Reddit Reddit reviews Motel of the Mysteries

We found 57 Reddit comments about Motel of the Mysteries. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

Children's Books
Books
Motel of the Mysteries
Check price on Amazon

57 Reddit comments about Motel of the Mysteries:

u/Ihatedaylightsavings · 78 pointsr/HistoryMemes

Motel of Mysteries

I had this book when I was a kid and it shaped the way I look at archeology

u/Level9TraumaCenter · 49 pointsr/ArtefactPorn

You might enjoy Motel of the Mysteries.

>It is the year 4022; all of the ancient country of Usa has been buried under many feet of detritus from a catastrophe that occurred back in 1985. Imagine, then, the excitement that Howard Carson, an amateur archeologist at best, experienced when in crossing the perimeter of an abandoned excavation site he felt the ground give way beneath him and found himself at the bottom of a shaft, which, judging from the DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging from an archaic doorknob, was clearly the entrance to a still-sealed burial chamber. Carson's incredible discoveries, including the remains of two bodies, one of then on a ceremonial bed facing an altar that appeared to be a means of communicating with the Gods and the other lying in a porcelain sarcophagus in the Inner Chamber, permitted him to piece together the whole fabric of that extraordinary civilization.

u/ThroneOfSkulls · 16 pointsr/Showerthoughts
u/Nagsheadlocal · 16 pointsr/history

There's a hilarious book called Motel of the Mysteries in which a future dig uncovers a motel room being used for an affair. Recommended.

u/wbgraphic · 15 pointsr/TIHI
u/eyemyth · 15 pointsr/pics

The author is awesome. One of my favorite books as a kid was Motel of the Mysteries, an account of a future archeologist stumbling upon a preserved 1980s motel room and misinterpreting every thing inside.

Another favorite was Unbuilding, which was about dismantling the Empire State Building, shipping it to the Middle East and rebuilding it.

He also had a series about how various old, impressive structures (cathedrals, mosques, pyramids) were built.

In short, David Macaulay is a badass.

u/Spacetime_Inspector · 11 pointsr/CrazyIdeas

Is it maybe the Motel of the Mysteries?

u/particleman42 · 11 pointsr/tipofmytongue

Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay

u/MigraineLeFay · 10 pointsr/UnresolvedMysteries

I've always found these fascinating. There are, of course, similar figures carved into the landscape in England, such as the Uffington White Horse and the Cerne Abbas Giant, though they're not quite as large or impressive. I think many cultures may have done this sort of thing, but the Nazca Lines are especially easy to see because they're in the desert, where they're less likely to erode away or become covered by foliage.

Maria Rieche's ideas are very interesting, and I wouldn't be surprised if the lines were an attempt by the Nazca people to either duplicate constellations on the ground, or even to commemorate significant dates by reproducing the positions, as they saw them, of the constellations on those dates (since we know mesoamerican cultures absolutely were capable of surprisingly sophisticated astronomical observations). They may even have dotted them with bonfires in the places at which the stars comprising the constellations appeared in the sky.

The more obvious answer is that they were intended as messages to the gods, but that makes a couple of common assumptions that I've always found irritating:

  • Assumption 1: the lines had to do with religious beliefs of the Nazca. It's apparently very tempting for archaeologists and anthropologists to call anything that doesn't have an obvious practical use a 'religious artifact'. Motel of the Mysteries, anyone?

  • Assumption 2: the Nazca thought a god or gods lived in the sky. This assumption comes out of judeo-christian bias, IMHO; while we do have evidence that some ancient civilisations believed gods lived in the sky, the automatic assumption that any given civilisation did, especially when we know so vanishingly little about them, is not only foolish but also prejudicial and has the potential to lead future researchers astray.

    I am in no way a qualified anthropologist, ethnographer, or archaeologist, but I am aware of how easily the cultural biases of a researcher can be projected onto the subjects of their research. (See Heider, Karl G. “Archaeological Assumptions and Ethnographical Facts: A Cautionary Tale from New Guinea.” Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, vol. 23, no. 1, 1967, pp. 52–64. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3629293 for an interesting article on the subject; you can read it free by signing up for an account on the site.)
u/rkoloeg · 8 pointsr/Archaeology

You might enjoy a little book that a lot of archaeologists have on the shelf; although it's meant to be funny and sort of aimed at younger readers, it also is full of good archaeological examples of how things can be (mis)interpreted.

Motel of the Mysteries

u/Szyz · 7 pointsr/funny

There's a book about this. It's hella funny.

https://www.amazon.com/Motel-Mysteries-David-Macaulay/dp/0395284252

u/nanaki5282 · 7 pointsr/books
u/my_own_wakawaka · 6 pointsr/reddit.com
u/autophage · 6 pointsr/postapocalyptic

http://www.amazon.com/Baaa-David-Macaulay/dp/0395395887
or
http://www.amazon.com/Motel-Mysteries-David-Macaulay/dp/0395284252/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y
would be my guess? I think the TV thing sounds familiar from Motel of Mysteries, but it's been a while since I read it.

u/Backstop · 5 pointsr/offbeat

The Motel of the Mysteries theory of archeology.

u/Odd_Bunsen · 5 pointsr/pics
u/[deleted] · 5 pointsr/AskReddit

If you haven't, you need to read Motel of the Mysteries.

u/SLOWchildrenplaying · 4 pointsr/AskReddit

You should read this awesome book

The pictures are fucking hilarious.

Spoiler: On one of the pages is a sketch of an old woman in the post-apoc world wearing a toilet seat around her neck. http://i.imgur.com/frf7l.jpg

Those are toothbrush earrings and a drain-plug necklace. The paper band around her head reads "sanitized for your protection"

u/CantRememberMyUserID · 4 pointsr/tipofmytongue

I'm pretty sure this is not the one you are looking for, but Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay is very similar. The archaeologists uncover an old motel room and think the TV is a shrine and the toilet seat was worn as a necklace while worshipping at the shrine.
http://www.amazon.com/Motel-Mysteries-David-Macaulay/dp/0395284252/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317861005&sr=1-1

u/manachar · 4 pointsr/todayilearned

Reminds me of David MaCaulay's fantastic Motel of Mysteries which involves a humorous take on clueless future archaeologist's investigation of a motel.

My favorite was the picture that had the archaeologist's wife "reenacting" wearing parts of the toilet in a way similar to Sophia Schliemann. About as accurate too.

Modern archaeology has gotten loads better at trying to avoid using past ruins to build a modern narrative. There really should be a rule like Occam's razor for history: If debating between two equally compelling and supported narratives, the one with the most pragmatic underpinnings is the one most likely to be true.

u/bulksalty · 4 pointsr/slatestarcodex

That reminds me of a book written from the perspective of a far future archeologist writing about a current day hotel that was being excavated. The best part of it were the illustrations.

u/ShotFromGuns · 3 pointsr/ArtefactPorn

I highly recommend the entertaining illustrated "anthropological" book Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay, the author and illustrator of the The Way Things Work series, as well as other similar books. It features a team of researchers in the far future excavating a hotel room from 1985 and getting everything completely wrong.

u/MattTheFlash · 3 pointsr/answers

A bit off topic, but you would enjoy David Macaulay's "Motel of the Mysteries", a tongue-in-cheek nod to the discovery of King Tut's tomb where one day, a computer error made all postage delivery free and the junk mail accumulation buried the entire region known as "Usa" (pronounced "oosa") for thousands of years.

u/ryanknapper · 3 pointsr/ImaginaryWastelands

This reminds me of the Motel of the Mysteries book I had as a kid.

>It is the year 4022; all of the ancient country of Usa has been buried under many feet of detritus from a catastrophe that occurred back in 1985. Imagine, then, the excitement that Howard Carson, an amateur archeologist at best, experienced when in crossing the perimeter of an abandoned excavation site he felt the ground give way beneath him and found himself at the bottom of a shaft, which, judging from the DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging from an archaic doorknob, was clearly the entrance to a still-sealed burial chamber. Carson's incredible discoveries, including the remains of two bodies, one of then on a ceremonial bed facing an altar that appeared to be a means of communicating with the Gods and the other lying in a porcelain sarcophagus in the Inner Chamber, permitted him to piece together the whole fabric of that extraordinary civilization.

u/monorailmedic · 3 pointsr/pics

There was a book I remember as a kid that was based on this same idea. Imagine what people hundreds of years from now would think if they found a motel. While it's a kids book I think it's probably still a neat read as an adult, or perhaps time clouds my memories.

Motel of the Mysteries https://www.amazon.com/dp/0395284252/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_2g0XBb2JHVXBE

u/OriginalStomper · 3 pointsr/science

Not just an article -- a small, illustrated book. At least, I assume you refer to David Macaulay's "Motel of the Mysteries"

http://www.amazon.com/Motel-Mysteries-David-Macaulay/dp/0395284252

u/Carbon_Rod · 3 pointsr/tipofmytongue

Motel of the Mysteries, by David Macaulay.

u/Rosapod · 3 pointsr/ELATeachers

I teach utopia /dystopia to my middle schoolers with the Motel of Mysteries.

http://www.amazon.com/Motel-Mysteries-David-Macaulay/dp/0395284252

u/goninzo · 2 pointsr/AskScienceFiction

http://www.amazon.com/Motel-Mysteries-David-Macaulay/dp/0395284252

Maybe not exactly what you are looking for, but this book was written already, it's pretty good.

u/theoriemeister · 2 pointsr/pics

Then you'll probably enjoy Motel of the Mysteries. It's hilarious!

u/LegalAction · 2 pointsr/AskHistorians

There are sculptures and pottery and burials, but that's all archaeology, and like city planning and house plans I mentioned above, deriving meaning (in my opinion - there's a huge history vs. archaeology debate we could have but I don't want to get into) from just that is hard.

We know these guys were good with water, socially complex enough to have planned cities with a central defensive/ritual/communal district; they had art and pots (which implies a certain level of, say, cooking technology), but what all this means is up to interpretation.

For instance, this guy is called a priest-king, but I don't have a bloody clue why. This is a dude who got a statue made. Obviously he thinks he's important and has enough wealth to get a statue made, but does that mean he's a priest-king?

This is why I don't do archaeology. Other flared users here will disagree with me. But I just don't think archaeology itself gets us very far. This is kind of a fun illustration of the problems I see with archaeology if you can get your hands on it.

u/dansdata · 2 pointsr/whatisthisthing

I desperately want this sign to survive for fifty thousand years so future anthropologists can integrate it into the display-screen-based religion they've invented for us.

(Edit: http://www.amazon.com/Motel-Mysteries-David-Macaulay/dp/0395284252 :-)

u/xythrowawayy · 2 pointsr/tipofmytongue

This sounds related to something that would be in the story "Motel of the Mysteries": https://www.amazon.com/dp/0395284252/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_rIROBbA9PD9C2

It is a funny take on archeology by imagining what would happen 2000 years from now if archeologists tried to interpret our "modern" conveniences. It is a good read and really makes you wonder how much we are getting wrong about the past by assuming everything is set sort of altar or ceremonial whatever.

u/iridiumtiara · 2 pointsr/explainlikeimfive

Motel of the Mysteries is a book that deals with that idea in a humorous way. It takes place in a distant future when archaeologists find a perfectly preserved hotel from now-ish, and we get to see what they make of all of the "artifacts" they discover.

As far as the figures, I am not sure how they know. But, you may have part of the answer there in your question. There's not necessarily much of a divide between "fertility" and "sex," maybe the figures don't have to be one or the other?

u/curious_umbrella · 2 pointsr/AsianBeauty

when I was in elementary school, there was a book called Hotel Motel of the Mysteries, in which people in the future discover a hotel from our time, and misinterpret all the objects. I should really buy that book, actually.

Ha! Of course it was by David Macaulay, that man is amazing.

u/orlum · 2 pointsr/AskReddit

This reminds me of this book.

u/motivational_tweaker · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

One of my favorite books growing up was Motel of Mysteries, which is a discussion of a dig site in what used to be a motel by archaeologists in 4022 and their interpretations of what things like toilet bowls were used for (religious ceremonies).

u/joosier · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

I remember a book being written about future civilizations uncovering a motel room and completely misinterpreting everything about it.

Found it! Motel of the Mysteries: https://www.amazon.com/Motel-Mysteries-David-Macaulay/dp/0395284252

It is the year 4022; all of the ancient country of Usa has been buried under many feet of detritus from a catastrophe that occurred back in 1985. Imagine, then, the excitement that Howard Carson, an amateur archeologist at best, experienced when in crossing the perimeter of an abandoned excavation site he felt the ground give way beneath him and found himself at the bottom of a shaft, which, judging from the DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging from an archaic doorknob, was clearly the entrance to a still-sealed burial chamber. Carson's incredible discoveries, including the remains of two bodies, one of then on a ceremonial bed facing an altar that appeared to be a means of communicating with the Gods and the other lying in a porcelain sarcophagus in the Inner Chamber, permitted him to piece together the whole fabric of that extraordinary civilization.

u/GodotNeverCame · 1 pointr/WritingPrompts

Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay touches on this subject.

https://www.amazon.com/Motel-Mysteries-David-Macaulay/product-reviews/0395284252?pageNumber=3

u/DonMakaveli · 1 pointr/worldnews

Sounds a lot like this.

u/YourFairyGodmother · 1 pointr/todayilearned
u/adrianmonk · 1 pointr/pics

Sort of a Motel of the Mysteries kind of thing?

u/vickevlar · 1 pointr/tipofmytongue

It sounds like Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay.

u/quipsy · 1 pointr/funny
u/brianogilvie · 1 pointr/explainlikeimfive

Oh, and in response to your last point, take a look at David Macaulay's Motel of the Mysteries.

u/Who_GNU · 1 pointr/flying

You would like Motel of the Mysteries.

u/quartzquandary · 1 pointr/oddlysatisfying

Nice. Always reminds me of that kid's book, Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay. It's about an archaeologist in the distant future discovering a modern (to us) motel. Here's the summary:

> It is the year 4022; all of the ancient country of Usa has been buried under many feet of detritus from a catastrophe that occurred back in 1985. Imagine, then, the excitement that Howard Carson, an amateur archeologist at best, experienced when in crossing the perimeter of an abandoned excavation site he felt the ground give way beneath him and found himself at the bottom of a shaft, which, judging from the DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging from an archaic doorknob, was clearly the entrance to a still-sealed burial chamber. Carson's incredible discoveries, including the remains of two bodies, one of then on a ceremonial bed facing an altar that appeared to be a means of communicating with the Gods and the other lying in a porcelain sarcophagus in the Inner Chamber, permitted him to piece together the whole fabric of that extraordinary civilization.

u/a4qbfb · 1 pointr/Whatisthis

You should read Motel of Mysteries.

u/Cthulhuhoop · 1 pointr/science

There was a book I had when I was a kid back in the 80's Motel of the Mysteries where future archeologists do that to a cheap motel. I still remember the magical chant found in the shrineroom "sanitized for your protection"

u/DJ_Deathflea · 1 pointr/AskReddit

I have this book, it unpacks your question in hilarious fashion, check it out from the library if they have it.

http://www.amazon.com/Motel-Mysteries-David-Macaulay/dp/0395284252

u/GrimSophisticate · 1 pointr/books

The second one sounds like Motel of the Mysteries.

u/Algernon_Moncrieff · 1 pointr/askscience

We've found evidence of stone toolmaking from 2.5 million years ago, so maybe you're right.


This has made me wonder of course about what traces would be left from us after that long (following of course our demise in the great toxic Slim Jim plague of 2016) perhaps pockets of still radioactive waste underground. (How's that for a legacy?) It follows from OP's conjecture about non-random dispersion of rare earth metals, which I think is brilliant.


It also suggests an interesting first pass approach to looking for long-dead civilizations on other planets. Anyone up for mapping surface radioactivity on Mars?


Also, anyone else flash on this? Great book.

u/amygdalalalala · 1 pointr/todayilearned

I feel like you'd enjoy this. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0395284252