The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story Paperback – September 5, 2017

Having been fortunate enough to travel to Central America to see the Mayan ruins at Copan, Tikal, Coba, and Chichen Itza I really connected with this story. The basic story line (based on true events) is about the discovery of the long lost "City of the Monkey God" (AKA "White City", etc.) after failed attempts during the 19th and 20th centuries. A technology breakthrough in radar, through combining of Laser and Radar technologies, finally enabled explorers/archeologists to "see" through the dense tropical jungle of central Honduras and see evidence of man-made structures, plazas, and other features that literally would have been next to impossible in "on the ground" expeditions. With support of the Honduran government, the U.S. led multi-national team uses helicopters to get to the site and make discoveries of artifacts. Without adequate time (or funding, or the ability to endure the dangers (disease, wild animals, pests, etc.) of the jungle) they make only two short trips (a couple of weeks each), and while no pyramids or dwellings are uncovered, they focus on the finding of a huge cache of highly valuable (archeologically and financially) carved items, vessels, altars, and other rare items. These two expeditions, and the planning activities leading up to them, comprise the bulk of the story. The follow-on is the formation of an organized Honduran national effort to protect and explore the find. Unfortunately, about half of the original team comes down with a rare tropical disease (internal parasites - ugh!) which can only be treated in a few locations around the world, and the treatment has painful side effects and only mitigates the disease without totally curing it. Also, the academic Archeological community is highly critical of the expeditions, terming them as more "Indiana Jones" adventuring than true 'on the ground' Archeological work. Nevertheless, the find is historic, and helps to shed light on the rather sudden demise and disappearance of the once mighty and numerous Latin American cultures. I found it a fascinating read (a page turner) and also very enlightening and educational. While many of us (at some point in our lives) probably dreamed of archeological and/or jungle adventure, this book opens your eyes to the dangers involved. Highly recommend.

I love history and archaeology, so was excited for this book. I had previously encountered The Monster of Florence by this author, and enjoyed it, so felt safe in purchasing this as an audiobook. I was completely dismayed, however, by the frequent foul language - the f word occurs with disturbing regularity. I kept hoping it would improve, but only made it partway through the 4th cd before giving up. It's unfortunate that the author felt the need to use such foul language while describing such an interesting endeavor (the search for lost cities in the Honduran jungle). I'd love to know more about it, but cannot recommend this book.

The story starts off well and by and large moves apace and is interesting for the most part. As the author takes us through the history of the search for Cuidad Blanca, the ride keeps your interest. When the actual exploration begins you are keenly engaged in the search, and the author keeps your interest throughout. The largest critique is that the exploration phase of the book is short lived. The end of the book is largely a long description of infectious disease and a reiteration of the story of the Europeans bringing disease to the New World, and frankly gets a little tedious. Overall a good read and a good story.

This is NOT a book authored by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child that continues the adventures of Special Agent A. Pendergast and his unique circle of friends and assorted characters. However this is an intriguing and very interesting documentary written by Douglas Preston that takes you inside the planning and execution of a continual search for a mythical lost city (and/or civilization) that until 2015 remained nothing more than rumor and myth(s). It is NOT an "Indiana Jones" novel and is all the more compelling for avoiding that type of embellishment and drama. You won't find a photograph of Harrison Ford inside the dust jacket but you will see a grinning shot of Douglas Preston bearing an uncanny resemblance to the (deceased) actor Edward Herrmann.Don't underestimate what is encountered and accomplished in this journey, several real-life challenges arise and have to be effectively and efficiently dealt with. This undiscovered Honduran city/civilization has remained hidden for hundreds of years for several good reasons. A combination of legends and myths, some completely false and yet others bearing an element of truth, have circulated about this area, both intriguing and cautioning researchers and potential explorers. "Ground breaking" technology (pun intended) becomes available that can help pinpoint the potential discovery of this area, but nothing beats 'boots on the ground' to prove and establish its existence.If you order this book, don't expect a fast-moving adventure tale that uses various hooks and literary schemes to reel you in. Instead expect a logical and relatively full picture of how research is conducted, expeditions planned, and the real-life difficulties and dangers encountered. Douglas Preston presents a well-documented journey, including maps and photographs, of the main characters and the steps taken to both justify and undertake this complicated and difficult exploration. Mr. Preston's writing makes it easy to imagine yourself as part of this exploratory party -- and raises the question of "is it really worth it"? For as physics class taught us in high school "every action results in an opposite and equal reaction". Some of the reactions in this story are extremely fearful -- to say the least. This particular exploration gives new meaning to the phrase "the gift that keeps on giving". Sometimes it might be better to let 'sleeping dogs lie'.Read it and enjoy it for what it is. The "Comments" sections are loaded with arguments and accusations concerning several aspects of the story, with occasional heated discussions breaking out. However, reading them and trying to interpret who is (at least) partially correct and/or accurate is sort of like watching confirmed liberals and conservatives hurling 'slings and arrows' at each other while failing to agree on anything. Great book though!

Read the book review in the newspaper and got the book. The full account of the discovery of the lost city in Honduras was fascinating. Both mystery, history and adventure and very well written. And a warning to us all from history. Recommend it!

Taking a leaf out of his own adventure novels, the author heads off for real into the Honduran jungle to find a fable lost city from an equally lost past civilisation.With SAS protection against lawless drug cartels and archaeological thieves, the team find the lost ruins (this is not a spoiler as the trip and discovery have been well documented).But there the adventure turns sour and many of them experience the very thing which could have caused an entire civilisation to pack up and leave their world. Centuries old issues arise from disturbing the jungle ruins and whilst they don’t dampen the author’s enthusiasm for the tale, the end is a sobering insight into the consequences of history.

I knew nothing about the latest development in aerial image detection and analysis, or how it could be used in modern archeology, but this was key to re-discover the abandoned ruins deep in the Honduras jungle. A fascinating, sometimes gruesome story told, which holds a grip on the reader all the way through the book. Highly recommendable!

I usually like Preston's books but this one lost me along the way some where. I like the premise of the story and the writing wasn't bad but didn't develop as I thought it would and my interest tailed off. Disappointing as I said I usually enjoy this author but not this one.

Part history, part adventure story. Well written and gripping tale. Like the balance the author displayed to some of the contentious aspects. The final sections of the book - reading them in May 2020 - are very prescient on the likelihood of a global pandemic. Recommended.

great read and thought provoking possibilities for the future pandemics

a good read

In interesting book on Honduras, and its past.

Excellently written, Almost novel like in drama.

Excellent

Awesome

I have always enjoyed books of travel and exploration of remote places. I have been fortunate to visit a few, but here is a description of a place I would never want to visit, the impenetrable jungles of Mosquitos, deep in the Honduras rain forest. In Honduras there is a well known legend amongst the natives of a lost White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God located deep in the jungle. In the first part of the 20th century explorers attempted to find it but failed. One man took the credit of finding it, returning home with a number of artifacts. This was a fraud. The statues were bought in market places, and his expedition was secretly searching for gold. The book describes how expensive modern technology called lidar, carried by a beat up small plane, was able to penetrate spaces between leaves in the dense foliage by laser, reflecting back images from the ground surface underneath. It appeared that the lost city untouched for 500 years had been discovered, and maybe as many as three cities buried in the remote jungle. Journalist and novelist, Douglas Preston, writing for the National Geographic and the New Yorker, accompanied Steven Elkins, filmmaker, several archaeologists/historians and some men experienced in jungle warfare to explore the site on ground in 2015. Since the president of the country was cooperative, he provided some Honduran soldiers to guard them and the site. I interrupted my reading of the book to look up articles online of the adventure which were accompanied by colour photos and a short film. This confirmed how well Preston's writing describes the terrain. Trees and vines so thick that machetes had to be used most steps of the way. Swampy areas with quicksand , the fer-de-lance, one of the worlds most poisonous snake seen most everyday, while jaguars roamed around the campground at night, and they suffered being bitten by insects, the most dangerous being the tiny sand fly. With growing excitement they came upon over 500 small statues and pottery mostly covered by earth, only the tops visible. It was decided to keep the site mostly intact for future archaeology expeditions. The book describes legal and illegal archaeology both in Central America and other places, incidences of American interference in Honduras business, and the history of indigenous tribes with the belief that 90% of the Honduran population was wiped out in the early 1500's by disease carried by European traders, diseases to which they had not developed a resistance. After the expedition returned home, almost half including the author came down with a ghastly disease, Leishmaniasis which is difficult to treat. We get descriptions of this nasty disease which can be fatal, and their search for uncomfortable treatments. It had been contacted through sand fly bites. The theory is that when Europeans brought their diseases to which they were mainly immune to the large cities of Central America, the native survivors abandoned the cities, fleeing into remote area and carried the germs to the people there, explaining why this lost city was deserted 500 years ago. Once home, the expedition was attacked by other scientists, saying they had never found the site, and if they had found it they cheated by locating it with modern technology, and by finding it they opened up the area to looters. 4.5 stars

Lost City of the monkey God erzählt die (sehr aktuelle) Geschichte der Entdeckung der "Weißen Stadt" in Honduras.Ich kann mich noch gut erinnern, dass die Entdeckung damals sogar in den Nachrichten kam: Mit Hilfe von Lasertechnologie konnte im vermutlich dichtesten Regenwald der Welt gleich zwei riesige Ruinenstädte gefunden werden. Da der Regenwald dort extrem diocht und die Bedinungen dort sehr schweirig sind, ist tatsächlich noch bis dahin niemand auf diese Ruinen gestoßen.Preston erzählt jetzt die Geschichte der Entdeckung, bei der er auch bei jedem Schritt dabeiwar: Das Buch beginnt mit der Vorgeschichte (was war schon alles gefunden wurde) und erzählt dann die eigentliche Entdeckung - beginnend bei der Lasertechnologie, aber auch der Besuch vor Ort. Dank diesen Schilderungen (und den Bildern im Anhang) kann man sich ein Bild machen, warum die Ruinen bislang unentdeckt blieben. Im dritten Teil geht es dann um Pandemien als mögliche Gründe für den Zusammenbruch der Zivilisation. Auch dieser Teil ist gut recherchiert und beschrieben. Wenn das Buch einen Fehler hat, dann das der letzte Teil etwas lang und spekulativ geworden ist - das hängt aber schlicht damit zusammen, dass die Entdeckung zu frisch ist, als das noch allzu viel konkretes für die Kultur oder auch nur die Ruinen bekannt wäre. Hinzu kommt noch, dass die Bedingungen dort so extrem sind, dass nur wenige Archäologen dort arbeiten können (oder wollen).Dennoch: Wer sich auch nur ein bisschen für moderne Archäologie oder die Entdeckung verlorener Städte interessiert, findet hier ein wirklich gut geschriebenes Buch, das fast an meinen Liebling "The lost city of Z" herankommt - ganz große Empfehlung!

Douglas Preston is an excellent story teller. He relates the legend of the "White City" that has past down from conquistadors, native Hondourans and treasure hunters. With his research he links up with an archealogist to document the discovery of this "lost" city in a remote jungle area of Honduras. He vividly captures the personalities (past and present) of those involved in this quest, the rigous of modern archeology and the excitement of discovering a major archeological find of vast settlements of little known indigenous population that mysterious vanished around 1500. And in a deadly twist, the last few chapters of the book deal with the treating a deadly disease that the author and half the archeological team contracted, leishmaniasis while out in a jungle, which in of itself is a gripping story.

It was wonderful to read Preston's prose again, which I've missed over the past few years. Many readers suspect that his last few novels (co-written by Child) were in fact ghost written. I love these authors, but there's a clear difference in style between their recent works and the ones from eight years back.I really enjoyed his description of the rain forest and his subsequent infection of leish. I didn't love his fear mongering and mild deception. He speculates that the inhabitants of the lost city were destroyed by an old world sickness (like smallpox), then after stating that we are all likely to get leish in the near future, he finishes the book by stating as a fact that the inhabitants of that lost city did die from an old world sickness (described as the "unseen invader that ghosted in").But no one knows what happened to those people! In fact, many might have got leish (rather than an old world sickness) and then abandoned the city for higher ground as a result. Speculation is fine, but don't say "might have happened" and then change that to "did happen." That sort of tactic frustrates thinking people. And because it's used so much in the mainstream media these days, it smells like propaganda.