Rating: 
Summary: Scholarly detectives unravel an ancient mystery
Review: The true story of the international network of scholars, professional and amateur, who brought the world of the Maya lords out of the shadows. The personalities of the modern Mayanists who finally broke the "code" - including some fierce rivalries - are as integral a part of this story as are the personal histories of the Mayan ruling class revealed by the unraveling of the Mayans' complex system of writing. A must-read for Mayanists and archeology enthusiasts. Author Michael Coe is a prominent art historian
and authority on ancient America who freely admits that some
of his own ideas about the Maya have been proven wrong by the findings chronicled in this book!
Rating: 
Summary: The intellectual puzzle of the Maya script
Review: There are two themes to this book: 1) the puzzle of why it took so long to decipher the Maya script, and 2) how it was finally "cracked", and by whom.
Thousands have found enjoyment in this book; naturally a small minority, some with axes to grind, have not. I will quote from a few reviews:
New York Times: "Rich in personal, even intimate, details, the book reads at times like a novel. It is well calculated to keep aficionados of Maya culture on the edges of their seats."
Science: "A great story told clearly and passionately by a great Mayanist. It's an inspiring example of the ultimate triumph of a truth in the knock-down, drag-out world of academic politics."
Library Journal: "Coe writes with verve, imagination, and brave candor. His book combines impeccable scholarship with an unpretentious spirit -- that is a rare feat indeed."
As a working scientist (I am a Member of the National Academy of Sciences), I wrote this book as a contribution to the history of science.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read on a Controversial Subject
Review: There have been a number of "Gods, Graves and Scholars"-type popularizations of the story of how various ancient scripts and languages have been decoded over the years, whether we're talking about Ancient Egyptian, Cuneiform, Tocharian or Linear B. And with good reason - after all, everybody enjoys an occasional spot of armchair detective work. The story of the decipherment of Mayan hieroglyphs is especially interesting since there are a couple of unexpected turns. Now that the decipherment is a reality, if not yet a completed task, the whole slightly sordid story can be told."Slightly sordid" because the decipherment was the subject of an academic battle that raged for some thirty years in the middle of the twentieth century. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Mayan hieroglyphs were the subject of some highly imaginative interpretations, rather like the Egyptian hieroglyphs before Champollion. The first fruits came with the decipherment of Mayan numbers at the end of the nineteenth century. However, the real breakthrough was the work separately done by Knorosov and Proskouriakoff in the 1950's. The serendipitous origin of Knorosov's interest in the matter is one of the most interesting stories in the history of epigraphy, regardless of what language you're talking about. The problem was that by that point, the controlling interests in the Mayanist community, led by Eric Thompson, had given up on the idea of decipherment and to some extent apparently even doubted that there was anything decipherable. The very idea that some Stalinist academic like Knorozov could actually contribute something of value to the matter was unthinkable, and in his position as doyen of the field Thompson managed to stonewall research in the matter for some time. After Thompson's death in the 1970's the decipherment project moved more apace, but there came to be a rift between the anthropologists and epigraphers as to what provided more important clues to Mayan history, a situation which apparently still exists today. The atmosphere of polemic still hangs over this book. At present, it appears that Thompson is a difficult figure for Mayanists to come to terms with, and we may have to wait another generation before a sanguine approach to his legacy will be possible. As for the ditch diggers vs. the puzzle fans, I think everybody realizes that the field has need for both. Allow me to give my personal opinion as a frustrated linguist and say that my interest lies with the epigraphers, which is one reason why I liked the book so much. It is more than a history of decipherment, it is a history of the Mayanist field, and as such it is for the most part a thrilling story.
Rating: 
Summary: An eye opener
Review: This book is as much about the obstacles in deciphering the Maya script as it is about the language itself. For those without their fingers on the pulse of the scientific community, this book is a real eye opener, illustrating that even in the scientific or academic community where no theory should be accepted as truth without critical testing and proof, politics and emotions can have strong influence on progress. Coe demonstrates that with time and the courage to think independently, mysteries can be solved.
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly readable on difficult subject
Review: This book is informative, educational and a great read. It contains a wealth of information, not only about Mayan writing but about linguistics as well. I recommend this book highly for anyone interested in Archaeology, Anthropology or Linguistics.
Rating: 
Summary: Technically good, but the author had scores to settle
Review: This is a competent technical account of solving an unknown language. What spoils the book is the overemphasis on the personal aspects of scientific investigation. A large number of people made contributions towards solving the Mayan 'code', but if an individual didn't get the whole thing all at once, he or she was 'wrong'. Not only that, they were BAD: it is charged that various people erred because they were racists, i.e. they didn't think the Mayan language was complex because the Maya were dark-skinned. This kind of slander leaves a very bad taste in the mouth, and suggests that the author had a number of professional scores to settle. As a working scientist, I am offended by the way this author misrepresents the practice of scientific investigation as a zero-sum game with heroic winners and bad, racist losers. I cannot recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: The behind-the-scenes story of an intellectual triumph.
Review: This is the fascinating story of the scholars who struggled to crack the notoriously difficult Maya hieroglyphic writing. In focusing on the individuals involved and their interaction, Coe not only weaves an intellectual detective story, he touches the central nerve that makes this discipline so controversial. Full of the clashing personalities and bruised egos that kept decipherment in an eipraphic dark ages, the book reveals the true nature of the problem--and in so doing exposes one of the great scholarly disasters--and ultimate triumphs--of modern research. This is an absolute must-have for any Precolumbian-related library. Those interested in Precolumbian civilizations ignore it at their peril. As the chief illustrator of this book and an epigrapher in my own right, I highly recommend Coe's approach and his even handling of so difficult a subject. Few scholars in this field know how to convey effectively their subject. In this regard, Coe is outstandingly readable!
Rating:
Summary: A good account
Review: Though Coe does not give most of the people in this epic true story much credit, his style is lively and his analysis of the Mayan writing system is good.
Rating:
Summary: A great book about a great deed
Review: With lively and repeatedly witty prose, Michael Coe has written an excellently readable history of the decipherment of the Maya glyphs. As a process advanced by a multitude of people, there of course have been many mistakes made along the road, and the author is quite outspoken about these; however, criticizing this as bias as some other reviewers have done is unfair, as Coe always remains integral to the subject. Not content with a dry story of scientific advancement, he takes the reader right to the core of the story, painting an exciting picture of real people with real weaknesses. I don't think there ever was a time in which any field of science wasn't dominated by battles of strong opinions, some right, some wrong; but in the end, conflict is the source of progress, and as such an unerasable part of the whole endeavour, which if left out would take both credibility and definity from a book trying to chronicle it. Both of these things "Breaking the Maya Code" achieves, and therefore it can only be called a complete success. For an exciting tale of one of the major epigraphic breakthroughs of the century, look no further.
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