Book Review: Monumental by Simon Warrack

In addition to the intruduction and epilouge, the book has 10 chapters: First steps in stone [Canterbury cathedral, England]; The stones of Venice [Venice]; Doing as the Romans do [Rome]; Embracing Asia [Preah Ko, Cambodia]; The greatest temple in the world [Angkor Wat, Cambodia]; An obelist returns [transporting a stele from Rome to Axum in Ethiopia]; Carving a new Jerusalem[Lalibela, Ethiopia]; Temple of the sun [Umm Al Nar tombs, United Arab Emirates]; Two hundred chisels [Lebanon]; and The house of stone [Great Zimbabwe].

For some reason I was expecting this to be a book on the art of stone carving from the viewpoint of a stone carver, whereas it's actually a standard biography focusing on the author's training and work. The author has had a fascinating life and gives a lot of entertaining asides and digressions that add colour to the narrative. His writing style is fast paced and engaging, focused primarily on the various sites where he worked throughout his career. I appreciated the mini deep dives into local history that fleshed out the backgrounds of those monuments, making the book even more interesting.

There are 2 chapters that deal with Ethiopia, and as someone who's researched its churches and history, and read the Kebra Nagast (Glory of Kings) in translation, I was a little surprised by how he presented elements of their religious writings as historical fact. The sections are brief and hopefully they'll encourage people to research this rich and interesting culture.

The author tends to emphasize the bond of stone masons throughout history and how working with stone is a universal language in most of the chapters, which got repetitive and unnecessary as the book went on.

I had access to an early Advance Reader Copy, so there were more spelling and editorial errors than usual. Those should be cleared up by the time the book is published. Also missing were several illustrations, which simply had place holders. The images that were included were nice for understanding some of the more technical architectural language of the book.

On the whole this was an entertaining read. It was neat learning some of what goes into restoring and preserving ancient monuments made of stone.