96 pages
English language
Published Aug. 10, 1979 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
David Macaulay: Motel of the Mysteries (1979, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company)
96 pages
English language
Published Aug. 10, 1979 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
An arch and witty tale purporting to be the dissertation of some future archeologists' discovery and exploration of the "Toot and C'mon Motel" (any resemblance to a Holiday Inn and the Egyptian pharaoh is entirely intentional.) In the process, they get just about every detail wrong, surmising it to be a necropolis - does the "Plant That Would Not Die" symbolize eternal life or⦠wait a minute, isn't that just the ubiquitous plastic philodendron in every room? - and along the way cast doubt on what we really think we "know" about ancient Egypt. It's all enhanced by Macaulay's detailed and meticulous pen-and-ink sketches. Hilarious and memorable.