This is a great book about a lesser known figure in the history of Egyptian Archaeology. It des a great job of telling about his life and placing him in a proper historical context. It doesn't try to hold him to modern archaeological standards, and explains that in the 19th century archaeology was kind of a race to loot. Despite this he made a bunch of discoveries including opening the second pyramid of Giza.

The only way this book could be improved would be to include maps and a few more images of his discoveries. The maps are needed as most of the places were renamed or in a few cases he incorrectly named them. Arabic names also tend to be spelled several different ways adding to the confusion. ( )