September 18, 2010
Free Ebook Breaking the Maya Code (Third Edition)
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Breaking the Maya Code (Third Edition)
Free Ebook Breaking the Maya Code (Third Edition)
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Review
“A great story told clearly and passionately by a great Mayanist.†- Science“As good an introduction to the world of the Maya, and of Maya scholars, as one is likely to get.†- USA Today“Portrays a Maya culture obsessed with warfare, dynastic rivalries, and ritual bloodletting, yet rich with masterpieces in art and architecture.†- Science News
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About the Author
Michael D. Coe is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Yale University. His books include The Maya, Mexico, Breaking the Maya Code, Angkor and the Khmer Civilization, and Reading the Maya Glyphs. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut.
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Product details
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Thames & Hudson; Third edition (February 27, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0500289557
ISBN-13: 978-0500289556
Product Dimensions:
6.2 x 1 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.3 out of 5 stars
53 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#175,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
This book provides a thorough discussion of the progress...and regressions...in the decryption of Mayan writing. I read it after finishing Margalit Fox's new book on the deciphering of Egyptian writing. Both were fascinating discussions of the processes involved in the task and the missteps of the investigators. And both make real the unattractive side of academia...selfishness over sources, the cult of personality, and the reluctance to consider new evidence and theories. Some reviewers commented negatively on these points, but they are all part of discovery...think of the battles over access to the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the prolonged rejection of plate tectonics, asteroids destroying dinosaurs, and birds evolving from dinosaurs. The process is as interesting as the result! I think Professor Coe was very evenhanded in his telling of the story.
This has been one of my favorite books since I first read it back in the early 90's. I had grown up reading about the Maya as peace-loving philosopher kings but reading Freidel and Schele's A Forest of Kings A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya demolished that myth. Then I found Coe's fascinating and exciting book on the decipherment of the Mayan script.Some readers complained about Coe's discussion of Sir Eric Thompson and his supporters' doctrinaire denial that the script could be translated and those who challenged this orthodox view (and were eventually able to translate the Mayan texts.) Would they also argue that it's inappropriate, snide, spiteful and score-settling to include mention of the Church's opposition to Galileo? Thompson couldn't burn anyone at the stake but he was capable of very thoroughly torching the academic career of anyone who challenged the orthodox view and he had a choke hold on American scholarship for a generation. Only after his death was the academe open to acknowledging the linguistic progress of his challengers. This struggle was not inconsequential nor is discussing it petty.
This is a fascinating book and a good read. I remember the National Geographic articles from the 1950's when the Mayan Temples with their indecipherable glyphs were being discovered in the jungles. It was very interesting how Cold War politics interfered with the recognition of a Russian scholar who made the 'big breakthrough' in the decipherment as he was painted (better 'tainted) with the 'tar brush of Soviet pseudo-science.' After reading this, you will want to read 'The Decipherment of Linear B' by John Chadwick and 'Cracking the Egyptian Code: The Revolutionary Life of Jean-Francois Champollion' by Andrew Robinson.
I found out about this book from the National Geographic documentary which I have since purchased. I highly recommend getting them both. This is the absolutely fascinating tale of the incredibly varied people who contributed to deciphering the Maya writing system. The book does get technical, as it is as much a scientific endeavor as an artistic, archaelogical and literary endeavor, but Coe makes it very engaging.
This is a very interesting story told by one of the principal players. The book gets rather technical at times, but it's worth the effort. The author has some very strong opinions about his colleagues, but that's all the more fun as an insight into the academic world.
As fascinating as the discovery of phoneticism itself is the inclusion of biographical sketches of the main players.
A good story needs a villain. The villain of the book in question is Sir Eric Thompson, who must have been a fascinating figure (in fact I've been looking for some biography of him after reading the present work). Skip the first chapter, which concerns writing systems in general, and you get a hilarious work (perhaps the author had James Watson's "Double Helix" in mind when writing), abounding with anecdotes and gossips of the nasty academic world. Thompson is the arch-villain, but the author's censure on the "field anthropologists" is also severe.The first chapter seems to mar the whole work, which is a bit too long, and is not very accurate. For example, the Chinese writing system doesn't have "214 determinatives" as the author claims (p. 32) -- there're 214 "section headers" in a traditional Chinese dictionary, which were devised by lexicographers, and are not supposed to tell "one the general class of phenomena to which the thing named belongs" (p. 31), although the two concepts have overlapping. Of course these're only minor mistakes, and to them we should not pay too much attention, as the author warns us, unwittingly: "It will be recalled that Thompson dealt posthumously with Whorf by paying no attention whatsoever to Whorf's larger points, and devoting much ink to the latter's minor mistakes (and mistakes they were), like a terrier worrying a rat." (p. 152). All the same, one star has been deducted!
Riveting, fascinating, I learned new things on every page. Haven't finished it yet and am looking forward to the rest of the book.
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