I want to add one more comment. It's about Mika Waltari's "The Egyptian", which, if I have a favorite book is probably it.
It can be seen in a lot of different ways. Viewed as an adventure story it's probably only exceeded by Clavell's "Shogun" and Bester's "The Stars My Destination", although not by much. It's a rip-roaring adventure that takes place about 3500 years ago involving the doctor of Amenthotep IV, better known as King Tut's Daddy.
Everybody knows who King Tut is because the idea of a kid as ruler of the superpower of that day is pretty interesting, but in historical significance his farther was probably the single most important human being in history, at least in terms of how our culture got where it is today.
When Joseph brought the Jews into Egypt during their famine, about 250 years before Amentohep, the bible tells us that God was the strongest, meanest, toughest and most important God but it never ever says or even hints that he's the only God. That idea was first thought of by Amentohep. Of course his one god was the sun, which is obviously singular. And from that he derived the idea that since the sun warms all of us equally, we're all equal. And yes, he was the first human being we know of to have ever said such a thing.
He overthrew the old religions in Egypt and established his new church and a couple decades later the followers of the old way killed him and enslaved all his followers.
Then, 150 years later Moses brought a lot of people who believed in one God out of Egypt and into Israel, merged with the Jews who had been left behind and formed what we know as Judaism today.
Of course there's not one single bit of evidence that that's what happened but it answers so many questions that it has become fairly generally accepted as at least likely.
Anyway, "The Egyptian" isn't about Amentohep directly, it's about his physician, who leads a rather extraordinary life. And that's probably the least exaggerated statement I've ever made.
This is a very thoughtful and thought provoking book and a very dramatic very personal story about fascinating characters living in a culture so different than ours that it could almost be on another planet, and the author puts us right in the middle of it more than almost anyone I've ever read.
It's a truly amazing book in so many ways and on so many levels that I'm sorry but you just have to read it. No excuses accepted.
Barry