So after reading "The Inferno" by Dan Brown, I went to the library and checked out "The Lost Symbol" by the same author.  I wasn't sure I had read it and rather than purchase it I went to the local library.  Turns out I have read the book but decided to read it again.  

While reading it, the main character Robert Langdon talks about the ancient Sumerians.  So I got on my laptop and looked them up.  Turns out they lived in what is now the area of Iran back in 5800 BCE.  They weren't cavemen types.  They had wheels and carts, used irrigation for their agriculture, and made pots and dishes out of pottery.  They built  adobe type walls for houses and walls to protect themselves and lived in cities of thousands of people.  They had their own language and had writing and math.  That's how you make an already good book into something extra.