Review by Kirkus Book Review
The mystery of the pyramids is solved before our eyes as Macaulay's minutely detailed free-hand sketches and cross-section diagrams follow the raising of layer after layer of stone blocks. Beginning with the first plans drawn for the pyramid--which will be only ten feet shorter and not unlike Khufu's at Giza--we see how a priest determines true north at the building site, how water-filled trenches function as a giant level, how the roof of the inner chamber is constructed by filling the room with rubble and then digging it out once the ceiling is in place. . . . And since there's still some controversy over the earth ramps used to lift stones to the pyramid's higher level, Macaulay even builds a mini-pyramid next door to demonstrate a second kind of ramp design. The principles at work here are simpler than those used to build Cathedral and City, but the solutions are just as fascinating. And of course Macaulay's drawings are enough to make the most ambitious doodler turn green with envy. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
