes an in-depth look at the Great
Pyramid of Giza as a massive engineering and construction project. How
would the ancient Egyptians have developed their building plans, devised
work schedules, managed laborers, solved specific design and engineering
problems, or even improvised on the job? The answers are here, along with
dazzling, one-of-a-kind color photographs and beautiful hand-drawn
illustrations of tools, materials, and building techniques the ancient
masters used. In a walking tour of the construction of the Great Pyramid,
Smith explains how the Egyptians looked carefully at earlier pyramids
before planning this masterpiece; never again would they replicate its
grandeur and perfection. In his foreword to the book, Egypt's
undersecretary of state for the Giza Monuments explains the importance of
understanding the Great Pyramid as a straightforward construction project.
32 color photographs, 50 b/w illustrations.
-Smithsonian Institution Press
____________
• 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 it, 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 a last for 4,000 years, this book is the book for you.
-John B. Molloy
Customer Review
www.amazon.com
____________
• 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
thorough and engrossing.
This book is not for the alternative theorist, but rather for the
historically- and logically-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 the
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.
-Mark F. Jenkins
Customer Review
www.amazon.com
____________
• If you are a poetic soul who prefers that the mysteries of ancient Egypt
remain mysterious, this definitely is not the book for you! With little
preamble this experienced construction manager places himself in the
position of the Pharaoh Khufu's vizier Hemiunu, and discusses in detail
the
design and construction of this last surviving member of the Seven Wonders
of the Ancient World.
With the eye of an engineer, Smith covers the evolution of pyramid making,
the design lessons learned by Hemiunu (who likely was involved with
earlier
pyramid construction) -- for example, to lay horizontal courses to better
distribute loads; use a mix of large blocks with small for greater
structural stability; use corbelled ceilings for strength and beauty; etc.
Next discussed are the tools and mathematical methods available to the
Egyptians: Did they have the ability to make the precision measurements
that
are evident, and cut and move the millions of giant stone blocks? Well,
yes.
No aliens required, alas.
Then follows an overview of site choice, the structure that will be built,
design choices, and an outline of how the building will proceed, in light
of
good 'critical path' project management practices, which Smith argues
Hemiunu very definitely followed.
Succeeding chapters go into detail on the major building phases, including
site preparation, tool making and materiel acquisition, worker support
infra-structure, the ramp system used to transport blocks to the work
site,
the construction of the interior passages, etc. These chapters are the
meat
of the book and make for interesting reading.
Lastly Smith analyzes the likely size of the workforce (much smaller than
commonly thought, and backed up by archaeological digs in the attached
worker village). Indeed Smith gives plausible straight-forward answers to
several pyramid "mysteries", and to other questions simply says the answer
is unknown.
Such as: the 51.9degree angle of the sides of Great Pyramid: it's likely
an
approximation of a 3-4-5 triangle, which the ancient Egyptians were aware
of
(though Smith is a bit wishy-washy on this point); the 26.4degree angles
of
the interior passages have no spiritual significance, but were simply the
result of using practical 1:2 grade measurements by the onsite masons;
that
giant stone blocks are in fact manageable using teams of human laborers
with
simple sledges and ramps.
So: A very practical book written by an intelligent engineer, who argues
that his ancient counterpart, the Vizier who actually built this pyramid
for
his Pharaoh, was just as practical and just as intelligent. And that his
workforce, far from being millions of driven slaves, were some tens of
thousands of paid workers motivated by national and religious pride. A
good
book, though I felt the longing for more photographs and drawings, which a
more visually-oriented 'touristy' book would provide. Look for such a
picture book to supplement Smith’s at the library.
rms
-Google
Groups
____________
• Of all the mysteries that continue to fascinate mankind, how the
pyramids were built remains one of the most intriguing. Theories, some
plausible and some far-fetched, abound. Were the pyramids built by an
alien race? Could such marvels really have been engineered and created by
human hands? Did the Egyptians possess technology that helped them with
this task?
Smith doesn't believe so. With research help from Dr. Zahi Hawass,
secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and director of
excavations at Giza, Saqqara and Bahariya Oasis, he sets out to prove that
the reason Ancient Egyptians were able to build the Great Pyramid of Khufu
to withstand the test of time was simple: they were motivated. As Dr.
Hawass notes in his introduction, 'every household in Upper and Lower
Egypt participated in the building of the king's pyramid by sending
workforces, food and supplies. They did this to help the king be a god;
the pyramid was the ladder that the king would climb to the afterlife on
his quest for immortality.
This fascinating statement sets the tone for the chapters to follow.
Meticulously researched, this book is the ultimate resource on everything
you've ever wanted to know about pyramids. Accessible to scholars as well
as the general populace, How the Great Pyramid was Built delves into
in-depth detail on everything from what (and how much) the workers ate to
the strict construction schedules they followed. Intricate illustrations,
charts, tables and a number of full-color photographs make it easy to gain
a thorough understanding of the way this extremely complex task would have
been performed forty-five centuries ago.
For anyone who has ever been intrigued by the process the Ancient
Egyptians must have followed to build their exquisite pyramids, this book
will prove eye-opening. It's difficult to imagine the sheer number of
people who would have had to labor day after day, watching as the pyramid
grew from nothing into the gigantic structure it eventually became. Smith
estimates that the workers' village alone 'required more than 8 million
mud bricks to reach full occupancy'. With such staggering facts sprinkled
throughout the book, Smith brings to life a long-ago era and the
impressive achievements of ancient people who, even thousands of years
later, continue to hold us enthralled with their way of life and belief
system.
-Belle Dessler
BookLoons Reviews
www.bookloons.com
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