Still Lost...

A romantic notion...these lost cities, discoveries of ancient civilizations, and all the possibilities that hang on each little artifact that trickles out of obscurity...but Preston's tag-along accounting winds up a little anticlimactic. That's not to say that there isn't a lot of information here, but it winds around any actual discovery or headway to finding the White City aka the Lost City of the Monkey God, about as circuitous as the featured pictured of the Patuca River (see PDF, page 4--I'm talking lots of zigging and zagging, serpentine).

Preston takes 10 1/2 hours to give us all kinds of entomology and herpetology tidbits, historical offshoots of ancient civilizations, and details of setting up camp in the Honduran jungles, but nothing close to the kind of discovery deserving of popping open the champagne (maybe a beer). The technology of the *lidar* is interesting, and the photos (again, PDF) are a compelling argument for the existence of some kind of civilization that once existed in the T1 Valley. Ultimately, this is less an expedition than an accounting of all the hoops that must be jumped through, the governmental (and Native people's rights), the red tape, and snafus that accompany this kind of an undertaking; it's a tiny look at the dedication of patient explorers and dreamers.

I've read quite a few books of this kind, as probably anyone checking this out has also, and I was hoping for more. This is a middle dweller -- not as interesting as Lost City of Z, or River of Doubt, better than Jungleland (a book about a similar trip to find the Lost City of the Monkey God, written by Christopher Stewart). This one doesn't deliver on the promised *hair-raising adventure* as claimed in the summary, and though you may by the ending find yourself frustrated, I doubt you'll find this anywhere near *suspenseful* or especially *shocking*. For every foot of expedition, there are miles of paraphernalia. Whole chapters are devoted to a parasite (and the treatment) that plagued a few of the team members; this is followed by a strange cautionary exhortation to society by the author.

[*I couldn't help but think that this must have been where he got his info for his fiction novel: The Lost Island, published 2 yrs. later.]

I think I would have preferred the slide presentation, but other readers have given this high ratings so I suggest reading those glowing reviews.

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159 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Danger and Discovery in the Jungle

Douglas Preston's tale of the discovery of the remains of a lost civilization in the Mosquitia region of Honduras, and his first person account of his experiences accompanying the investigative team, make for riveting listening. The region is dangerous and notoriously difficult to access and the team encounter real dangers in their quest, just as they make real discoveries. There's mystery, adventure, colorful characters and the book even takes a rather unexpected turn (which I don't wish to spoil). Having read (and listened to) Christopher S. Stewart's book, Jungleland a few years ago, which is also about the search for La Ciudad Blanca (ie: the Lost City of the Monkey God) in Honduras, some of the historical background covered in this book was familiar to me but no less interesting. In fact, in some ways, The Lost City of the Monkey God felt like it picked up where Stewart's book left off.

Bill Mumy does a great job on the narration. Highly recommended.

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60 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Just plain LOST would have better title.

What would have made The Lost City of the Monkey God better?

Having a better copy editor would have worked miracles for the story. The story short-changes the search for the Lost City of the Monkey God and nauseated me with the extensive description of the medical problems encountered by the team. If I want to read medical texts about rotting, necrotizing flesh, I know where to find them and it would not be in a book promoted as the discovery of a lost city in Hondurous.

Perhaps going back to 4th grade and studying the concept of the story arc would help.

What was most disappointing about Douglas Preston’s story?

It is so poorly written and filled with non-essential sidebars that you fully understand how a group of nonscientists had zero business attempting to discover the city of the Monkey God. Perhaps had they been a bit more risk-takers and that adventure recorded, the story would have been more palatable.

How could the performance have been better?

Selecting a reader perhaps who was not working so hard to be so dramatic through the entire work would have eased the listener's anguish of waiting for the climax of which there were none.The reader tried to use a dramatic voice throughout the entire book which is annoying and tiresome. I tried to slow down the reader to even out the inappropriate highs and lows but that didn't work. The reader was so annoying reading the medical problems I finally gave up on the book and I deleted it.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Grand disappointment and annoyance. This is one of the very books I would like a refund for being deceived by the promotional items. And that's my reaction.

Any additional comments?

As noted above, this was one of the few books I felt I should ask for a refund on because it was so poorly done in so many ways.

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36 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

The most hyperbole since dawn of Western Civ.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

This is an engaging book and the author does a good job drawing out a timeline that at times moves forward in line with the author's experiences and at others backwards to provide historical context, but his need to punctuate points with hyperbole is at times exhausting. He often indulges similar tendencies in how he describes individuals, where so many of the people are an "only," a "most" and almost assuredly a "very." A copy-editor with an adjective eraser could have helped, considerably.

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30 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Badly read

Reader's lack of knowledge of Spanish pronunciation very annoying he also makes other mistakes like saying "cheek by fowl" instead of "cheek by jowl"

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24 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Such a compelling book to listen to.

An amazing book. A mixture of Indiana Jones meets epidemiology. Such an amazing history lesson.

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24 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Great story! Narrator needs some training...

I thought this story was fascinating and I'm so
Glad I listened to the whole book. The narrator, on the other hand, needs some work on basic pronunciation of many words (and I don't mean the scientific ones).

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18 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

thoughtful

this book gives a variety of different world views to think about. some rather scary.
I enjoyed both the book and the reader.
think I might have to pick up a hard copy.

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17 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Concluding comments elevate true adventure

The true first person narrative is thrilling. The finds, breath-taking. The historical, archeological, academic and political facts are satisfyingly explored. But the rest of the story--the unexpected melding of catastrophic experiences 5 centuries apart--and the author's. conclusions about it make the book unforgettable.

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17 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Uneventful

Sadly Uneventful. The last 3rd of the book is about diseases. Would not recommend this book

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14 personnes ont trouvé cela utile