The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story Kindle Edition

The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston tells the story of solving a 500 year archeological mystery in the 32,000 square mile La Mosquitia rainforest in Honduras, also known as the Portal del Inferno (Gates of Hell).The author was a correspondent from National Geographic magazine accompanying the archeological team to document the search for The Lost City of the Monkey God.This is one of the most dangerous areas in the world and still remains not totally scientifically investigated.There had been rumors of a lost civilization located in the Mosquitia rainforest for over 500 years, with local legends of a lost city built of white stone referred to as Cuidad Blanca (White City), but also called The Lost City of the Monkey God. This last name is the result of legends of a giant statue of monkey god resting on a pedestal in this city.Several attempts in the late 20th and early 21st centuries produced no positive results; however, in 2010, the team trying to find Cuidad Blanca heard of a new technology, LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) that had been successfully used to map the Maya city of Caracol in Belize. Believing this may be the answer to finding Cuidad Blanca, the team went to work learning about this technology and determining if it would be useful in their research.To try using LIDAR the team chose 3 sites (designated T1, T2 and T3) that were likely sites for Cuidad Blanca, if it really existed. LIDAR found two cities at sites T1 and T3, indicating that the ruins of a widespread civilization had been found that was larger than anyone had anticipated.To confirm the findings from LIDAR, a ground survey was necessary. This required tThe team to travel into the Mosquitia rainforest and physically confirm the LIDAR findings.On February 16, 2016, the team finally established their base camp close to the T1 site spending about one week performing an initial survey of the site. A number of ruins were found, including a row of partially buried containers with figures of jungle animals, including jaguars, vultures and Fer de Lance snakes. This survey confirmed a n advanced civilization had lived here, and that it was not Mayan; however, as of the publcation date of this book, no one has been able to confirm that this IS the site of Cuidad Blanca.The remainder of the story tells the aftermath of this initial survey, including a return visit about a year later by a larger team on a longer visit and one of the unknown dangers the team members were subjected to; a parasite that infected several members of the team, including the author.The author concludes with a discussion on the worldwide destruction of rainforest around the world, its effects on climate change, and how a warmer world could be setting up the world for a catastrophe from the spread of this tropical parasite.Overall, I thought this was a great story, portraying how much we don’t know about even recent civilizations; 500 years is not that long ago in archeological terms. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading true adventure stories.

One of the best non-fiction books I’ve read in a while. The style is so engaging, I had a hard time putting it down.

The kindle version includes photos, but they’re uselessly tiny. Here’s the LIDAR image of the T1 site. So disappointing!

The Lost City of the Monkey God was an extremely good book, it contained true stories of expeditions to the lost city, aka the white city in Honduras. Douglass Preston did a phenomenal job of providing detailed accounts of what happened on the expeditions and what happened after them. Preston writes about Theodore Morde and how he traveled up the Patuca river to find the “location” of the lost city. He did not actually find it due to later expeditions to the same area. The book speaks of the later expeditions as well how they tried to mine the tributaries for gold, the artifacts found and look for surviving temples like the Mayans had left. It was concluded the people of the lost city left in a rush due to extreme amounts of artifacts being found but never a city only mound, which the explorers believe was part of their architecture. I really loved how Preston steered off from the city and to the real danger that explorers faced. It took away the false Indiana Jones persona of archeology. The author talks about the diseases special to the Mosquitia jungle such as Leishmania braziliensis which the crew and author of the book caught while there. It was a little boring toward the middle of the book because I wasn’t sure if we were still looking at an expedition or not before it ended on a high note and then the next chapter was about the Mayans invading and expanding their empire. I loved the biology in this book and the way that Douglass Preston wrote it is extremely well. I was able to almost picture it perfectly in my head. When the author speaks on how Leishmania latches onto sand flies, and then how it enters your bloodstream by being engulfed by white blood cells because they are sent by your body to engulf the parasite and die. However Leishmania wants to be engulfed, it can't become an active internal parasite until your body does the only natural disease prevention. I also loved his description of the snake-decapitation on his trip in the Mosquitia jungle. Preston writes “As its head lashed back and forth, straining to sink its fangs into Woody’s fist, it expelled poison all over the back of his hand, causing his skin to bubble,”. I liked how he wrote about how the jaw unhinged to release the poison and its effect on commander Wood. This was after the first chapter where he laid out almost all the possible dangerous creatures special to the un-inhabited region, another thing I think helped get rid of the false Indiana Jones side of expeditions and archeology. Overall this was a great book and I look forward to reading the rest of it. I recommend it to anyone who likes a bit of a thriller with history to back

Resultó mejor de lo que esperaba, la narración de los eventos es muy buena, mantiene el interés, el contenido es bastante interesante, pues toca diversos campos.Narra la historia de una expedición a una región poco explorada de Honduras en busca de una ciudad pérdida de una cultura vecina a la maya.La expedición ocurrió en el 2015, así que tal vez sea pronto para esperar conclusiones definitivas en este libro.Sin embargo, el autor tiene bastante material que ofrecer respecto a todo lo que ocurrió para que dicha expedición pudiera llevarse a cabo.

I love adventure stories & this one has everything. Exciting to the last page & a cautionary tale. Global warming ☹️

Muy interesante y de actualidad a mi que me interesa mucho la historia antigua me gusta mucho y espero si hay continuación

ホンジュラスの熱帯雨林に猿を神と崇める原住民がいたか。モスキシアと呼ばれる地，ここにWhite Cityがあったか。ここの探検記である。ノンフクション。大蛇と格闘したり，調査は容易ではない。何故彼らは滅んだのか。レイシュマニア症，コロンブスが持ち込んだか?　このようなことに興味のある人にとっては面白い本だと思う。

A well-written account of an expedition into hostile country. However, for me the book did not really work. The story jumped from place to place and the description of making the finds, and the finds themselves, seemed incidental to the author’s coverage of a raft of other associated topics. While these topics were interesting, they were peripheral to the main theme: the archaeology. The book desperately needed maps and sketches. How you can write a book with a strong geographical content but provide no maps was extraordinary. Even a map showing where Honduras is in the world would have been useful! I also found it strange that there weren’t more photographs of the finds. For instance there were two photographs of a dead snake but only three of the finds. In summary a disappointing read.