A History of Ancient Egypt: From the First Farmers to the Great Pyramid by John Romer

Just finished this book a couple of weeks back, and about half-way through the second volume of this two book series. John Romer is an accomplished and well-respected archeologist, and has written a number of books ("Testament" -- about the development of the Bible -- is another excellent read) and has several great television documentaries (available for free viewing on Youtube) that are both enlightening and entertaining.

In this first volume Romer covers the pre-history of Egypt, taking care to focus on what the archeology reveals without imposing Western cultural beliefs on social organization (there is no evidence there were "kings" in the Western sense during that era, for example). It is quite interesting to follow the development of symbols used as a bookkeeping method (so many cattle, sheep, etc.) and as makers' marks identifying the home source of clay pottery etc. to the more sophisticated use of hieroglyphics to convey an actual language of thoughts, emotions, and actions.

Romer is a very erudite and witty writer, and is a joy to read. Highly recommended.