Giza: The Truth: The Truth - The Politics, People and History Behind the World's Most Famous Archaeological Site

Lawton and Herald may not display the verbal dexterity, even wizardry, of some of the alternative school of Egyptological researchers who have turned the world's most sacred site into an Indiana Jones-type adventure story, but they do provide us with an authoritative body of knowledge with which to decide for ourselves. And given the vested interests and "mutual-admiration societies" which tend to characterise Egyptological investigations, I'd call their unbiased approach courageous.

So, despite the authors' impartiality - or rather because of it - nobody is safe. Finding 'The Truth' is largely a process of debunking sacred cows - whether they are the long-cherished theories of orthodox community or the best-selling new theories of the archaeoastronomers.

No stone is unturned. And when the stones being lifted are 2,5 ton blocks of limestone on the Giza plateau, the conclusions cannot fail to have gravity. On the age-old question of how these masonic monoliths were positioned, for instance, the authors cover all the ground - from spiral ramps to the Cast Block Theory - and conclude with a convincing case for 'sonic levitation'.

Does their conclusion sound slightly off-the-wall? The truth is that despite their down-to-earth no-nonsense investigative approach, the authors themselves cannot altogether disguise a breathless excitement. While they reduce the theories of celebrated tinpot Archaeoastronomers and respected Egyptologists down to size, the primary material which inspires this book gives their research its greatest readability. Giza. Sacred cows may fall by the wayside, but the awesome power and mystery of these Sacred Monuments remains.

The fact is: the Truth behind Giza is still to be discovered.

The book also gives a full account of the explorations from the sixties to the present day. We learn about the search for hidden chambers in the pyramids and in the process are introduced to all the main players. At the time that the book was being researched, there was much rumour circulating on the internet about secret excavations, cover-ups and the like. The authors managed to get themselves into the actual locations of the rumoured excavations including the Great Pyramid and "Tomb of Osiris". The resulting photographs clearly show that at the time, there were no new secret chambers or tunnels. The on-off relationships between the various factions, for example The Schor Foundation, Boris Said, Robert Bauval, Rudolph Gantenbrink and Doctor Zahi Hawass to name a few, are described in full and make for fascinating and somewhat dizzying reading as Robert Bauval in particular hops effortlessly from side to side.

For me, this book had everything. It gave me a history of the plateau and a description of the explorations of the distant and more recent past. It told me about the on-going hunt for "secret" chambers and the Hall of Records. It discounted the intriguing internet rumours by proving with photographic evidence that there were no cover-ups, and it introduced me to all the main players involved in the on-going exploration of the Giza Plateau. It will be interesting to see how the "alternative camp" responds to the arguments presented in this book.