The Lost City of Z: A Legendary British Explorer's Deadly Quest to Uncover the Secrets of the Amazon

by
David Grann

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Details of Book:

The Lost City Of Z

Book:
The Lost City of Z: A Legendary British Explorer's Deadly Quest to Uncover the Secrets of the Amazon
Author:David Grann
ISBN:1847374794
ISBN-13:9781847374790, 978-1847374790
Binding: Paperback
Publishing Date: 2009-01-31
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
Number of Pages: 339 pages
Language: English

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Book Reviews of The Lost City of Z: A Legendary British Explorer's Deadly Quest to Uncover the Secrets of the Amazon

Great way to becomve familiar with the explorers of the 20th century

Very interesting book about the Amazon area and the many challenges of the explorers, particularly Fawcett, in attmepting to navigate their way in this region of thw world. Well written by Grann.

Awesome and Poignant Book!!!

A real page turner, providing an unexpected and powerful paradigm shift regarding the history of colonization in South America. Definitely worth reading more than once!

Audio Book,

It is an interesting story, not an Indiana Jones adventure (something some seemed to find disappointing), but a true life tale of exploration, explorers and their lives and the times (described well, contributing to the story without braking pace) they lived in. It is well done, the writer adds his tale appropriately, neither too self depreciating or self aggrandizing, it is artfully done, the melding of the two tales flows evenly.
The story is told by other reviews so I wanted to mention that the audio book is well done, the reader clear and easy to hear and understand.
My only critique of the book, the author has that habit of speaking of two people, and then continuing on with the story of one of them without telling the listener (maybe it is easier to follow in book form where you can glance back and forward) which of the people discussed he is now talking about, like...(not a quote) "Frank and Paul went up river for four miles, he injured his toe and could not continue", causing occasional "huh?" moments but not distracting from the real tale.
Very entertaining, the characters (all) of them detailed artfully in a real life adventure.

Teresa's review

I enjoyed the book very much. It showed how people made decisions a little different than we would make today.

Past and Present Meet in the Amazon Jungle

It may seem that there are no longer unexplored areas of the planet. Less than a century ago, however, the Amazon was one of the last, great areas that remained mysterious. Perhaps it was because it was jungle, a green space so dense that few had ever dared to explore it. While it is true that many used the rivers that fed the Amazon River, not many left the river for the interior. In 1906, British explorer Percy Fawcett, who was affiliated with the British Royal Geographic Society, which was in the midst of mapping the world, was given the task of mapping the border between Bolivia and Brazil. Nearly a year later, Fawcett emerged from the jungle, gaunt but extremely happy. He loved the jungle; while it was menacing, it also afforded him solitude. Much like an addiction, he continued to return to the Amazon as it consumed his every waking hour. Until 1925, when he left on an adventure to discover the city he christened Z. Then it turned fatal. David Grann details Fawcett's obsession, and his own, in The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon.

Contents: Preface; We Shall Return; The Vanishing; The Search Begins; Buried Treasure; Blank Spots on the Map; The Disciple; Freeze-Dried Ice Cream and Adrenaline Socks; Into the Amazon; The Secret Papers; The Green Hell; Dead Horse Camp; In the Hands of the Gods; Ransom; The Case for Z; El Dorado; The Locked Box; The Whole World is Mad; A Scientific Obsession; An Unexpected Clue; Have No Fear; The Last Eyewitness; Dead or Alive; The Colonel's Bones; The Other World; Z; Acknowledgements; A Note on the Sources; Notes; Selected Bibliography; Index

David Grann tells two stories in The Lost City of Z; one story concerns an explorer chasing a dream, the other is a reporter chasing the explorer chasing the dream. On one hand you witness Fawcett attempting to raise funds for his adventure, which was not a very popular quest. On the other hand, there is a reporter from New York City who doesn't like to camp, has never climbed a mountain or hunted, and yet feels the need to follow in Fawcett's footsteps in order to determine the fate of "the last of the great Victorian explorers who ventured into uncharted realms with little more than a machete, a compass and an almost divine sense of purpose." It is an interesting and compelling narrative. When focusing on Fawcett, the reader discovers the bigotry and racism prevalent in British adventurers of the time, the fate of explorers searching for Fawcett, the deadly flora and fauna of the Amazon, and the myths of El Dorado.

When Grann begins to chart his adventure, he uses Google Maps. To prepare for the Amazon, he visits an outdoors store in New York City, picking up many high technology devices, clothing, and equipment. It is a humorous endeavor, one that reminds the reader that we have access to equipment that was unknown to Fawcett in 1925. However, the jungle is no less dangerous in our time. The final chapters read like a penny press novel, gripping and exciting. Grann follows his subject to a remote region called Xingu, where he is introduced to a person that was likely the last to see Fawcett alive. He also believes that he has found the remains of Z.

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon makes the current world seem very small. By revealing real adventurers, blazing trails with machetes, compass, and will, the world at that time seemed limitless. Now, using Google, GPS, and satellite phones, the world seems much smaller. Grann's adventure is neither a disappointment to him nor the reader. While Fawcett's story is nearly a century old, Grann follows it very well, through all of the ups and downs, twists and turns. The Lost City of Z is an extremely well researched, fascinating and thrilling experience.

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Payment: Purchased

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