Hirst was a working archaeologist in the American midwest, American southwest and, for one heady season, in Mexico, before retiring in 2005 to write freelance science articles on archaeology, primarily for About.com. She loves a good quotation and has collected several hundred over the years. The material in her book come from academic papers and books on archaeology, as well as popular books and novels, movies, comic strips, music, and other pop culture (past and present).