Confession: I never finished this, leaving about 50 pages (about 15%)on the table. With non-fiction books that are based around a particular theory I feel like as long as I read enough to internalize the argument and really understand some of the evidence I can stop reading when I get bored. If I missed some revelation on page 420 somebody let me know.

The key takeaway here: American societies were almost certainly older, larger, more technically advanced and more complex than they are given credit for. While this is basically a no brainer for most of us, actually reading all of the evidence and the history of the discovery is really interesting.

Another takeaway: Archeology is NOT an exact science. In fact, it seems to basically consist of making a discovery and then claiming your discovery is unimpeachable fact until someone else discovers something older that makes your discovery obsolete. Its like a crappy metaphor for life.

Finally: Interesting factoid. It seems like no one can come to a consensus on how corn originated as a crop. The genetic ancestors of the plant are so small and nutrient deficient that they cant figure out how the South Americans managed to cultivate it into the powerful food staple it is today. Probably alien intervention if you ask me..