Craig B. Smith

Going beyond even the expertise of archaeologists and historians, world-class engineer Craig B. Smith explores the planning and engineering behind the incredible Great Pyramid of Giza. How would the ancient Egyptians have developed their building plans, devised work schedules, managed laborers, solved specific design and engineering problems, or even improvised on the job? The answers are here, along with dazzling, one-of-a-kind color photographs and beautiful hand-drawn illustrations of tools, materials, and building techniques the ancient masters used. In his foreword to the book, Egypts Undersecretary of State for the Giza Monuments Zahi Hawass explains the importance of understanding the Great Pyramid as a straightforward construction project.

Counting the Days is the story of six prisoners of war imprisoned by both sides during the conflict the Japanese called the "Pacific War." As in all wars, the prisoners were civilians as well as military personnel. Two of the prisoners were captured on the second day of the war and spent the entire war in prison camps: Garth Dunn, a young Marine captured on Guam who faced a death rate in a Japanese prison 10 times that in battle; and Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki, who suffered the ignominy of being Japanese POW number 1. Simon and Lydia Peters were European expatriates living in the Philippines; the Japanese confiscated their house and belongings, imprisoned them, and eventually released them to a harrowing jungle existence caught between Philippine guerilla raids and Japanese counterattacks. Mitsuye Takahashi was a U.S. citizen of Japanese descent living in Malibu, California, who was imprisoned by the United States for the duration of the war, disrupting her life and separating her from all she owned. Masashi Itoh was a Japanese soldier who remained hidden in the jungles of Guam, held captive by his own conscience and beliefs until 1960, 15 years after the end of the war. This is the story of their struggles to stay alive, the small daily triumphs that kept them goingand for some, their almost miraculous survival.

Tras la fascinación visual que ejercen sobre nosotros las pirámides de Egipto, llenas de magia y misterio, late siempre la perplejidad: ¿cómo se las arreglaron los antiguos egipcios, hace 4.500 años, para levantar esas esplendidas estructuras?, ¿como resolvieron los complicadisimos problemas de ingenieria que planteaba un proyecto tan colosal? ¿como se organizo la inmensa mano de obra necesaria para su construccion? Craig B. Smith, ingeniero de formacion, nos explica en este libro bellamente ilustrado- los secretos de la planificacion y la ereccion de la Gran Piramide de Guiza: que herramientas y materiales se usaron, como eran las tecnicas de construccion de los maestros de obra egipcios, que unidades de medida existian entonces, como se hizo el calculo matematico de los bloques necesarios y, sobre todo, como era la vida y el trabajo de toda aquella humanidad dedicada a construir la gran escalera que conducia al faraon a la inmortalidad. Guiza es una obra fundamental para estudiantes y eruditos, pero tambien para el publico general porque, como afirma Zahi Hawass, la ingente organizacion que implico la construccion de la Gran Piramide es mas importante que la propia piramide.