Reddit mentions of The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt

Unfortunately some of Egypt's abilities and knowledge have been vastly exaggerated. They had strong rivals to the north for much of the periods where the empire was the strongest. In later periods Pharaohs ruled for shorter periods of times. In many of the ruling eras there was massive civil and political unrest. Keeping the country together and under control seems to have been more of a priority. This is especially true during periods where the Nile didn't flood properly and you had famine and drought. I strongly recommend if you are interested in the intricacies you read The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt I don't think there is one nail in the coffin answer to your question. The Eqyptians after the unification definitely had designs on conquering lands further to the north. However each time they were met by strong adversaries and a myriad of circumstances that prevented this from occuring.

The Apis Bull was a bull seen as a Devine mediator between the gods and man. It was chosen at birth, and selected for having a whole list of features: it had to be a certain color, have certain markings, born at a certain time, etc. They kept it in its own sanctuary where it could be watched by the priests, and it’s movements and actions were seen as portents and messages from the gods. When these Apis Bulls died they were given a state funeral and mummified in their own tombs. It was a very old tradition, with Apis bull mummies found from the Old Kingdom, all the way to Ptolemaic Egypt. Alexander the Great is said to have met with the bull that was alive during his time.

Full disclosure, I have no clue if that’s what this bull is. I just finished a book on ancient Egypt and remembered that part.

Ah, finally I meet someone (albeit on Reddit) who's followed Bob Brier on the incredible journey he takes the listener through, in his course. It is hard to believe that it has been nearly 17 years since the course first came out. I have followed Prof. Brier's course religiously over the last 16 years, and through his evocative, imaginative and illustrative language, rediscovered Ancient Egypt over and over again. In fact I find myself consulting my notes on his lectures from time to time. Needless to say, I am a huge fan of Prof. Brier, and visiting Egypt with him (on one of his tours) is on my bucket list.

That said, I too was in the same boat after having finished his course. What next? He did give some pointers in his last lesson on what to follow and where to go to get more information. Nowadays with the advent of Facebook, one can follow these channels their official Facebook pages. But that wasn't your question.

Personally, I found this book to be quite informative, and I would recommend it highly. Toby Wilkinson - Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt. It is written in an easy to read format and I found that it filled in many gaps in Prof. Brier's telling of the story of Egypt, especially during the first and second intermediate periods. Coming from Prof. Brier's course, it really felt like the next logical step.

From there, it gets a little more difficult. Recent developments have been slow - owing to the unrest in Egypt. Off-hand, I am not aware of any significant compendium of recent knowledge that has emerged in our field of interest. There are bits and pieces to be found, and I find that the Subreddits do a good job of compiling the same.

That said, if someone does know of more recent books, please do enlighten me. Hope that helps!

No problem, but make sure you check out the reading list here and the one on AH, they do a much better job then I or any of the links could, of particular relevance to your purposes are The Twilight of Ancient Egypt, The Religion of Ancient Egypt, Hellenistic Egypt, The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt, and The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt.