The Western Gate

The Complete Encyclopedia of Egyptian Deities:
Gods, Goddesses, and Spirits of Ancient Egypt and Nubia
by Tamara Siuda PhD 
Llewellyn Publications

The postage from the U.S. cost as much as the book, and like most books I want from the U.S. as a result I cede and don’t bother. However, Amazon UK sold it and not only that the book was at a discount, so cheaper and free delivery! The problem with Amazon is they don’t pack books well, and the spine, again! came with a dent where drivers, warehouse wallers and drudgers throw the parcels about. Its the price you pay for discount and free delivery !

Its a hefty book, the layout is quite liberal where it could have been condensed into columns and ‘fitted to column’ illustrations etc, as it is the layout is reminiscent of an encyclopaedia from our youth. Its not a bad thing, rounded pages-a nice touch and glossy paper, not good if you want to add, shock horror, notes.

The content, the main thing. Very good. There is a much appreciated list of source material and links to all the material for researchers etc. as well as an extensive bibliography. This occurs throughout the book, listings for resources and links on each deity and this makes the whole book a first go to resource when researching anything to do with Egyptology or particular deity.
I pick out a few random and often neglected deities more to test the concise nature and it passed my amateur test admirably.

As a reference work it is, and will be used together with many of the source materials linked in the book, All I want now is a concise hieroglyphic /English compendium of funeral texts/legends appertaining to Egyptology, Dr Tamara L.Siuda quite rightly points out the many errors of the famous Budge Wallis Book of the Dead :Papyrus of Ani. However the best version listed is just an English translation without hieroglyphics (viz:Thomas George Allen : Instituteuniversity of Chicago ~ P37). But that’s another book, and not this one, this one is well recommended but not for Import Taxes and alternatively somewhere else as opposed to the philistines of Amazon.