Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Okay, do not get mad at me for saying

this, but there are limits to what you can learn from reading. There's only so much information

that you can glean from words. At a certain point, doing is the better way to learn. And doing

is what Sam Kean's new book is all about. It's a nonfiction

book titled Dinner with King Tut, which is a look inside experimental archaeology, a faction

within archaeology that tries to learn more about old civilizations by living like them, working

like them, dressing like them, eating like them. And Keen talks to

M.Pyar's Ayesha Roscoe about the tension between experimental archaeology and the academics.

More on this beef after the break. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from

daily life. Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Some people just love history in any form, and the dustier the book, the better.

But what if instead of just reading about ancient cultures you learn by doing?

Like hanging out, watching medieval catapults miss and hit their targets, or maybe

snuggling down on a bed of ashes and grass like they made 200,000 years ago.

Maybe you could help solve some mysteries about how people lived.

It's not reenacting, it's experimental archaeology. And it's the focus of Sam

King's new book, Dinner with King Tut, how rogue archaeologists are recreating the sights,

sounds, smells, and taste of lost civilizations. Sam Keen joins me now.

Welcome to the program.

Hi, thanks for having me.

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