A five-hundred-year-old legend. An ancient curse. A stunning medical mystery. And a pioneering journey into the unknown heart of the world’s densest jungle. Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of … of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die. In 1940, swashbuckling journalist Theodore Morde returned from the rainforest with hundreds of artifacts and an electrifying story of having found the Lost City of the Monkey God-but then committed suicide without revealing its location.
Three quarters of a century later, bestselling author Doug Preston joined a team of scientists on a groundbreaking new quest. In 2012 he climbed aboard a rickety, single-engine plane carrying the machine that would change everything: lidar, a highly advanced, classified technology that could map the terrain under the densest rainforest canopy. In an unexplored valley ringed by steep mountains, that flight revealed the unmistakable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing evidence of not just an undiscovered city but an enigmatic, lost civilization.
Venturing into this raw, treacherous, but breathtakingly beautiful wilderness to confirm the discovery, Preston and the team battled torrential rains, quickmud, disease-carrying insects, jaguars, and deadly snakes. But it wasn’t until they returned that tragedy struck: Preston and others found they had contracted in the ruins a horrifying, sometimes lethal-and incurable-disease.
Suspenseful and shocking, filled with colorful history, hair-raising adventure, and dramatic twists of fortune, THE LOST CITY OF THE MONKEY GOD is the absolutely true, eyewitness account of one of the great discoveries of the twenty-first century.
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The book cover/editorial blurb says it all, and this book delivers! The Lost City of the Monkey God is the best non-fiction adventure story I have ever read — and I’ve read a lot of them. Travel with the author through legends, ancient curses, histories of previous explorations, and a “pioneering journey into the unknown heart of the world’s densest jungle!”
What could be more exciting than an adventure to find a lost civilization in the middle of the jungle in a hostile country? Reading about it from the comfort of my own home! Preston alternates between his real life experiences and expertly laid out historical background. There have been so many people with varying degrees of experience, luck and truthfulness searching for this city, it was fascinating to read about what we know, what we think we know, and what we may never find out. Even if you don’t typically pick up non-fiction, this stranger than fiction account will keep your interest until the last page.
Real-life archaeology adventures can be difficult to come by these days—much of the earth has been explored—but this book proves there are still gems out there waiting to be discovered. The legend of a White City (also known as the The Lost City of the Monkey God) is a well-known tale in Honduran mythology and lore. In the last century many have searched for it, and Preston’s recounting of this history is both sobering and hilarious. But it wasn’t until the recent use of lidar—a laser-based type of radar—that true inroads could be made in the search for ruins that have been gobbled up by dense and impenetrable jungle. Don’t miss this engrossing true story.
The Lost City of the Monkey God
By Douglas Preston
Nonfiction
2017
Douglas Preston writes for The New Yorker, National Geographic, Smithsonian and has taught at Princeton University. He describes his dangerous expedition into the jungle of Honduras in 2015. His frank observations and detailed facts provide captivating history of the indigenous people of the “Lost City of the Monkey God”.
“I first heard the legend of the White City in 1996, when I was on assignment from National Geographic to write a story about the ancient temples of Cambodia.”
“Forever after, it became a forbidden place, and anyone who entered it would die of sickness or be killed by the devil.”
“It was the first time our expedition had come together in one room, a rather motley crew of scientists, photographers, film producers, and archaeologists, plus me, a writer. We all had widely varying experience in wilderness skills.”
“I’ve had dengue fever twice,” Woody said, and launched into a shockingly graphic description of the disease, which had almost killed him the second time. It is called “breakbone fever,” he said, because it is so painful you feel like your bones are breaking.”
“The vociferousness of the criticism went far beyond the usual academic tiff or a dispute over language, and they were amazed that these scholars, who had never been to the site and had no idea where it was, would make claims like these with such certainty.”
Of course such grand explorations come with criticism.
“All this made it clear that the protest letter was, in part, a proxy attack on the present Honduran government, an example of how the coup and its aftermath left the Honduran archaeological community angry and divided.”
Fascinating read about a lost city and the life and death exploration to find it!
https://bookwormreviewblog.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-lost-city-of-monkey-god-by-douglas.html?m=1
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/268235750
The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston
https://bookwormreviewblog.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-monster-of-florence-by-douglas.html?m=1
This is the story of the author’s journey in 2012 with a team of scientist into Honduras to find the lost White City otherwise known as the Lost City of the Monkey God. The story is that it was a city where in the 1400s, people fled to hide from Spanish invaders. The rumor is, that anyone who entered the city would fall ill and die. Especially if you disturbed a particular flower that grew there. There was actually a journalist who went searching for the city in the 1940s, but committed suicide before he could reveal the location.
Now with proper technology to search the jungle, Preston and his team go in for a few weeks in search for the city and the artifacts. They do happen across a huge cache of carved items and in doing so, endure the dangers of the Honduras jungle.
The last 1/3 of the book talks about the parasitic infection that half of the team came down with on their return from the expidition. This leads to an explanation of how Christopher Columbus and his crew brought in European diseases to the area and killed off a large portion of Honduras’ indigenous people who could not fend off things like small pox.
I enjoyed this book for the most part. What they came across in the jungle was incredible and scary. They are lucky that none of them were killed. About 1/3 of the story is about the expidition itself, and the rest is about the history of the area and then the medical intervention that the team received when they returned. While I found the medical part the most interesting (I am a nurse after all), I could see how this was a bit much. It isn’t what the story was supposed to be about, after all. It should have been more about the actual hunt and discovery of the lost city than about the team dealing with a jungle illness. BUT, I would not use this critique to discourage you from reading the book. It is a very interesting historical recounting of the Hondurase lost city.
Great title, but I’m still not sure what they found. Preston goes into too much detail about the mapping tool without providing coherent maps or images. Their conclusions seemed like a lot of conjecture.
Very well researched, writing wavered between good factual reporting and adventure enthusiasm. This isn’t a spoiler, but all of the information in the later part of the book on diseases, the spread of them, and the impact on populations/cultures is very timely now in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic!
Don’t miss the photos at the end (in the Kindle edition) of the book. They would have been more meaningful if placed at the relevant point in the text, but I understand the cost of doing that in print. And if you’re reading on a Touch or Voyage Kindle, look at the photos in the app on a color device – much easier to see and enjoy.
Fascinating book. I can see how Mr. Preston’s experience at this archeological site contributes to the suspense in his books.
Here’s another famous writer joining an expensive sponsored expedition in the name of science. I often feel that real adventurers don’t get enough of the spotlight; instead, we’re served dull (and often fake) epic adventures just because they’re backed by huge funds and a celebrity.
I probably wouldn’t have read The Lost City of the Monkey God if it weren’t for my Canadian friend and cartographer Derek Parent, who was a consultant on the book and advisor for my own expedition. He highly recommended I read it, and I’m so pleased I did.
Of course, you’d expect beautiful prose from acclaimed writer Douglas Preston. What I didn’t expect was that he would take me on an emotional voyage and make me re-live the nine months I spent exploring the Honduran jungle of La Moskitia sixteen years before him as part of a three-year expedition I narrated in my award-winning adventure-travel memoir Dancing with Death.
The author isn’t only good with words, he has a genuine explorer-adventurer spirit that infuses his writing. Where I describe the beauty of the local Pech culture, Preston’s tale will give you goosebumps about all the dangers of the rainforest they inhabit. A superbly crafted narration, more gripping and epic than Indiana Jones and Lara Croft’s adventures combined, for this is all real. In an era when we thought there was no exploration and discovery left to be experienced, The Lost City of the Monkey God proves us wrong.
Preston will make you live as if you were an explorer on the team, discovering one of the last world wonders from an ancient civilization and suffering all its consequences. Exploration and Adventure, Ancient Culture, Science, Endless Dangers, and a masterly crafted tale make this an epic read you won’t be able to put down. Be warned, though: If you ever thought about visiting the Honduran jungle, this book might make even the most optimistic adventurer think twice. Yet you can’t travel to any tropical destination without reading it. An essential MUST READ! I think that The Lost City of the Monkey God and Dancing with Death were meant to be read as a pair
Warning: This book contains graphic descriptions of disease, human sacrifice, snakes, insects, and other disturbing topics. If these things disturb you, skip the book. Don’t read it and whine about being triggered. You were warned.
Douglas Preston weaves an impressive adventure story of the discovery of a previously unknown Pre-Columbian civilization deep in the rainforest of Honduras. For centuries, explorers looked for a fabled city of untold wealth, an Honduran version of El Dorado, known as The Lost City of the Monkey God, also known as Cuidad Blanco (The White City.) Rumors abounded, but very little evidence. Explorers went into the jungle, came out with fantastic stories, but nothing concrete surfaced until the late 20th century. Explorers, it seemed, were looking in the wrong place.
There are many long, technical passages about the efforts to reach, map, and explore the unnamed locations that comprised the White City, including the use of LIDAR. These are not as exciting as the descriptions of the expedition into the jungle to explore the ruins but they are informative. And there are vivid descriptions of the exploration team’s often losing battle with nature, which are downright nerve-wracking. But the most compelling part of the story comes after thr team leaves the jungle, only to find the jungle gave them a gift that makes “Montezuma’s Revenge” sound like a walk in the park.
I will hand it to Mr. Preston. He could have used his story for a sweeping condemnation of the colonization of the New World, harped about genocide and evil white people, and he does veer off in that direction at times. On the whole, however, he remains balanced. The one time he does become a prophet of doom is when he waxes on about global warming and the spread of disease. I dislike these tactics. Those who hold these views assume human beings are helpless and can do nothing to combat the effects of climate change. That we cannot adapt and change and are teetering on the edge of extinction. Preston does not go quite that far, but he does seem to believe we are one global pandemic away from complete economic and social collapse. Since this was written before COVID, I’ll let the reader decide if that’s true.
What keeps this book from becoming just another assault on European values, the effects of Western civilization on the planet, and climate change fear mongering is the author’s raw honesty about his experiences. His descriptions of the unspoiled rainforest are breathtaking. His experiences in the jungle, and the aftermath, are harrowing. And the depictions of the effect of Old World diseases on New World populations are gut wrenching. He presents the facts with feeling, but stops short of preaching. In an age when emotional manipulation for progressive causes is de rigeur, I found this refreshing.
This is not an easy read, for a variety of reasons. But if you want a true adventure in one of the last places untouched by modern humans, dig in. It’s a wild ride.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book, but now I can’t stop talking about it. This is an excellent mix of history, adventure, and science. And if you can read this book and STILL want to go anywhere near a jungle, well, you are made of stronger stuff than I am!
The book is nicely divided into four different parts. There’s the history of the lost city and the many failed (or faked) attempts to find it. This part was fascinating and will be a treat for anyone who likes learning about the huckster side of exploration.
The next part is the author’s trip into the jungle to find the city. This is actually a pretty small portion of the overall book, but definitely makes you appreciate the effort the researchers took to find the city.
The next part covers the aftermath of the team’s findings. Another intriguing part that shows you how petty archaeologists can be.
And then we get to the other aftermath of the journey…the disease the team picked up. My skin was crawling. This was probably the strongest part of the book and covers how disease is quickly spreading from environments that humans are encroaching upon, and provides arguments for leaving wild places wild. It was written well before COVID times, but has some lessons that apply to today more strongly than ever.
Overall, a great book, even though I listened to the audio version of it and the narrator wasn’t very good (seriously, so much mis-pronunciation!).
This book is a reality Indiana Jones taking the reader to the rainforest of Honduras and back. It interweaves history and international politics with the intrigue of an action adventure—and all true!!
I read everything that says Preston or Child on the cover.
Recommended IF you are looking for an informative in depth novel version of a National Geographic article.
I can’t get enough of Doug Preston’s books. He is one of the most versatile writers around today. The Lost City of the Monkey God is packed with suspense and tension and will entertain the reader from the first page to the last. Highly recommended.
I loved this book. The journey it takes you on is just amazing. The fact that it is based on a true story makes it all the more fascinating. If you love archeology and learning about the past, this one’s for you.
Wonderful and fascinating. Reads like a novel. So much history and relevant information of this dangerous expedition and discovery.
Absorbing and a bit frightening. Great story telling from one of my favorite authors. But this one is even better because it’s true.
This book was fascinating! I’m so glad I read it – I kept talking about it to everyone I met and have bought a copy for my dad. It’s part travelogue, part adventure and part history. Knowing it’s true just adds to this compelling story.
This book was an informative journey to the jungles of Central America to excavate a fabled lost city which turned out to be real.