Maya (8th Edition)

I purchased this book in anticipation of a visit to various Mayan sites after I retire (which has not yet occurred). This is the first such book I have bought or read on Mayan culture, and thus I am not able to compare it to other works on the subject. However, I find this book very helpful and informative. The text is in professorial style and a little difficult to assimilate, but the book is relatively short, being less than 300 pages with many photos and diagrams interspersed throughout,. As a result, it is not, as I had feared, a mammoth project to read through this work. The explanation of the decipherment of the glyph system of writing is definitely beyond my ken, but I gained a greater understanding and appreciation of the system and the work of those who contributed to "cracking the code". The work was helpful with regard to determning which sites might be considered the more signigicant and how they related to other sites in Mayan history and culture. In my opiinion this work would be useful to the scholar as well as the most casual tourist, and I would highly recommend it to either.

Came ahead of schedule, thank you as I am off to Mexico next week. Only quickly glanced through so not sure how in depth it is but looks adequate for a beginner t learn a bout the temples and ruins she is going to visit. Already thinking about changing travel route slightly to visit ruins I hadn't even heard of. very happy with purchase.

As a curious amateur (I have no training in anything remotely related to anthropology or archaeology) I have been fascinated with the native peoples of the North, Central, and South American continents. This book is well written, the structure easy to follow, and the diagrams and photos well done.After reading this book, I feel as if I know about the Mayan people, how they lived, and what they left behind. I appreciated that everything was well grounded in serious research (there are a lot of hokey Mayan books) and that the book talked about the people and processes behind that research. I recommend anything by Michael Coe.

Being passionate about the Maya civilisation, I cannot praise more this book, beautifully written and very informative. This is the kind of writing that brings history into life again. Well done

A great purchase, very happy with it, dispatched quickly, many thanks