As much as I've enjoyed the books of the writing team of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, I have to admit that I prefer the solo books that Preston writes, and The Lost City of the Monkey God is no exception. Preston's descriptions of the landscape and wildlife of the jungle re-enforced my opinion that the best way for me to explore these fascinating places is by reading books. (The insects and snakes alone would probably drive me insane.)

Preston covers all the bases in telling his story, and every one is spellbinding. From the history of Honduras to the history of searching for the lost city to how the language of archaeology is changing and on to the actual discovery of the city... I couldn't get enough.

But the book hit high gear once Preston and the others returned home. From an archaeological search for an ancient city, the book changes into a hair-raising tale of the spread of a horrific disease. Even Preston's explanation of the differences between the spread of disease in the Old World versus the New World kept me turning the pages.

Ultimately The City of the Lost Monkey God is a cautionary tale that infuriated me. Today the only diseases for which cures are being avidly sought are the ones in which the pharmaceutical companies can make lots of money. If the disease affects mainly poor people, forget it. They can't pay, so it's not worth trying to find a cure. But as Preston so ably tells us, disease can spread long distances, and ignoring the "no profit" ones is putting us all in grave danger.

The Lost City of the Monkey God is a book that satisfies on many levels, and I highly recommend it.

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Douglas Preston is known primarily for his series of novels featuring Agent Pendergast that he cowrote with Lincoln Child. But he is also a well-known journalist who has written for National Geographic and The New Yorker. He has also written some very good nonfiction books including CITIES OF GOLD, DINOSAURS IN THE ATTIC, and THE MONSTER OF FLORENCE...all of which I have read and enjoyed.

In 2012, Preston joined a team of scientists in the search for a lost civilization in the jungles of Honduras. Ever since the days of conquistador Hernan Cortes, there had been rumors of a lost city in the jungle called the White City (Ciudad Blanca) or the City of the Monkey God. With new technology, the scientists had been able to map out what appeared to be two large cities dating back to the early 16th century in the Mosquitia Region of eastern Honduras. The organizer of the group had heard rumors of the city for years and had been trying to find a way to discover it after hearing accounts of other explorers who had claimed to have found it in the early part of the 20th century. The group is able to venture into the impenetrable jungle using a helicopter. Once there they had to survive torrential rains, insects, snakes (including the deadly Fer-de-lance), jaguars and mud. But they were rewarded by finding a cache of relics that was still being excavated at the time the book was published. But after Preston and the team returned from Honduras, about half of them came down with a very deadly parasitic disease that is spread by the bites of sandflies called Leishmaniasis which manifests itself by an unhealing lesion somewhere on the body. Preston was treated for this but may not have fully recovered.

This was a great adventure story. Preston tells the history of how the Mayan civilization was discovered in the 1800s as well as early forays in the 20th century to try to find the White City. He also details their group's miseries and joys in finding the ruined city beneath the Honduran jungle. He also goes into detail describing the parasitic disease he contracted and the brutal treatment for it. And he discusses how the Native Americans were decimated by disease brought from Europe by the early explorers starting with Columbus. Some of the populations of the Caribbean Islands were totally wiped out and much of the overall population in North and South America were 90 percent destroyed. He talks about possible future pandemics but since this was published in 2017, he had not yet experienced Covid which it turned out was right around the corner. High recommendation overall for this one.

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I enjoyed the book very much. I have read many of Douglas Preston's fiction books. This was the first non-fiction of his that I read. It was very interesting and I learned a lot about that area of Central America and the history of it. Good reading!

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This book is a true medical mystery story of an exploration into the worldâs densest jungle and a hunt for The Lost City of the Monkey Godâs somewhere in the Honduran interior. There is an ancient curse and 500 year legend that who goes these will fall ill and die. The most interesting part was after Doug Preston returned home he had a horrific disease. You need to read this book for yourself & see what happens.

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