Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Mair and Mallory did an excellent job. They not only cover the mummies and the archaeological finds, they also provide lots of historical background and context, which is fascinating.Easy to read, well-written, with a light touch and spots of humor. My only complaint is that the maps often don't mark the locations being discussed in the surrounding text, leading the reader to flip forward or back to the correct map, though a map of the same area is on the current page.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Mair and Mallory did an excellent job. They not only cover the mummies and the archaeological finds, they also provide lots of historical background and context, which is fascinating. Easy to read, well-written, with a light touch and spots of humor. My only complaint is that the maps often don't mark the locations being discussed in the surrounding text, leading the reader to flip forward or back to the correct map, though a map of the same area is on the current page.
Rating: 
Summary: If you found this book too dull
Review: read Elizabeth Wayland Barber's "Mummies of Urumchi" instead. It's a great read. She foucses on what we can learn about these people based on (starting from) the textiles the mummies were wrapped in. The result is a fascinating look at a surprising culture. And if you enjoy that, try her earlier book "Women's Work: the First 20,000 Years" too.
Rating:
Summary: If you found this book too dull
Review: read Elizabeth Wayland Barber's "Mummies of Urumchi" instead. It's a great read. She foucses on what we can learn about these people based on (starting from) the textiles the mummies were wrapped in. The result is a fascinating look at a surprising culture. And if you enjoy that, try her earlier book "Women's Work: the First 20,000 Years" too.
Rating: 
Summary: A fascinating look at one of our modern mysteries.
Review: This thick volume attempts to answer the question of how a bunch of Caucasian mummies ended up in central China. Scholarly and far-reaching, it delves into linguistics, archaeology, religion, and other disciplines. It didn't actually dwell on the mummies of Tarim much. Most of it's book scholarship, not field investigation. It tries to show how various populations in China got where they did, using whatever means it can. In this regard, it succeeds. But I wish it'd talked about the actual mummies more than it did. I got occasional glimpses, but nothing more.
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