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Title: Technically good, but the author had scores to settle
Review: This is a competent technical account of solving an unknown language. What spoils the book is the overemphasis on the personal aspects of scientific investigation. A large number of people made contributions towards solving the Mayan 'code', but if an individual didn't get the whole thing all at once, he or she was 'wrong'. Not only that, they were BAD: it is charged that various people erred because they were racists, i.e. they didn't think the Mayan language was complex because the Maya were dark-skinned. This kind of slander leaves a very bad taste in the mouth, and suggests that the author had a number of professional scores to settle. As a working scientist, I am offended by the way this author misrepresents the practice of scientific investigation as a zero-sum game with heroic winners and bad, racist losers. I cannot recommend this book.
