Instruct: Classify a given review into positive or negative sentiment.
Query: Not a best buy

This is an attractive volume which will disappoint most readers. The text is difficult to read and needed a good editor, which it did not have. Photos and other illustrations are plentiful, but placed in locations far from the relevant text. Artifact photgraphs are sometimes out of focus. Production issues aside, the author (an expert on state formation in Mesopotamia) does not have command of prehistoric periods and these sections are already outdated. A specialist in Mesopotamia will find things of interest, but there are far better books for anyone else. Finally, the price is outrageous.