Breaking the Maya Code

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I ended up skimming the later parts as there was so much detail about how scholars figured out how to read the language of the Maya. I think that's more about my level of interest than a criticism of the book itself. I did enjoy the author's memoir Final Report even more than this.

I read Breaking the Maya Code to research material for my upcoming novel "Meaning of My Life." The book was not easy to read but more I read more I was fortunate to discover this book. It has well researched facts about Mayan culture and languages woven into true stories. I found what I was searching for. Thanks to the author Michael D. Coe for writing it. A must read for both students and teachers of Maya Civilization.

The late Professor Coe does a fine job of bringing the scholars responsible for the decipherment to life. Referring to them as Yuri and Tania and Linda and David etc. gives the reader the feeling that they are (or were) real people. The one shortcoming I found was a lack of detail of the deductive process that each actor went through in reaching his or her conclusions. This is forgivable inasmuch as Professor Coe was not one of the linguists who did the deciphering, but rather a colleague and friend of many of them.

Written like a (very detailed) mystery, excellent telling of the long and discouraging quest to decode pre-conquest Mayan writing. The main obstruction appears to have been "exoticizing" the Mayan culture and searching for obscure meanings in fairly ordinary historical recording. And, I am SO glad I never considered an academic career; those folks are nasty.

This has been one of my favorite books since I first read it back in the early 90's. I had grown up reading about the Maya as peace-loving philosopher kings but reading Freidel and Schele's A Forest of Kings  A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya  demolished that myth. Then I found Coe's fascinating and exciting book on the decipherment of the Mayan script.Some readers complained about Coe's discussion of Sir Eric Thompson and his supporters' doctrinaire denial that the script could be translated and those who challenged this orthodox view (and were eventually able to translate the Mayan texts.) Would they also argue that it's inappropriate, snide, spiteful and score-settling to include mention of the Church's opposition to Galileo? Thompson couldn't burn anyone at the stake but he was capable of very thoroughly torching the academic career of anyone who challenged the orthodox view and he had a choke hold on American scholarship for a generation. Only after his death was the academe open to acknowledging the linguistic progress of his challengers. This struggle was not inconsequential nor is discussing it petty.

This book provides a thorough discussion of the progress...and regressions...in the decryption of Mayan writing. I read it after finishing Margalit Fox's new book on the deciphering of Egyptian writing. Both were fascinating discussions of the processes involved in the task and the missteps of the investigators. And both make real the unattractive side of academia...selfishness over sources, the cult of personality, and the reluctance to consider new evidence and theories. Some reviewers commented negatively on these points, but they are all part of discovery...think of the battles over access to the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the prolonged rejection of plate tectonics, asteroids destroying dinosaurs, and birds evolving from dinosaurs. The process is as interesting as the result! I think Professor Coe was very evenhanded in his telling of the story.

This is a fascinating book and a good read. I remember the National Geographic articles from the 1950's when the Mayan Temples with their indecipherable glyphs were being discovered in the jungles. It was very interesting how Cold War politics interfered with the recognition of a Russian scholar who made the 'big breakthrough' in the decipherment as he was painted (better 'tainted) with the 'tar brush of Soviet pseudo-science.' After reading this, you will want to read 'The Decipherment of Linear B' by John Chadwick and 'Cracking the Egyptian Code: The Revolutionary Life of Jean-Francois Champollion' by Andrew Robinson.

This is a fascinating account of how the Mayan glyphs were deciphered. I have an old earlier edition of this book which I have read three times now over the years. It was in a popular format (think Penguin), and I bought this edition for a present. However this edition is in more like picking up a textbook, which is unfortunate since it seems to suggest that it is for undergraduate academic students which could be off-putting, whereas it is a popular account.. Try not to let this put you off for this is a great book. The upside is that the photos are printed much more clearly on better quality paper.The 5 stars are for the content, not the presentation.

Despite my misgivings, and it's technicalities, it's somehow very good read, because it's focus is more on the history of the people involved in the breaking of the code. You do have to concentrate a little, but it's not overly demanding. Sometimes the diagrams and the text could be better matched, so you can understand what's being explained. However as said it's the history that's the interesting part: revealing how preconceptions, dominant personalities, and wilful obstinacy, can, and has delayed the translation of a written language for centuries.

After visiting recently Guatemala and many of their ancient Maya sites, my young guide at Tikal recommended me this book, along with several others, as a way of helping my increasing curiosity about the Maya civilization. The book is written in an excellent "detective" stile, which page after page delivers a suspense atmosphere and reveals step by step, the investigators involved in the amazing decipherment of the Maya glyphs, their biographies without excluding humorous details and observations.Being a renamed academic, Dr. Coe has the talent of turning a complex scientific subject accessible to a common reader.This is one of those rare books one has difficulty to interrupt once start reading it. A great book!

Bought for husband. He says it is comprehensive but very detailed and it is difficult to sort things out, de-coding not explained as well as it could be. Was recommended by a friend who has a very mathematical mind.

Top book. Very detailed. A must for those who want to try and follow the thinking behind the quest for translating the Mayan 'language'.