‎'‎Wonderful Things is a remarkable achievement‎:‎ a scholarly work packed with facts but one which is also genuinely readable‎.‎ It is ambitious in its scope and detail‎.‎ To follow the growth of an arcane but also a highly romantic branch of learning becomes in Thompson‎'‎s book something close to an adventure‎.‎ The author successfully conveys his infectious enthusiasm for the subject but writes with a degree of detachment that allows him to be refreshingly and occasionally almost ruthlessly trenchant and critical‎.‎‎'‎ ‎- Jaromir Malek‎;‎ ‎'‎Thompson‎'‎s account demonstrates the multiple array of events‎,‎ personalities‎,‎ political developments and intellectual inclinations that contributed to shaping the field of Egyptology as it emerged as a self‎-conscious discipline‎.‎ Moving beyond the familiar recounting of great discoveries in Egypt‎.‎‎.‎‎.‎Wonderful Things seeks to demonstrate the power and complexities of Egyptological activities in fashioning the story of ancient Egypt‎.‎ We learn much about the less acknowledged ch‎.‎‎.‎‎.‎