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Michael D. Coe
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Breaking the Maya Code Paperback – Import, November 1, 1994

by Michael D Coe (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 51 ratings
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There is a newer edition of this item:

Breaking the Maya Code
Breaking the Maya Code
$16.57
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    1 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Penguin Books Ltd
  4. Publication date
    November 1, 1994
  5. Dimensions
    5.04 x 0.75 x 7.8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0140234810
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0140234817
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books Ltd; New Ed edition (November 1, 1994)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 1 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0140234810
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140234817
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.04 x 0.75 x 7.8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 51 ratings

About the author

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Michael D. Coe

Michael D. Coe

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Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Yale University, Michael D. Coe is a specialist in the comparative study of ancient, tropical forest civilizations. Coe's books include The Maya, Mexico, The True History of Chocolate, Breaking the Maya Code, Reading the Maya Glyphs, and Angkor and the Khmer Civilization.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
51 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

California Star
5.0 out of 5 stars A story of great deciphering
Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2009
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This is a great story of a great deciphering and stays on par with Chadwick's  The Decipherment of Linear B . What have stricken me the most about Maya writing decipherment was how long it have taken from the first insightful work of Knorosov to the almost full understanding of the script that we gain with the ending of the eighties. Especially if you compare this story to the one's describing decipherments of Egyptian hieroglyphs or Cretan Linear B. I think that this fact can only partially be attributed to Eric Thompson's negative influence, the rest is number one much worst familiarity of the researchers with Maya languages in comparison to scientists dealing with ancient Near East (I think it steams only partially from ignorant unwillingness as Coe presents it, the rest would be availability of Maya linguistic studies, till quite recently the dictionaries were scare and qualified teachers even more, and the next factor would be that Maya grammar is like anything we know from Europe or West Asia) to this we have to add apparent immense complication of their script (to the point that each scribe could develop his own way of writing certain glyphs so much that we could recognize that it is not a different "letter"). Only after Benedictine identification of all the allographs and polyphones the real decipherment could actually take off. And we deserve it to the great variety of Maya epigraphers who's personalities are so vividly depicted in this book.
2 people found this helpful
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Bronwen
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating puzzle
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2017
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I found out about this book from the National Geographic documentary which I have since purchased. I highly recommend getting them both. This is the absolutely fascinating tale of the incredibly varied people who contributed to deciphering the Maya writing system. The book does get technical, as it is as much a scientific endeavor as an artistic, archaelogical and literary endeavor, but Coe makes it very engaging.
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Larry N. Stout
5.0 out of 5 stars Nicely interwoven true stories
Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2010
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I will echo the highly favorable comments already made by others. Prof. Coe enlightens us in a very comfortable style not only about the decipherment but also about the all-too-human sociology of scientific inquiry. We have here as well the overarching intrigue of how unlikely true history can be, in the very special case of our learning to read the writings of the Maya. One of my most valued books.
2 people found this helpful
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KC Tang
4.0 out of 5 stars Lively, even viscious
Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2008
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A good story needs a villain. The villain of the book in question is Sir Eric Thompson, who must have been a fascinating figure (in fact I've been looking for some biography of him after reading the present work). Skip the first chapter, which concerns writing systems in general, and you get a hilarious work (perhaps the author had James Watson's "Double Helix" in mind when writing), abounding with anecdotes and gossips of the nasty academic world. Thompson is the arch-villain, but the author's censure on the "field anthropologists" is also severe.

The first chapter seems to mar the whole work, which is a bit too long, and is not very accurate. For example, the Chinese writing system doesn't have "214 determinatives" as the author claims (p. 32) -- there're 214 "section headers" in a traditional Chinese dictionary, which were devised by lexicographers, and are not supposed to tell "one the general class of phenomena to which the thing named belongs" (p. 31), although the two concepts have overlapping. Of course these're only minor mistakes, and to them we should not pay too much attention, as the author warns us, unwittingly: "It will be recalled that Thompson dealt posthumously with Whorf by paying no attention whatsoever to Whorf's larger points, and devoting much ink to the latter's minor mistakes (and mistakes they were), like a terrier worrying a rat." (p. 152). All the same, one star has been deducted!
4 people found this helpful
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roxanne feline
5.0 out of 5 stars Enthralling and useful
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2001
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The already-posted reviews give a good summary. I bought the book to read in preparation for a visit to the Mayan site at Copan and found it enthralling. It also introduced me to the archaeologists who recovered the cultural history of the descendants of the Maya (their names are on a monument in the town square). It gave me a better sense of how much we know and how we know it, which made our visit much richer.
One person found this helpful
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Richard Robinson
5.0 out of 5 stars what a detective "true" story!
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2013
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I was totally entertained and enlightened about the inter workings of the academic inter world and the infighting and personalities.
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Bob
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2015
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One of the better books I've read on languages.
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Michael Garrison
4.0 out of 5 stars Maya Code
Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2013
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The book has a huge amount of interesting information for readers truly interested in Mayan Culture and Achievements but scientists and scholars spend a lot of time attacking each other and the book is full of these examples. Imagine what could happen if they worked together.
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Top reviews from other countries

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JaguarJon53
5.0 out of 5 stars A ripping yarn
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 12, 2015
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Michael D Coe, world renowned Mayanist, covers the history of the slow, erratic decipherment of the Mayan writing system in gripping style. My copy has the added advantage of being a former Augusta GA library which strikes me as appropriate.
The story is populated with adventurers, rogues and mad academics. It's a wonder that any progress was made; each character projects their own personal fantasy onto the architecture and artifacts of this fascinating enigma.
After centuries of blind turns and dead ends, they finally began to unravel the true history. Fascinating and a great read.
2 people found this helpful
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Tex Sarabia
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in Germany on January 31, 2013
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Excellent buying experience! Perfect communication, fee, price and delivery time and good description. Higly recommended Amazon seller. Regards from Belgium
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kutai
5.0 out of 5 stars マヤ文字の解読史と、それにまつわるドラマ？まで描く
Reviewed in Japan on July 30, 2003
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巻頭でマヤ文字の性格、マヤ文字はどんな言語の文字と類似しているか比較する章を設けつつ、解読史をドラマチックに描くスリリングな本です。あまりよく知られていないベンジャミン＝ウォーフのマドリードコデックスの一部解読、ユーリ＝クノロゾフのおいたちと彼の画期的な音節文字の発見と解読、プロスクリアコフのおいたちと「誕生」「即位」の文字の発見と碑文の解読について描きます。著者は、学生社で刊行された著名な概説書『マヤ』の著者（現在最新版が『古代マヤ文明』として訳されている）として知られるマヤ学者コウです。冷戦時代の背景からエリック＝トンプソンがアメリカのナショナリズムにこだわってクノロゾフの解読を認めたがらないで意地を張っている様子を皮肉たっぷりに書いているく!だりなどは、当時の時代背景を伝える雰囲気があり思わずニヤリとしてしまいます。
4 people found this helpful
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Dora Raz
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 4, 2016
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brilliant. thank you
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