The book by Michael Ko, a professor of anthropology at Yale University and the author of several popular science studies of the civilizations of Mesoamerica, is a fascinating story about the birth, rise and fall of the Mayan civilization, whose history has been of great interest to scientists and non-specialists for a century and a half. You will learn a lot of interesting things about the achievements of the ancient people in the fields of mathematics, writing, astronomy, art, and architecture. A special article is devoted to the works of the Russian scientist Yu.V. Knorozov, who made an invaluable contribution to the decipherment of Mayan writing.