The Buried Book

The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh

By: David Damrosch

Narrated by: William Hughes

One day in 1872, self-taught Assyriologist George Smith was sifting through a pile of clay tablets when he realized he was reading about "a flood, storm, a ship caught on a mountain, and a bird sent out in search of dry land". This is the riveting story of the discovery of the world's first literary epic, the "Epic of Gilgamesh".©2006 David Damrosch (P)2007 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Fascinating. Touching. Inspiring.

It starts with recent history that opened a portal to the deep well of ancient history and the first recorded times. Then, it comes back to the present to unite us all, in space and time.
As a Hebrew person, I feel touched by hearing the history and tails of my Semitic siblings and ancestors.

Why? I don't know.

This book gives me the most vivid, lucid dreams. Why I don't know but I am guaranteed an amazing adventure.

Started out okay

but then got into gossipy stories and lost the thread. I gave up at chapter five.

Excellent!! Great history of the discovery!!

Great history of the discovery of the clay tablets of Assyria. and the people involved in the start of the field of Assyriology.

A great story

The story of rediscovering the cuneiform tablets in Iraq should benefit not only those interested in history. This story is nicely compsed, never boring and actually quite interesting. The intrigues of the British "high society" scientific world in the late 1900s should come as a surprise to no one. But the most interesting part is the Sumerians and Akkadians speaking to us about their daily life some 4-5.000 years ago though the tablets. This is really mind-boggling. It is a sort of Facebook and Twitter long before computers. Well worth reading.

Lots of Areas of Interest Poorly Drawn Together

This book can easily be broken into three parts and a rather rambling epilogue. The first part details the lives and careers of two British Museum archaeologists—George Smith and Hormuzd Rassam. The second takes a look at the court life in ancient Babylon in roughly 2500 BCE. The third is a short summary of the Epic of Gilgamesh. And the fourth is a brief account of the epic’s influence in modern times. The result is not a book on the rediscovery of the first great epic poem, but a rather jumbled set of accounts on the above topics. To give Damrosch credit, he starts very well, but the whole account quickly loses steam as the book seems to veer off topic repeatedly. The little side routes are interesting, but they distract from the overall sense of unity that I expected the book to achieve. At many times I kept asking myself when the Epic of Gilgamesh was going to reappear in Damrosch’s account.

The men behind the Epic

What did you love best about The Buried Book?

I liked the personal glimpse that we got behind all of the people involved in the rediscovery, translation, writing, and preservation of the epic of Gilgamesh. The author elaborates greatly on the personal lives of important scholars such as George Smith and Hormuzd Rassam. The author also uses research about the ancient city of Nineveh to paint a deeply personal picture of the kings directly responsible for the preservation of Gilgamesh. David Damrosch emphasizes, simply through telling details about their lives and the context in which they lived in, that though all of the people he writes about are dead, they all once lived full lives. They had had ambitions, fears, and hopes. Damrosch explores even Gilgamesh himself, who has some basis in history.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

The beginning is a little slow, but I would say that it definitely gets more interesting as you are introduced to more layers of history.

Great story, worth sticking until the end

It took me a couple of false starts to get into this book, as the introduction is a little slow, and it is hard to understand where the author is going. Ultimately, the books establishes the context of end of victorian era when the tablets of Gilgamesh’s Epic were found, then goes on to biographies of the very different men responsible for the discovery. The most interesting part, for me, were the tales of Assyria’s fall, and its last great king, as well as the tale of the Epic itself. Thank you for the great stories!

Interesting History

Well researched and presented history of this ancient epic. A lot of time is spent on the rivalries of the English archaeologists involved in its discovery and translation. Best part is an analysis and explanation of the story itself. It greatly enhanced my appreciation of the epic.

Interesting Epic of the Epic Sometimes Loses Way

I disagree with some reviewers who argued this mixed fiction with fact, though they may be commenting on the author's interpretation of the Epic of Gilgamesh, which I am no expert in. I found his discussion of the tablets' discovery and those who discovered them--along with the wrangling and racism that went into their acquisition and the credit for it--fascinating. Occasionally, one can lose sight of the story's plot line in the details of individual life, however. Starting around chapter 7 and his discussion of the story itself, there is again much to recommend this book. Again, however, his discussion of modern Iraq at the end led a bit astray from the center of the story, which might best have ended with his leaving of Gilgamesh as a judge in the underworld, which struck a more universal and meaningful note with me.