Reviews
For anyone interested in ancient Egypt this book is required reading. It is a fascinating and compelling study of how consensus blindness, adopted too often with a dogged arrogance, is the perennial enemy of research and understanding., More than the unraveling of a mystery story, this book is a close-up look at the vanishing art of historical research and how academic infighting, politics, reckless restoration, and economic concerns affect such work. Temple makes an excellent case for the restoration of rigorous scholarly standards and the teaching of research techniques that go beyond electronic searches., Brilliant! A remarkable work of detailed and painstaking research, integrative thinking, and original insight. The Temples' reinterpretation of some Egypt's abiding mysteries is more than thought-provoking: it is inspiring., Quite brilliant detective work and deduction has gone into the book and the photographic reproductions (most of them from the massive collection that Robert holds personally) are simply immense. . . . This is a book not to be missed., Whether or not Temple is right in his theories, the way he presents his case makes The Sphinx Mystery an interesting book if you're into Egyptology. It has rekindled my interest in the subject and should be read. It may wash the consensus blindness from your eyes., I was swept straight into this marvelous book. It's brilliant, original, occasionally delightfully malicious, and it showed me just how little I really knew about the Sphinx., The author blends his expertise as a professor of history and philosophy to provide a fine in-depth probe of Egyptian mysteries., Robert and Olivia not only did an outstanding job of pulling together a treasure trove of little known historic facts and photos but they put them together in a way that tells an exciting and compelling story. This book clearly lays out the age-old Sphinx mystery like a puzzle, and then solves it while making sense of every anomaly along the way. What an excellent piece of work!, Temple analyses ancient texts, commentaries, later eyewitness accounts, and early photographs, uncovering overlooked details. He discusses now-sealed secret chambers and his exploration of a tunnel at the rear of the structure (seewww.sphinxmystery.info). This is indeed a monumental work!, What makes Temple so exciting, quite apart from the stupendous depth of his research, is his refusal to take on board any received wisdom. His attitude towards received wisdom and 'consensual reality', bringing into his sights declining standards of scholarship in the Google Age and the 'restorative' work done on the Sphinx, is blatantly critical: 'One of the greatest myths of humanity is that everyone cares about the truth. Many people do not . . ., The true mysteries of the Sphinx, both hidden and forgotten, are brilliantly exposed in this compelling book by Robert and Olivia Temple. They have uncovered hard data revealing the manipulation and misinterpretation that dominate this area of Egyptology. Their use of solid evidence, textual and photographic, make their case unarguable., Temple analyses ancient texts, commentaries, later eyewitness accounts, and early photographs, uncovering overlooked details. He discusses now-sealed secret chambers and his exploration of a tunnel at the rear of the structure (see www.sphinxmystery.info). This is indeed a monumental work!, Although moderately technical (there really is no way to avoid it on a subject this compex), it is eminently readable and fairly easily understood. . . . Professor Temple makes no attempt to placate either side of the debate. He simply lays out his conclusions and allows the reader to decide whether they agree or not.