Estelle was my first tutor in classical archaeology back in 1993...I remember the class. Estelle entered a small room off the Nicholson Museum at the University of Sydney where a bunch of over awed 18 year old's cowered. She carried a large cardboard box. She placed the box on a table and dumped out the contents. She told us to put it all together...a human skeleton... with a difference. There was an extra bone. No-one knew what it was...Estelle did, she was trying to trick us. It was the bone from a dog's penis.
Using this experience as a background, this is how I read this book. Designed for the lay person, but including technical information, this book reveals much insight into the lives of those who lived and died at Pompeii and the research into their remains. I loved it, especially knowing the research that went into it...but I was expecting a trick. ( )