If you're interested in the archaeology of ancient Iraq, and love Indiana Jones, then you have to get this book! "The Luck of Nineveh" is about Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-94) living out his boyhood dream of visiting the world of his favorite book "The Arabian Nights" and achieving archaeological immortality by digging up the palaces of the Assyrians (800-612bc) at Nineveh and Nimrud. His finds were amazing- Hundreds of rooms with bas-reliefs; 16ft tall man-headed winged bulls guarding their entrances; beautifully carved ivories and foundation tablets with cuneiform script. Once the public could view the results of his hard work on display in the British Museum and read his published adventures he became famous and referred to as 'Layard of Nineveh'. And Brackman's style is great. The book could be entitled "The Life of Layard". Not only do I travel with him but I grow up with him too. All the way to his death at age 77. I feel his teenage angst, his adolescent loneliness, mature worries and depressions, and finally the joy and awe of incredible accomplishment. Layard lives a complete, and heroic life. A fantastic story. A fantastic book.