An interesting personal mummy tour, IN SEARCH OF THE IMMORTALS: Mummies, Death and the Afterlife by Howard Reid allows the reader to follow the author around the world in search of mummies.

Because he is a documentary filmmaker, Reid's travelogue seems quite visual. Because Reid is also an anthropologist (with very definite opinions and theories), his travelogue can become a bit didactic in parts. Still, all in all, this is a worthwhile read.

In particular, if you are interested in the Guanche mummies (and what is known about the much-abused mummified people of the Canary Islands), Reid's chapter on the Guanches is worth the price of the book alone (he has some interesting theories on how the Guanches came to mummify their dead in a method similar to but much later than the Egyptians).  Add to this his chapters on Peruvian and Chilean mummies (Chinchorro, Chachapoya, Nazca, Paracas, and the Chirabayas all appear in one book in two fairly comprehensive chapters) and you have a book that is worth much more.

The only let down, perhaps, is the obligatory chapter on Egyptian mummies that rehashes what everyone already knows; there is nothing new there. The two brief appendices also add nothing.

The book includes 37 color photographs. Though they are not always the best quality, they do include some rare photos of Guanche mummies (from museums in Tenerife and Cambridge) as well as Chinchorro, Chirabaya, Paracas, and Nazca mummies.

Highly recommended.