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Confused using the book, Pyramids by David Macaulay
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We are doing module 1 for History (Ancient Egypt) and using the book Pyramids by David Macaulay. I bought it from the SCM site in the PDF format. The problem is that the page #s are not corresponding with what the Genesis through Deuteronomy Guide shows. For instance in Lesson 35, it says to read pages 33-59, but on my e-reader, it only shows there are 18 pages. In my Kindle and Calibre software on the laptop, it’s showing 36 or so pages. I have no idea what to read for this lesson?! There are no distinctive chapters or lessons in this book, so I find it’s hard to have starting and stopping points.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Rachel
I’m thinking maybe you’re looking at the wrong book? SCM doesn’t offer that book in pdf format to my knowledge. Maybe you’re thinking of Boy of the Pyramids?
You’re absolutely right! I didn’t get it through SCM…hmmm? I must have bought the Kindle version through Amazon, but I can’t find it in my purchase records! I’m so confused now!
I guess, regardless of where I got this digital copy of it, I’m still lost on how to find the proper pages for it *sigh*. I suppose finding someone using the digital version also, is going to be a long shot. Oh well. I guess I’ll just have to do the best I can although it’s not my favorite book. Maybe it’s time to hit the library 🙂
Thanks anyway!
racheld, I was going to suggest that you try the library, just before you posted! I hope you didn’t spend a lot of money on your pdf that’s been un-useful to you! We didn’t *love* Pyramid, but it was helpful to give my children a good picture of what the process of building the pyramids was like. It was definitely an informational, not a leisurely, read.
Blessings,
Lindsey
You might find a used copy at a Friends of the Library in your town or used bookstore. I have purchased all of my Macaulay books for $1-2.75ish. I haven’t used them in any specific study, yet, but purchased them as I saw them at good prices. Just a thought.
We ended up skipping Pyramid (my kids weren’t interested in it when we started…) – they did love Boy of the Pyramids.
What we did was watch “National Geographic – Unlocking the Great Pyramid” – which was absolutely fantastic. My son has watched it twice – delighted each time. And I think that the method discussed in this video (which is a new theory on how the pyramids were built) makes the most sense.
I just wanted to say thank you for the input on this book. We just started Mod. 1 at the beginning of Jan so have not gotten as far as needing this yet but it is nice to know that there are other options if it isn’t a good fit for us.
I was going to mention watching National Geographic – Unlocking the Great Pyramid. We actually watched it last night and it was very interested and held everyone’s attention. Unfortunately we tried to watch David M’s DVD Pyramids and it was sooooo boring. We shut it off part way through. We thought the book was informative, but watching the Nat Geo DVD really helped tie it together for my children.
I too was going to mention checking the library so see where your page breaks are, but you can just read bits until you get through it too.
We did both the book and the DVD. We much prefered the DVD, and think it was more likely than the Pyramid book theory.
@racheld, the Pyramid book is broken up this way in the module, maybe this will help (I’m not sure):
The first reading I have for the Module 1 is Lesson 30, read Pyramid pgs. 7-37.
Page 7 starts out: “In 2740 BC a new pharaoh of upper and lower Egypt was crowned. The coronation took place in Memphis, the city from which he would rule for thirty-one years. Earlier pharaohs,”, and so on….
Page 37 ends with: “The area enclosed by the casing stones was next filled with core and packing blocks and all the tops were leveled in preparation for the second course. Overseers checked the work constantly because any poorly finished surfaces could weaken the entire pyramid. By the following summer the first course was complete and all the stones for the second course had arrived.”
The second Mod 1 Lesson is Lesson #35 -Pyramid pages 38-59
Page 38 starts “Unlike the stones of the first course, which were moved into place fairly easily, the stones of the other 123 courses had to be raised to the top of the preceding course before they could be pushed into place.” and so on…
Page 59 ends with “At the completion of the ceremonies, labourers began dismantling the remaining construction ramps. When they had removed about thirty feet of the rubble and mud another gang erected wooden scaffolding to support work platforms around the exposed portion of the pyramid. From the highest platform workmen using pieces of stone and abrasive powder ….(to the end of the paragraph) …the entire surface of the pyramid was finished.”
Module 1 Lesson 40, Pyramid pages 60-79
Page 60 “By the time the capstone was in place the stone for the temples and causeway had been delivered and cut to size.
Page 79 ends with “With the removal of the ramp the pharaoh’s eternal home was finished. His sacred body lay protected under a perfect manmade mountain of more then two million blocks of stone.”
End of assigned reading.
A couple of things came to mind reading this thread, so thought I’d chime in.
Doug has been educating me on the in’s and out’s of e-readers. One of the things that he explained is that they aren’t structured by pages. Because different readers are different sizes and can display different amounts of text on the screen, plus you have the option of changing the font size bigger or smaller as you go along, e-readers simply look at the text as a continuous flow. That may explain why your page numbers aren’t lining up.
Another possibility for learning about pyramids is a book I just discovered, The Great Pyramid by Elizabeth Mann. She’s written a series of shorter books on various landmarks, and I’m finding them quite interesting. Similar to David Macaulay, but not quite as detailed. I plan to recommend her Hoover Dam and Brooklyn Bridge for the Modern history module coming up too.
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