The Mummy Congress
 Heather Pringle
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 2001 Theia/Hyperion
  ISBN: 0786865512

The Mummy Congress is as dramatic as it sounds. The cover photo is arresting & you have got to wonder what these “leading mummy experts” are like? What are their passions? How much intrigue can you squeeze from a perfectly preserved 2000 year old body? Ah, let Heather Pringle tell you!

This is one ghoul-ish & giggle-ish kind of read, for while this author is deadly serious -- she also has a delightfully dry sense of humor!

I can't write a word of this review without double entendres! I was not much taken by this book until a power outage deprived me of all things electrical & I dived in. What a different & strange world Heather Pringle has uncovered!

The art of mummification is discussed in detail from ancient times in the Andes, China, Europe, Russia, Japan & Egypt to those Incorruptibles such as Lenin reposing for all to see in Moscow & St. Zita in Tuscany.

Funnily enough, after traipsing all around the world on the heels of the mummy archaeologists, soaking up their stories & their passions, Heather Pringle learned that when they were asked if they would choose to be mummified, most said no, with quaint sincerity, because they wouldn't want to be stared at in museums or examined by curious scientists.

When I was working within the medical profession an article came across my desk stating statistics from western mortuary records indicating that since the end of WWII our buried bags of bones have been deteriorating at a slower rate, due to all the preservatives we inadvertently consume from our food supplies. In the chapter on Self-Preservation the author looks at how obsessed we have become with anti-aging & casts her unflinching gaze hither & yon from health spas with waters from a bog in which a 2,000 year old mummy has been found to cryonics & everything in between.

This is one weird read! Well written, amusing & informative about a world within a world filled with intrigue, humor & thoughts about the preservation of this bag of bones in which we walk our lives & the records, myths & stories of why we do it.

Fascinating! Changed my mind about eternity, anorexia, grief & where the soul might really dwell!

Heather Pringle is a journalist & writer who has written on archaeology & ancient cultures in numerous magazines including Discover, National Geographic Traveler, New Scientist, Science & Geo. She is also the author of 2 books, including: In Search of Ancient North America. She lives in Vancouver, Canada.
(01/20/02)

Rebecca