Once in a while a book comes along that is too much fun to put down. This is one of those books. Allan Chapman is in fact an Oxford professor, teaching the history of science, and it shows throughout this book as he shows how scientific discoveries helped make possible the advancement of the fledgling science of Biblical archaeology. The book focuses on major figures who did what can be called adventure tourism to exotic Middle Eastern places, like the Pyramids in Egypt or the rose city of Petra in Jordan, and Chapman even explains the rise of Biblical tourism for the ordinary folks at the hands of Thomas Cook. Along the way we meet real scholars, quacks, interesting lay people, royalty and much more. Here is the description of the book on Amazon.