Parthenon Symposium: Book Talk with Sam Kean
Author of Dinner with King Tut
Monday, May 4, at 5:00 PM Central
Join author Sam Kean for a firsthand account of his adventures in experimental archaeology while writing Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists are Re-creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations.
About the topic:
In his most recent book, Sam Kean joined experimental archaeologists across the globe to fire medieval catapults, perform surgery and tattooing with ancient methods, build Roman-style roads, play ball like an Aztec, and feast Egyptian-style. These eccentric-sounding adventures are part of a serious undertaking—an attempt to recreate the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of ancient cultures. The details of what it was like to live in other times are often forgotten when we study history through famous monuments. As the world’s only full-scale replica of the ancient building, Nashville’s Parthenon serves as a suitable backdrop for an immersive look at ancient cultures.
Registration on Zoom required.
Book Club discussion: Join us in-person for a free informal book club discussion of “Dinner with King Tut,” hosted at the Centennial Park Conservancy offices. Author Sam Kean joins this discussion virtually, following his public talk. Space is limited.
About the speaker:
Sam Kean is a New York Times bestselling author of seven nonfiction books that blend science, history and human drama. Sam is from South Dakota and studied english and physics in college at the University of Minnesota. He also holds a Master’s degree in Library Sciences from Catholic University of America—which suggests a long-standing love of books and good writing. He lives in Washington DC.
Among Sam Kean’s previous books are: The Icepick Surgeon (2021), about ethical misdeeds in the name of science; Caesar’s Last Breath (2017), a historical account of the air around us; and his first book, The Disappearing Spoon (2010), a history of scientific discovery as told through the elements of the periodic table.
His work has received recognition from numerous publications and reviews, and has been featured on Fresh Air, All Things Considered and in The New Yorker, among many others.
About the book:
Dinner with King Tut by Sam Kean
From Nashville Public Library:
From "one of America's smartest and most charming writers" (NPR), 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.
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.