Member Reviews

While reading How to Survive in Ancient Egypt, I felt that I was there - walking through the streets and talking to vendors. It was an enlightening experience that allowed me to learn more about life in Egypt in a non-traditional way.

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I received a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review
This was pretty adorable. I enjoy the creativity and of course the research behind this was so well done.

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Very interesting and fun to read with lots if information about ancient Egypt you really feel like the author was there.

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I was really excited to read this book, I love all this Ancient Egyptian and loved a visit I had to Cairo a few years ago so couldn't wait to jump in!

I really liked the way that the book was written, the author pitched the book perfectly and it was one I could pick up as and when I wanted over the space of a few days. 

The chapter and topic lengths were perfect and I really like the way it was written as almost a travel guide on what to see, do and what not to do too! 

The author was a little witty too where needed and it did make me giggle in places too - you never see a fat blind harpist after all!  The book is written with a natural flow to it.

It is 4 stars from me for this one, I thought it was a great read - highly recommended!

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This was so much fun! My favourite part of history is understanding the daily lives of ordinary people and How to Survive in Ancient Egypt was the perfect read for that. If you want to learn about how people actually lived in ancient Egypt; their houses, how they slept, what they ate, what happened if they got sick, what did they do for fun, what did they believe, how did they work this is the book for you. Only wish it had been longer.

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Going month by month one sees how life would be like in Egypt not just at the top. As well at different times of Ancient Egypt. Good introduction to daily life - not overexplained.

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Such a fun look at Ancient Egypt with really accessible writing and fascinating information. Really great read

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This is a really fun way to learn about ancient history. It’s presented as a travel guide and really helps spark the reader’s imagination. It will definitely help those trying to homeschool reluctant students of history.

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Thank you Netgalley for the eARC! I really enjoyed this book! I was always a fan of ancient Egypt so I was really interested in reading this book. It's set up almost like a travel guide or commentary about what life was life in ancient Egypt ranging from employment options, to fashion, and laws. Booth states at the beginning to read this book as though you are a male literate member of the middle class partly because there's more information about the middle class and not so much info about the peasants. It's also set in a specific time frame of the eighteenth dynasty. She explains her rationale behind using present tense in the book in her Introduction (pg. xiv). This was such an informative book and I enjoyed the little bits of humour included in her commentary. An example is when she was talking about using dried crocodile dung mixed with honey as a contraceptive, "The frequency of your marital activity obviously dictates how often you need to replace this 'pad', although you will probably be surprised how little marital activity there is once your husband finds out your method of contraceptive" (pg. 92). She also had a great set of sources from numerous universities and scholarly articles. Overall this was a well written and entertaining guide to life in ancient Egypt!

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This is a comprehensive overview of all aspects of life in Ancient Egypt, jam-packed with facts, but alas, quite dryly written. So dryly, in fact, that my attention wandered each time I tried to read it. Nonetheless, probably a useful volume for school libraries and for teens doing project-based learning about Ancient Egypt.

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#HowToSurviveInAncientEgypt is a guide to life in ancient Thebes. I have read other books in this style and was glad to find one about Ancient Egypt.

I really enjoyed the format and learning about day to day life for average Egyptians and not just the royals (though this is included too, yay!). Food, hygiene, living spaces, religion....it’s all there!

I did find the end of the book quite abrupt, and the prices of items were hard to understand due to formatting, but I highly recommend this book as I haven’t found another like it on the Egyptians. If you like this, definitely check out Ian Mortimer’s Time Traveller’s Guides.

Thank you to #NetGalley & the publisher for my free advance copy in return for an unbiased review.

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We all know how the royals lived in Ancient Egypt, but what about the regular, everyday people? Their lives are often overshadowed by the larger than life figures of their leaders.
How to Survive in Ancient Egypt dives into the lives of the everyday Egyptians - their food, poetry, death, and clothing. It was a fascinating read, and one that had little quips of humor and jokes throughout. Charlotte Booth takes their lives, and breaks it down into easy to read sections, leaving nothing out!

I enjoyed reading through this! It was a fun look into the way that everyday Egyptians lived. Getting a glimpse into some of their poetry, foods, and more was eye opening and enlightening! This is a great book for those who enjoy history!

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This was a fascinating book. How to survive in Ancient Egypt takes you back in time as a visitor of ancient Thebes during 1360 BCE. This is the 18th dynasty, during the reign of Amenhotep III, and is known as the glory days of Egypt.

This book paints a picture of what life was like for the everyday person during this time, not the royalty. This was a fascinating perspective about how people lived, worked, ate, along with so many other things. I learned so much from this book because all of the books I have read on Egypt have been about kings and queens.

Here are a few of the topics covered in this book: medicine, contraception, birth, bathing, perfume, professional mourners, games, and crime and punishment.

Overall, this was a fascinating and informative book. I totally recommend this book if you are interested in ancient Egypt, history, or how ancient people lived.

*ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.*

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Fun and informative, history buffs of all ages will find time well spent in reading this book!! A definite keeper for me!!

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When I was young, there was one museum near my home.  I periodically visited there with either my family or school.  The highlight of these visits for me was the small collection of Egyptian artifacts.  Eventually, I grew up and moved to a very large city with an incredible array of art and artifacts from  several of the Egyptian dynasties. I have visited often and  I have stood in the Temple of Dendur many times.  I've read some on the gods and goddesses but I have never read a book like this one.


Charlotte Booth puts the reader right into ancient Egypt, as a person who was living there at the time.  This readable book is packed with information.  There is a section on history followed by many sections on every day life.  For example, these include food and diet, getting a job, beliefs and rituals,staying healthy, stepping out in style, passing time in the capital an obeying the laws.  The book also includes maps, illustrations, timelines and more.


I loved this book with its deeply engaging take on history.  Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.

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This book provides a lot of information about life in Ancient Egypt - from pyramid construction, to social hierarchy, to clothing, jobs, games, foods, etc. It has a lot of interesting facts about that time of life. It did switch tenses a lot - some was written in present tense assuming that you were standing in Ancient Egypt today. And some was written in past tense - this is how things were in Ancient Egypt.

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What an interesting book! Very entertaining. It made me want to read up more on Egypt, its history and literature. I breezed through this book, as it is only 100 pages or so and the writing is very conversational. Easy to read.

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If you are a fan of Ancient Egyptian history you will likely enjoy this highly comprehensive guide ‘How to survive in Ancient Egypt’. Specifically covering the period of Amenhotep III, who ruled between 1385BCE and 1349BCE (Before the Common Era) this survival guide covers everything from food and working to procreation and fashion. I found the unique style of this book to be both humorous and fun as well informative as it covered a lot of things that you don’t tend to see in your average reference book or documentary. An insightful look into Egyptian life!

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When we think of ancient Egypt, we all think of the mummies and the mighty pyramids. Unlike ancient Rome, whose daily life we can somehow imagine - also and above all because Rome has been inhabited throughout its long history - it is as if the whole of ancient Egypt is a mummy, something inscrutable and immobile in time. Thanks to this book and its original setting, instead, ancient Egypt becomes alive, reserving for us a series of incredible surprises.
A really advisable reading for those who want to "travel" in history.

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This was such a joy to read.

As a self confessed Egyptology geek, I often get frustrated at the over simplifying you can find in books. Although the idea is to make them accessible for everyone, it seems to defeat the objective of learning something new. The fact that this book went as far as to contain the transliteration of words made me so very happy, and I will be bombarding everyone with this as a recommendation. Moving in Egyptology circles, there is always discussion over what books we can buy for those we are trying to convert.

Well written, entertaining, and just as interesting to someone who has loved Egypt for over twenty years, this book deserves a lot of happy praise, and will be of huge benefit to the world of educating the next generation.

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