This book describes Johan Reinhard's personal experiences in climbing various Andes mountain peaks; leading archaeological expeditions to find Inca mummies and artifacts; all the "fun" interpersonal/ inter-university/ inter-organisational politcs that preserving and studying important archaeological artifacts entails, and the importance of these discoveries (especially when considering looters' habits of theft and dynamite usage). Reinhard provides the reader with a fascinating look at how the Ice Maiden (and other ice mummies) were found, the difficulties encountered on expeditions to extreme (and sometimes not so extreme) locations, as well as organising (and finding funding) for special permanent storage containers and facilities for these ice mummies. The author provides a brief description of Inca culture, with an emphasis on their high altitude (as far up the mountain as they could possible go) child sacrifices and their beliefs in Mountain gods. I found there was a bit too much about the author and not enough about the Incas in general and the finds specifically. However, this book was well-written with numerous black & white photographs, as well as a section of colour plates. ( )

There were things I enjoyed about this book; however, I felt that not enough attention and detail were paid to describing the wondrous finds of Inca mummies. The discoveries seemed to get pushed to the wayside as Reinhard embarked on paragraph upon paragraph of self-absorbed prose, promulgating his many achievements, hardships, accolades, and "brilliant ideas." He attempted to wedge into this text as many important names and contacts as humanly possible, stressing his ties with those people and societies; which, of course, detracted from the story itself. It's more of an autobiography of Reinhard as opposed to any semi-convincing study of Inca culture surrounding the mummy finds, not to mention the mummies themselves. A brief chapter is devoted to the bare outlines of Inca culture and history, but it culminates to nothing more than a few lines summarizing dates and periods. I was disappointed in the text, not only because it did not provide enough information on the subjects that REALLY matter (like Incas, not Reinhard), but Reinhard came across as arrogant and self-aggrandizing as he recounted his interactions with others. Reinhard repeatedly mentioned his "annoyance" with others, and strived as hard as he could to present those who did not win his favor (or bow to his presence) in an extremely negative light. He also spends valuable space talking about how his "companion" and "lady friend" Jackie would accompany him; this is the fluff that would be better excised and left on the cutting room floor. It contributed nothing to the story.

As I am serious about studying Native American cultures, most especially pre-Inca and Inca, I will look elsewhere for the knowledge that I expected Reinhard to at least make a enthusiastic attempt to supply.

I will say: the pictures were nice.

By the way, after I posted my review on Amazon.com, the author himself emailed me to insult and disparage me for giving him such a low-star review. It only reinforced my perceptions of his arrogance that I gleaned from this text. ( )