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Danger My Ally
"F. A. (Mike) Mitchell-Hedges' incredible odyssey spans almost forty years - searching Mayan ruins for traces of the legendary Atlantis, venturing into the wilds & the lost cities of southern Africa, battling giant sea creatures & prehistoric saurians, Mexican rebels and British newspapers, or making amazing archaeological discoveries. Mitchell-Hedges' remarkable tales let you relive the real-life adventures of this world-renowned British explorer, poet & philosopher." Contents include: Prologue: The Moment of Truth / Preparation / The Taste of Freedom / Escape to Norway / Death in the Blizzard / Escape to Canada / Gamblers of the Stone Jungle / Financial Suicide / The Wheel Spins Black / Pancho Villa's Prisoner / The Man from the East Side / The Girl from Ontario / Fulfilment / Arrest and Revolution / Into the Unknown / We become Gods / The Feast of the Hair-Cutting / The Big Fish of Jamaica / Battles with Sea Monsters / Disaster on the Rio Grande / The Circle of Fire / The Lost City of Lubaantun / Interlude For Frustration / The Pirates' Stronghold / The Outposts of Atlantis / Into a Lost World / Mating Dance of the Indians / The Oil of Love / Retirement? / The Skull of Doom and a Bomb / The Cyclone / The Last Look Round.
374 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
About the author
Frederick Albert Mitchell-Hedges
2 books4 followersFrederick Albert Mitchell-Hedges (sometimes known as "Mike Hedges") was an English adventurer, traveler, and writer. Mitchell–Hedges was most known for the discovery of the Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull which he found with his adopted daughter Anna Mitchell–Hedges in Lubaantun, Belize. However, the Crystal Skull, along with many of his other findings are still in question and in some cases unreliable based on more recent evidence. Mitchell–Hedges is said to have inspired to the well known character Indiana Jones
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 27, 2016
An amazing story of a real life Indiana Jones. I read this book when I was younger and recently managed to find my own copy. It is still fun to read and I love to just let myself get into the story and believe that everything that happens is real.
Mitchell-Hedges was a real explorer, spent years in the jungle looking for a lost city, when he eventually finds it he then spends a long time clearing the jungle in an attempt to bring the city back. My favourite section of the book is his years spent fishing for monster fish, when he starts describing the fish you say "yeah right! fishermen always exaggerate" but he has included the photos in the book, it's mind boggling that fish can get that big. the epic battles were fun to read.
One thing the book needs is to have a chapter dedicated to the crystal skull and how Sammy found it, I had to go and find out about it in other books, it really needed it in the book just to finish things off.
Mitchell-Hedges was a real explorer, spent years in the jungle looking for a lost city, when he eventually finds it he then spends a long time clearing the jungle in an attempt to bring the city back. My favourite section of the book is his years spent fishing for monster fish, when he starts describing the fish you say "yeah right! fishermen always exaggerate" but he has included the photos in the book, it's mind boggling that fish can get that big. the epic battles were fun to read.
One thing the book needs is to have a chapter dedicated to the crystal skull and how Sammy found it, I had to go and find out about it in other books, it really needed it in the book just to finish things off.
May 9, 2019
Phenomenal. One of my favorites. This is one of those books that forces you to take a hard look at your own life and ask (as his daughter Sammy said in the intro): "Am I really doing what I want with my life?" I think for the vast majority of us, the answer is an unequivocal, "NO!"
Take what you will from the bulk of the book; I enjoy those old tales from explores such as Mitchell-Hedges and Percy Fawcett. I wish I could have seen the places they did when they did. But this is all secondary to the message of the book:
"Life which is lived without zest and adventure is not life at all. It is a state of being half dead."
How many of us are little more than zombies sitting in traffic, rushing to and from meaningless, unfulfilling jobs? Then our precious little free time is spent doing things we really don't enjoy. The weeks turn into years and the years become decades of just going through the motions.
Perhaps we should all follow Mitchell-Hedges' advice and "decide what you would like to do above all else and go do it."
This book really hit home.
Take what you will from the bulk of the book; I enjoy those old tales from explores such as Mitchell-Hedges and Percy Fawcett. I wish I could have seen the places they did when they did. But this is all secondary to the message of the book:
"Life which is lived without zest and adventure is not life at all. It is a state of being half dead."
How many of us are little more than zombies sitting in traffic, rushing to and from meaningless, unfulfilling jobs? Then our precious little free time is spent doing things we really don't enjoy. The weeks turn into years and the years become decades of just going through the motions.
Perhaps we should all follow Mitchell-Hedges' advice and "decide what you would like to do above all else and go do it."
This book really hit home.
July 9, 2011
I would love to read the (imaginary) companion volume to this book, which might clear up the highly suspect nature of Mitchell-Hedge's claims. His tales are too detailed and obtuse to be entirely untrue, but too outrageous to be entirely genuine. His tales also confirm the tendency of British explorers to assassinate crocodiles en masse (along with an abundance of other wildlife). One disappointment: no information is given regarding his discovery of the legendary crystal skull.
August 9, 2016
They said Mitchell-Hedges, the author is an inspiration for Indiana Jones. So I really wanted to like this book. But fate had different plans.
The parts that stand out are the ones that are mentioned in the back cover of the book. The other parts are dull and repetitive. The fishing chapter was the most annoying of all. The epilogue is very inspiring. "Life which is lived without zest and adventure is not life at all. It is a state of being half dead". A quote to be cherished.
The parts that stand out are the ones that are mentioned in the back cover of the book. The other parts are dull and repetitive. The fishing chapter was the most annoying of all. The epilogue is very inspiring. "Life which is lived without zest and adventure is not life at all. It is a state of being half dead". A quote to be cherished.
June 25, 2024
I first read this about 60 years ago (aged about 14). I had taken it from my father's bookcase and I couldn't put it down, cover to cover, such was its profound effect upon my young mind. Strange that years later it was still his treatment of the Headmaster that stuck foremost in my mind.
Hard to believe that this is a life autobiography of a real human being. Perhaps it shows what we might achieve if only we could break out of "social mores" as Mike M-H did at so young an age.
Lucky those of you who are yet to read this book for the first time. What a treat you have in store.
[Vigorniensis Jun 2024]
Hard to believe that this is a life autobiography of a real human being. Perhaps it shows what we might achieve if only we could break out of "social mores" as Mike M-H did at so young an age.
Lucky those of you who are yet to read this book for the first time. What a treat you have in store.
[Vigorniensis Jun 2024]
June 3, 2008
"Life which is lived without zest and adventure is not life at all" a true autobiography of the real Indiana Jones.
June 10, 2012
A ripping good yarn. A challenge to sort out fact from fiction.
January 19, 2017
Largely nonsense but great fun. Mitchell-Hedges enthusiasm for exaggeration and self-aggrandisement did not detract from this short, amusing, book but rather added to it.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews