Born on a June Sunday in New Jersey to first generation Americans, I grew up in an era marked by the assassinations of  John and Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, but also the Summer of  Love and first lunar landing. 

Former student of neurophysiology, Texas nightclub manager, and tutor of Islamic art and architecture to Kuwaiti royalty, I’m a proud fellow of the Institute of Ecotechnics, and a student of human nature with a lifetime interest in the history of science and the marvelous.

Residing in Egypt since 1992 I’ve authored sundry non-fictions concerning the country, including  Cairo, City of Sand (2004) Photography and Egypt (2015) and A Short History of Tomb Raiding  (2022)  in addition to a biography of musician Ornette Coleman and a cultural history of meteorites. My Shortest History of Egypt (2026) will soon appear in Chinese, Russian and other language editions.

https://mariagolia.wordpress.com/