Intended for readers seeking insight into the day-to-day life of some of the world's most ancient peoples, Life and Thought in the Ancient Near East presents brief, fascinating explorations of key aspects of the civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Asia Minor, and Iran. With vignettes on agriculture, architecture, crafts and industries, literature, religion, topography, and history, Orlin has created something refreshingly unique: a modern guidebook to an ancient world. The book also reaches out to students of the Ancient Near Eastern World with essays on decipherments, comparative cultural developments between Egypt and Mesopotamia, and language and literature.In addition to general readers, the book will be useful in the classroom as a text supplementing a more conventional introduction to Near Eastern Studies."Well-written and accessible, Life and Thought in the Ancient Near East deftly connects the past with present experience by drawing out the differences between, for instance, modern churches and ancient temples, and frequently employing biblical references. This simplicity together with connecting contemporary to ancient experience makes the text ideal for freshmen and general readers."---Marc Cooper, Professor of History, Missouri State UniversityNow Professor Emeritus, Louis L. Orlin taught in the department of Ancient Near Eastern History and Literature at the University of Michigan for more than thirty years. He is the author and editor of several books, including Assyrian Colonies in Cappadocia and Ancient Near Eastern Literature: A Bibliography of One Thousand Items on the Cuneiform Literatures of the Ancient World.

古代近东的生活与思想》旨在为寻求了解世界上一些最古老民族的日常生活的读者提供简短而迷人的探索，介绍了埃及、美索不达米亚、巴勒斯坦、小亚细亚和伊朗文明的关键方面。通过对农业、建筑、工艺和工业、文学、宗教、地形和历史的介绍，奥林创造了令人耳目一新的独特之处：一本通往古代世界的现代指南。该书还通过关于破译、埃及和美索不达米亚之间的文化发展比较以及语言和文学的文章向古代近东世界的学生伸出了橄榄枝。"《古代近东的生活与思想》写得很好，也很容易理解，它巧妙地将过去和现在的经验联系起来，例如，现代教堂和古代寺庙之间的差异，并经常采用圣经中的说法。这种简单性以及将当代经验与古代经验联系起来的做法，使该书成为新生和普通读者的理想读物。"--密苏里州立大学历史学教授马克-库珀现在是荣誉教授，路易斯-L-奥林在密歇根大学的古代近东历史和文学系任教三十多年了。他是几本书的作者和编辑，包括《卡帕多西亚的亚述殖民地》和《古代近东文学》。关于古代世界楔形文字的一千条书目》（A Bibliography of One Thousand Items on the Cuneiform Literatures of the Ancient World）。