VIRTUAL: “Dinner with King Tut” author Sam Kean

This one is for our history buffs out there!  Join author Sam Kean as he discusses his book, Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Recreating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations, an archaeological romp through the entire history of humankind—and through all five senses—from tropical Polynesian islands to forbidding arctic ice floes, and everywhere in between. We hope you can join us for this fascinating talk!

This virtual program will be held in collaboration with the Ashland Public Library.

Please register here for the Zoom link.

About the Book

Whether it’s the mighty pyramids of Egypt or the majestic temples of Mexico, we have a good idea of what the past looked like.  But what about our other senses: the tang of Roman fish sauce and the springy crust of Egyptian sourdough?  The boom of medieval cannons and the clash of Viking swords?  The frenzied plays of an Aztec ballgame … and the chilling reality that the losers might also lose their lives?

History often neglects the tastes, textures, sounds, and smells that were an intimate part of our ancestors’ lives, but a new generation of researchers is resurrecting those hidden details, pioneering an exciting new discipline called experimental archaeology.  These are scientists gone rogue: they make human mummies; they investigate the unsolved murders of ancient bog bodies; they carve primitive spears and go hunting, then knap their own obsidian blades to skin the game; they build perilous boats and plunge out onto the open sea—all in the name of experiencing history as it was, with all its dangers, disappointments, and unexpected delights.

Beloved author Sam Kean joins these experimental archaeologists on their adventures across the globe, from the Andes to the South Seas.  He fires medieval catapults, tries his hand at ancient surgery and tattooing, builds Roman-style roads—and, in novelistic interludes, spins gripping tales about the lives of our ancestors with vivid imagination and his signature meticulous research.

Lively, offbeat, and filled with stunning revelations about our past, Dinner with King Tut sheds light on days long gone and the intrepid experts resurrecting them today, with startling, lifelike detail and more than a few laughs along the way.

About the Author

Sam Kean is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books.  He spent years collecting mercury from broken thermometers as a kid, and now he’s a writer in Washington, D.C.  His stories have appeared in The Best American Science and Nature Writing, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Slate, and Psychology Today, among other places, and his work has been featured on NPR’s Radiolab, Science Friday, and All Things Considered, among other shows.  The Bastard Brigade was a Science Friday book of the year, while Caesar’s Last Breath was the Guardian science book of the year.  The Disappearing Spoon was a runner-up for the Royal Society book of the year.  Both The Violinist’s Thumb and The Dueling Neurosurgeons were nominated for PEN’s literary science writing award.

NOTE: This program will be recorded and a video link will be sent to all registrants within 48 hours of the program