A concise but beautiful introduction to the famous Book of the Dead, perhaps the most famous writing in Ancient Egyptian history, very popular from about 1500 BCE and constantly placed in the tombs of the Egyptian kings and notables. In essence, it mainly contained spells to protect and guide the deceased during his journey through the otherworld. Kemp not only deals with the content and evolution of the texts and images, but also sketches the broader framework of Egyptian thinking about death, about religion and spirituality in general. What struck me most is that there was not really one Book of the Dead, for almost every version is different and thousands of them have been preserved, and that the standardization process was not completed until about 600 bce. Above all, this booklet (by Kemp I mean) shows how diverse the ancient Egyptians thought about life and death, contrasting with the image of the static society that I still had. More on that in my History account on Goodreads : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5509977436. ( )