Living with the Gods

The strength of the book is its thoughtful and sometimes provocative reflections on religion and religiosity through this exceptional range of artefacts – Linda Hogan * Irish Times * Our eyes are opened to ways of being human that are unlike anything we could ever experience for ourselves … Not only is the ancient past made accessible, our present reality is also made strangely questionable – Angela Tilby * Literary Review * This scholarly, elegantly written book is a reminder of how seldom, when visiting a museum, most of us take the time to inquire into what lies behind the objects we look at. Living with the Gods is a celebration of curiosity – Caroline Moorehead * Guardian * Superbly illustrated, with objects and people and places that range far beyond the museum doors, to almost every corner of the world – Noel Malcolm * Sunday Telegraph * He shows how human beings have always used religion and objects as a way to understand the world around us, from finding some accommodation with light, water and the seasons, to attempting to find some approach towards death. … Anyone wishing to deepen, if not change their life, will certainly benefit from this remarkable book – Douglas Murray * Evening Standard * The David Attenborough of things that don’t move … Think of it as his Blue Planet – Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times * Neil MacGregor is pre-eminently a teacher. He possesses the teacher’s two vital gifts, which are the ability to distinguish things that are interesting from things that are not, and the capacity to change the second category into the first … a mind-expanding book – John Carey * Sunday Times *

Neil MacGregor was Director of the National Gallery, London from 1987 to 2002 and of the British Museum from 2002 to 2015. His previous books include A History of the World in 100 Objects, Shakespeare’s Restless World and Germany- Memories of a Nation, all available in Penguin and now between them translated into more than a dozen languages. In 2010, he was made a member of the Order of Merit, the UK’s highest civil honour. He is now Chair of the Steering Committee of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin.

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