SciFri Book Club

This October, the SciFri Book Club will read Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-Creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations by Sam Kean. In this playful yet deeply researched narrative, Kean invites us to time travel not by machine but by our own five senses. Alongside a band of experimental archaeologists, he fires medieval catapults, chips obsidian blades sharp enough to perform surgery, ferments ancient sourdough starters, and even sniffs out the perfumes that might have filled royal courts. The result is a banquet of history that mixes science with spectacle, where a single meal, sound, or smell can collapse the distance of centuries. With humor, curiosity, and scholarly insight, Kean brings Tutankhamun’s world (and many others) off the museum pedestal and into our kitchens, workshops, and imaginations.

Dinner with King Tut brings together a range of topics, including archaeology, sensory history, cultural memory, the science of experimental methods and more—and we’ll touch on these ideas throughout this Book Club season.

Get the Ebook or audiobook from the Alaska Digital Library. You can also get a copy from your local bookstore. 

This Book Club season kicks off on Wednesday, October 1, and you can read along with us! We’ll be (loosely) following this schedule, but all our readers are welcome to join us at their own pace:

• October 1-7: Introduction and Chapters 1-3
• October 8-14: Chapters 4-6
• October 15-21: Chapters 7-9
• October 22-31: Chapters 10-11 + Conclusion

Plus, we’ll be hosting events throughout the month! Keep an eye out on our website or join our Book Club newsletter to be the first to know.

There are so many ways to dive in and participate! You can purchase a copy of the book (and support the author and SciFri), join the discussion in our online Book Club community, sign up for our email newsletter, or RSVP for our upcoming Book Club events. Check out all the details below.

Join the SciFri Book Club community forum here.

Book Club Meeting

Want to meet other SciFri Book Club members, talk about the book selection, and find more resources for deeper learning—all without leaving your home? Our community meeting is the place for you!

Dinner with King Tut
Thursday, October 30
4 PM  |  Zoom

This discussion meeting will focus on themes and topics featured in Dinner with King Tut. You’re welcome to join us no matter your reading progress—come chat with other science-interested folks about archaeology, sensory history, cultural memory, the science of experimental methods, and more.

Plus, we’re doing a special HALLOWEEN MEETING! Come dressed as your favorite book (even a t-shirt is fine), and I’ll send you a special “treat” as a thank you.