After wading through a wealth of new age and neo-pagan type pseudo-history books, this book was received with extra pleasure. A difficult read because it does deal with ancient Ireland from an archeological perspective, but worthwhile for anyone that is interested in life before the Celts. No gushing about how wonderful life was or how we should try to get back to the way our ancestors lived, the authors keep speculation to a minimum and focus on what is actually known. As a practicing druid, let me assure you that enough junk has been written about Ireland with nothing to back it up except other Llewellyn books! Actual information is hard to come by, this book is the best I've read (OK, it's the only pre-Celtic I've read)