The Lost City of the Monkey God
Author: Douglas Preston
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Date of Publication: September 5, 2017
Pages: 407
Douglas Preston is a multi-faceted and accomplished writer. He has written articles for "National Geographic" and "The New Yorker" as well as non-fiction best sellers (The Monster of Florence). He is also the co-author with Lincoln Child of a best-selling detective series. He uses all of the tools in his toolbox for The Lost City of the Monkey God. It has all of the detail and science contained in a serious periodical piece, the pace and style of the best fiction, and it tells a truly fascinating (and true) story to boot.
The Lost City chronicles an expedition to find the legendary "White City" in Honduras. For five hundred years people have speculated on the existence of a huge lost city in the rain forest which had been the home of a vanished culture. Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes reported hearing of a vast community with great wealth and from this the legend grew. Over the ensuing centuries various researchers, archeologists and explorers hypothesized on the location. Interest in this lost city increased in the 1990s and several attempts were made to find it in the early 2000s. It wasn't until the advent of lidar technology (lidar is an acronym for light imaging, detection and ranging) that a credible location for the White City could be defined. The author adroitly explains this space age technology and how it has been used to find historical sites buried in sand in the Middle East. Science readers will appreciate this chapter. Preston goes on to describe how lidar was used in the Honduran rain forest and how it helped pinpoint a possible location for further exploration. It was film maker Steve Elkins, fascinated by the legend of the lost White City, who proposed using lidar to try to locate it. It was Elkins who finally got this expedition together once the possible location was discovered with lidar.
Once the planning and funding of the expedition was arranged, Preston was invited to join the team as a journalist. Permission from the Honduran government was finally obtained (politics is politics, regardless of what country) and the expedition was on. What follows is a vivid portrayal of a wild experience worthy of an Indiana Jones movie! Dilapidated helicopters delivered a motley group of scientists and academics deep into an impenetrable jungle. Camp sites were protected by incompetent and corrupt members of the Honduran armed forces. Danger was around every tree. Here is how Preston describes what happened on his first night in the jungle: "Eager to record some of the stories being told, I hurried back to my hammock on the other side of camp to fetch my notebook. My new headlamp was defective, so Juan Carlos loaned me a crank flashlight." Needless to say, Preston got disoriented in the dark, lost the trail but finally found his way back to the campsite. "Thrilled to be safely back in camp, I circled the hammock, probing the wall of forest with my light for the path that would take me to where the rest of the group was chatting. On my second circle of the hammock, I froze as my beam passed over a huge snake." It was a fer-de-lance, one of the largest and deadliest of the venomous snakes indigenous to the area. "It was staring at me, in striking position, its head swaying back and forth, its tongue flicking in and out. I had walked right past it - twice." An unbelievable two page description of bringing the six foot snake down follows. This description is more frightening than anything every written by Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe or anybody else for that matter!
There is a lot here for history buffs as well. Preston educates the reader about "Pre-Columbian" and "Post-Columbian" eras in Central America and also about Mayan and other native cultures. Many artifacts were discovered in the areas pin-pointed by the lidar scans and knowledge of the history and culture of the area was critical when trying to elucidate their origins and time period.
The story doesn't end with the expedition. For months after everyone returned, more and more of the explorers became sick with fevers, muscle aches, cramps and skin lesions. This included Douglas Preston who came down with the illness while on a holiday with his wife in Switzerland and France. Several chapters follow which discuss various tropical and infectious diseases. Eventually the National Institute of Health became involved and the responsible parasite was finally identified and proper treatment prescribed.
In summary, this book was exciting, fascinating, educational and scary. Often all at the same time. I can't recommend it highly enough.
The Lost City chronicles an expedition to find the legendary "White City" in Honduras. For five hundred years people have speculated on the existence of a huge lost city in the rain forest which had been the home of a vanished culture. Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes reported hearing of a vast community with great wealth and from this the legend grew. Over the ensuing centuries various researchers, archeologists and explorers hypothesized on the location. Interest in this lost city increased in the 1990s and several attempts were made to find it in the early 2000s. It wasn't until the advent of lidar technology (lidar is an acronym for light imaging, detection and ranging) that a credible location for the White City could be defined. The author adroitly explains this space age technology and how it has been used to find historical sites buried in sand in the Middle East. Science readers will appreciate this chapter. Preston goes on to describe how lidar was used in the Honduran rain forest and how it helped pinpoint a possible location for further exploration. It was film maker Steve Elkins, fascinated by the legend of the lost White City, who proposed using lidar to try to locate it. It was Elkins who finally got this expedition together once the possible location was discovered with lidar.
Once the planning and funding of the expedition was arranged, Preston was invited to join the team as a journalist. Permission from the Honduran government was finally obtained (politics is politics, regardless of what country) and the expedition was on. What follows is a vivid portrayal of a wild experience worthy of an Indiana Jones movie! Dilapidated helicopters delivered a motley group of scientists and academics deep into an impenetrable jungle. Camp sites were protected by incompetent and corrupt members of the Honduran armed forces. Danger was around every tree. Here is how Preston describes what happened on his first night in the jungle: "Eager to record some of the stories being told, I hurried back to my hammock on the other side of camp to fetch my notebook. My new headlamp was defective, so Juan Carlos loaned me a crank flashlight." Needless to say, Preston got disoriented in the dark, lost the trail but finally found his way back to the campsite. "Thrilled to be safely back in camp, I circled the hammock, probing the wall of forest with my light for the path that would take me to where the rest of the group was chatting. On my second circle of the hammock, I froze as my beam passed over a huge snake." It was a fer-de-lance, one of the largest and deadliest of the venomous snakes indigenous to the area. "It was staring at me, in striking position, its head swaying back and forth, its tongue flicking in and out. I had walked right past it - twice." An unbelievable two page description of bringing the six foot snake down follows. This description is more frightening than anything every written by Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe or anybody else for that matter!
There is a lot here for history buffs as well. Preston educates the reader about "Pre-Columbian" and "Post-Columbian" eras in Central America and also about Mayan and other native cultures. Many artifacts were discovered in the areas pin-pointed by the lidar scans and knowledge of the history and culture of the area was critical when trying to elucidate their origins and time period.
The story doesn't end with the expedition. For months after everyone returned, more and more of the explorers became sick with fevers, muscle aches, cramps and skin lesions. This included Douglas Preston who came down with the illness while on a holiday with his wife in Switzerland and France. Several chapters follow which discuss various tropical and infectious diseases. Eventually the National Institute of Health became involved and the responsible parasite was finally identified and proper treatment prescribed.
In summary, this book was exciting, fascinating, educational and scary. Often all at the same time. I can't recommend it highly enough.
