'The Lost City of the Monkey God' by Douglas Preston

The Lost City of the Monkey God, Douglas Preston (4.0)

I started reading this book just after seeing ‘The Lost City of Z’, a film about the true story of a British man’s search for an ancient city in the Amazon in the 1920’s. While different timeframes (current vs 20’s) and locations (Honduras vs Bolivia), both stories highlight the enticement and mystery of the possibility of riches and fame. In ‘Z’, they were definitely looking for gold, but there was still the excitement of finding a lost civilization. In this book, the rumor of an ancient abandoned city nestled in the overgrown Honduras jungle beguiles a group of people, mostly incredulous that it hasn’t been found already. With the availability of a new technology allowing effective viewing from the air, a team is put together to search for the city. The author goes along to document the trip for National Geographic and becomes one of the first people to enter the ‘city’ in hundreds of years. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the hazards (snakes, pests, weather, more snakes!) and the team’s defensive measures. I also found Mr. Preston did a good job postulating on hypotheses of extinction of the culture found. Overall the story reads like a good adventure mystery with real life consequences.