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The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

David Grann

3.87 · Rating details · 64,225 ratings · 5,684 reviews

A grand mystery reaching back centuries. A sensational disappearance that made headlines around the world. A quest for truth that leads to death, madness or disappearance for those who seek to solve it. The Lost City of Z is a blockbuster adventure narrative about what lies beneath the impenetrable jungle canopy of the Amazon.

After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, ...more

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Hardcover, 352 pages

Published February 24th 2009 by Doubleday/Random House (NY) (first published 2009)

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Feb 09, 2010 Kemper rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

We’ve all been wrong on this whole rainforest issue. We don’t need to SAVE the rainforest. We need to DESTROY the rainforest. Immediately.

I knew that the Amazon was a hostile environment, but I was really shocked at the variety of horrific ways that the jungle will kill a person. You’ve got your standard malaria and yellow fever. Then there’s the piranha, the electric eels, the anacondas, the coral snakes or the poisonous toads that are so toxic that one of them could kill a hundred people. Sti We’ve all been wrong on this whole rainforest issue. We don’t need to SAVE the rainforest. We need to DESTROY the rainforest. Immediately.

I knew that the Amazon was a hostile environment, but I was really shocked at the variety of horrific ways that the jungle will kill a person. You’ve got your standard malaria and yellow fever. Then there’s the piranha, the electric eels, the anacondas, the coral snakes or the poisonous toads that are so toxic that one of them could kill a hundred people. Still not convinced? How about the tiny fish that will swim into any orifice and proceed to do things so terrible that sometimes men had to be castrated to survive.

That’s not even talking about the bugs. Sure, the mosquitoes spread disease, but there’s also a variety of maggot that will infect living tissue. Ants that can eat your clothes in a single night. Chiggers that eat human tissue. Cyanide squirting millipedes. Parasitic worms that cause blindness. Bugs that plant larvae under the skin where it will hatch later. ‘Kissing bugs’ that bite the lips but the victim doesn’t die until 20 years later when their brain or heart swells.

Even if that doesn’t kill you, you’d probably starve to death in what is described as a counterfeit paradise. Because even though there’s all kinds of plants and animals, good luck finding anything edible. Avoid the animals, the disease, the bugs, injury, and starving to death, and you’re still screwed when hostile natives catch you, eat you and use your skull as their favorite coffee mug.

To hell with the Amazon. Burn or bulldoze all of it and sow the earth with salt. That treacherous hellhole has to be obliterated before it can spread. And I don’t want to hear about global warming or any nonsense about generating most of the world’s oxygen. We can breathe shallow, people!

Old Percy Fawcett was a veteran explorer who mounted several expeditions into the Amazon and somehow managed to escape with his life. But he got obsessed with finding the mythical ruins of an El Dorado-type city and led his son and another poor bastard to some kind of gruesome deaths. The mystery of what happened to him led to countless deaths from other dumb asses trekking into the jungle to look for them.

The guy who wrote the book knew all this and he was still stupid enough to go in there. He somehow lived through it, but I think the message is clear. Stay out! ...more

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Jun 11, 2009 Will Byrnes rated it it was amazing

Shelves: biography, nonfiction, adventuring, brain-candy

Be careful when you pick this book up. You won’t want to put it down. In 1925, Percy Harrison Fawcett, armed with information only he had unearthed, accompanied by his son, his son’s best friend and a small company of bearers and support personnel, headed off into the Amazonian wilderness in search of a large, ancient, fabled city, the City of Z. Fawcett, his son, Jack, and Jack’s friend, Raleigh, were never seen again. There were many attempts by later explorers of varying levels of expertise t Be careful when you pick this book up. You won’t want to put it down. In 1925, Percy Harrison Fawcett, armed with information only he had unearthed, accompanied by his son, his son’s best friend and a small company of bearers and support personnel, headed off into the Amazonian wilderness in search of a large, ancient, fabled city, the City of Z. Fawcett, his son, Jack, and Jack’s friend, Raleigh, were never seen again. There were many attempts by later explorers of varying levels of expertise to find Fawcett, or at least to learn definitively of his fate. Professional writer David Grann joins that horde, armed with little or no experience as an outdoorsman and having his athletic prowess honed by years as a subway-riding resident of Brooklyn. Not, perhaps, the likeliest starting point. He sets out on a strenuous enterprise in an attempt to explain this 80 year old mystery.

description

David Grann

While Grann’s book is non-fiction, it reads like an H. Rider Haggard action adventure novel. You will feel palpable excitement as Grann digs up first one then another then another clue as to where Fawcett might have wound up. He follows research directions ignored or unsuspected by prior investigators, to great advantage. I won’t spoil the ending by telling what he does or does not find. That is almost beside the point.

It is the journey that counts here, and part of that journey is the window Grann offers on a part of the history of exploration, the sort of people who were drawn to it, their reasons, their personalities, the effect of their quests (or obsessions, depending) on their careers, families and on the body of human knowledge. We learn also of competing theories about the potential for the Amazon to support a large, urban population. Grann shows, as well, the challenges, the horrors of trying to traverse one of the most unwelcoming areas on earth. This is a very entertaining, very informative and very engaging journey.

The Film was released in the USA - 4/14/17

=============================EXTRA STUFF

Links to the author’s personal, Twitter and FB pages>

Once Hidden by Forest, Carvings in Land Attest to Amazon’s Lost World
New York Times: January 14, 2012 ...more

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May 02, 2017 Jeffrey Keeten rated it really liked it

Shelves: south-american, exploration, travel, book-to-film

”How easily the Amazon can deceive.

It begins as barely a rivulet, this, the mightiest river in the world, mightier than the Nile and the Ganges, mightier than the Mississippi and all the rivers in China. Over eighteen thousand feet high in the Andes, amid snow and clouds, it emerges through a rocky seam--a trickle of crystal water.”

By the time it reaches the ocean, the estuary of the Amazon river at the mouth is 202 miles wide. A trickle becomes one of the mightiest forces on the planet.

Colo ...more

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May 01, 2017 Dem rated it really liked it

Recommended to Dem by: Pam Walter

Shelves: adventure

A terrific adventure story, full of suspense and intrigue and lots of historical detail to keep the reader interested. I am not really a reader of adventure strories but every now and again one comes along that catches my interest and when a trusted Goodread's friend recommend this I just had to give it a try and see exactly what the Lost City of Z was all about.

In 1925, British explorer Percy Fawcett and his son journey into the Amazon jungle, in search of what for centuries Europeans believe ...more

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May 12, 2017 Diane rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, audiobooks, outdoors, history, survival, south-america

Reading this book helped clarify one of my life goals, which is TO NEVER GET STRANDED IN THE AMAZON JUNGLE.

Seriously, that place would kill me. There's the threat of piranhas, electric eels, venomous snakes, vampire fish, vampire bats, disease-carrying mosquitoes, dangerous spiders, poisonous plants... and about a hundred other scary things. I fear the jungle because I respect it.*

I also respect those who have set out to explore the jungle — many of whom have died or disappeared. Some of those Reading this book helped clarify one of my life goals, which is TO NEVER GET STRANDED IN THE AMAZON JUNGLE.

Seriously, that place would kill me. There's the threat of piranhas, electric eels, venomous snakes, vampire fish, vampire bats, disease-carrying mosquitoes, dangerous spiders, poisonous plants... and about a hundred other scary things. I fear the jungle because I respect it.*

I also respect those who have set out to explore the jungle — many of whom have died or disappeared. Some of those folks are the subject of David Grann's fascinating book, The Lost City of Z. Grann himself became a bit obsessed with the Amazon, hoping to discover what happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett, who went missing in the Amazon in 1925. Fawcett had been searching for an ancient civilization, nicknamed Z, and after he disappeared, dozens of people also went into the Amazon trying to find him and the lost city. Some never returned.

This book is part travelogue, part history, part outdoor adventure. I really enjoyed reading it (even though descriptions of the jungle are terrifying) and I'm looking forward to watching the movie that is based on this book. This is the third Grann book I've read this year — I also recommend Killers of the Flower Moon and The Devil and Sherlock Holmes — and I've become such a fan of Grann's work that I'll happily read his future books.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go buy some antivenom and mosquito nets. JUST TO BE SAFE.

*Note: Another great-and-terrifying book about the Amazon jungle is Candice Millard's The River of Doubt. Highly recommended.

Meaningful Passage
"For nearly a century, explorers have sacrificed everything, even their lives, to find the City of Z. The search for the civilization, and for the countless men who vanished while looking for it, has eclipsed the Victorian quest novels of Arthur Conan Doyle and H. Rider Haggard — both of whom, as it happens, were drawn into the real-life hunt for Z. At times, I had to remind myself that everything in this story is true: a movie star really was abducted by Indians; there were cannibals, ruins, secret maps, and spies; explorers died from starvation, disease, attacks by wild animals, and poisonous arrows; and at stake amid the adventure and death was the very understanding of the Americas before Christopher Columbus came ashore in the New World." ...more

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May 29, 2014 Jason Koivu rated it really liked it

This will make you feel like a kid again! It will ignite a Jonny Quest kind of desire for adventure, to dive into the jungle in search of lost worlds.

This will also quench most desires to ever take one step closer to a jungle.

"Z" is supposedly a long lost South American city of a once powerful people. Think El Dorado. Did it ever really exist? Finding out was the self-imposed task of an almost legend of a man who lives up to the myth:

Famous British explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett...

description

A military m ...more

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Nov 19, 2008 Nancy Oakes rated it it was amazing

Shelves: the-amazon, favorite, nonfiction

I picked up this book and was immediately lost between the covers and could not stop reading until I had finished the entire thing. That's how good this book is.

The author sets forth the story of Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett, a British explorer who in 1925 set out on an expedition to the Amazon to find what he had named the "lost city of Z." He was convinced that an ancient and "highly cultured" people lived in the Amazon of Brazil, untouched by modern civilization, and that they lived in a gr I picked up this book and was immediately lost between the covers and could not stop reading until I had finished the entire thing. That's how good this book is.

The author sets forth the story of Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett, a British explorer who in 1925 set out on an expedition to the Amazon to find what he had named the "lost city of Z." He was convinced that an ancient and "highly cultured" people lived in the Amazon of Brazil, untouched by modern civilization, and that they lived in a great city in a valley somewhere. He spent years doing research and gathering evidence for the existence of this place in order to get funding for expeditions into Brazil's interior. On the 1925 expedition, he took his son, Jack, and Jack's best friend, both eager to be part of a mission that would make history. But shortly after they had arrived into the Amazon area, all communications ceased, and while their movements were traced to a point, nothing concrete was ever heard regarding the three explorers. Their disappearance, and the publicity following the mission from which they never returned, prompted years worth of explorers trying to locate any trace of Fawcett, his son, and his son's friend, even as late as 1996. Too bad for those left behind, Fawcett, who was facing a lot of competition from others exploring the Amazon at the time, and worried that these other explorers might find the lost city of Z before he would, kept his route a very closely guarded secret, so it was pretty much impossible for anyone to go in to either locate bodies, effect a rescue or even trace with any accuracy the steps taken by Fawcett and his group. Although Fawcett's wife refused to believe that her husband and son were gone, they had pretty much just vanished off the face of the earth. Grann, who writes for the New Yorker, decided to try to find Fawcett's route and discover what had happened to him once and for all. This book not only traces Grann's efforts, but takes the reader back into the Victorian period, at the peak of the British Empire, to look at exactly who Percy Fawcett was. It also examines old and modern views of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon as well as offers a glimpse of the fate of the rain forest in modern times.

Simply stunning and superb, I loved this book so much that I pre-ordered a copy for when it is released for the general reading public. The writing is excellent, the mystery surrounding Fawcett's disappearance is well portrayed, and the amount of effort that Grann went to in his research is very much apparent here. If you are looking for something entirely different that will mesmerize you instantly, you cannot miss this book. I had never heard about any of this up until now, & my curiosity has been sparked enough that I made notes and took down book titles to fill in some holes in my knowledge.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough, and I would like to thank Doubleday for sending me this book and also those on Shelf Awareness for offering it as an ARC. It is an excellent piece of writing. ...more

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Apr 21, 2011 Denise rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Incredible reviews, national best seller, interesting subject matter, well written, extensively researched and yet it did nothing for me. EPIC FAIL. Not sure why but I had a hard time getting through it without falling asleep every other page. Too many details, too many names, too many stories, too much repetition (I get it, the AMAZON is incredibly dangerous). The first half just dragged and dragged. I am glad that I made myself finish it otherwise I would have nothing positive to say. I will a ...more

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Oct 26, 2011 Richard Derus rated it really liked it

Rating: 4.5* of five

This review has been revised and can now be found at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.

Real-life Indiana Jones doesn't come back from this one.

2017 Movie News: Go watch the trailer for this Amazon Studios film. I'll wait. Okay, now go read the Rotten Tomatoes aggregation. Won't take long.

Now. A four-plus star book review from me and a host of other sources, agreement among critics from Den of Geek all the way to The Nation, and a cast of pretty, pretty actors...plus the fact that Rating: 4.5* of five

This review has been revised and can now be found at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.

Real-life Indiana Jones doesn't come back from this one.

2017 Movie News: Go watch the trailer for this Amazon Studios film. I'll wait. Okay, now go read the Rotten Tomatoes aggregation. Won't take long.

Now. A four-plus star book review from me and a host of other sources, agreement among critics from Den of Geek all the way to The Nation, and a cast of pretty, pretty actors...plus the fact that it's an Amazon Studios original appearing hot on the heels of their Golden Globe-winning Manchester by the Sea, makes this a super-promising April 2017 must-see. Amazon might very well be Satan, I can't say I agree but there's a chorus of unhappy people from contractors to suppliers to anti-globalization zealots who say it is, but Satan's offering us a lot of really great inducements to forget his agenda. Amazon's Prime streaming service alone is worth the $100 a year it costs. I love that so much of Amazon Studios' output is book-based. Calculated or not, it's a great thing to see the filmed entertainment industry gain a player that mines the immense vein of unadapted written work instead of churning out sequels and comic book heroes and the occasional bland screensaver-level movie.

But...having Prime-watched it...it is a disappointing film, and I was so hoping for something outstanding. It's gorgeous. It's utterly gorgeous. It's a Prime freebie and deserves watching for the cinematography. The WWI bits are pornily lovely, in love with their violence but curiously unmoving like porn. But the damned film isn't anything like as effective as the book! I am not, as you who read my reviews regularly are aware, a knee-jerk book's better boy. In this case, goddammit, the book's better at getting you in the feelz. PS Charlie Hunnam is gorgeous but wrong for this role. He does a creditable job with some slim writing but isn't pulling Percy out of his pockets. Robert Pattinson is outstanding as his second-in-command. I don't care about Sienna Miller anyway, and Nina is forgettable. ...more

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Sep 26, 2018 Michael Ferro rated it it was amazing

After reading KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, I was desperate for more nonfiction and, especially, more David Grann. Well, THE LOST CITY OF Z did not disappoint! The joy of Grann's writing isn't just in the sense of action and adventure he offers in his works, but the incredible reportage and detail he puts into each of his books. Fawcett, a man larger than life and one who might seemingly be impossible to capture in the antiquated medium of the written word, comes alive like few other historic char ...more

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May 18, 2018 Jaya rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, biblio-bingo, mise-en-abyme, history-nonfic, audio, shinpi-surirā-sasupensu, popsugar-18, kindle, tv-audio-adaptations, mmxviii

Part biography, of renowned British explorer Percy Fawcett and part autobiographical travelogue interspersed with bits of history of myriad obsessive attempts across centuries to explore and reveal the location of the legendary city of El Dorado
The description of Fawcett's expeditions felt harrowing and blood-curling at times, them being plagued by incessant deadly mosquitoes, fleas, poisonous snakes & plants, bodies being invaded by maggots, vampire bats, pirhanas and not to forget the indi ...more

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Oct 07, 2014 Jonathan Ashleigh rated it it was ok

I wish this book would have been fiction so the reader would find out the ending. It seems to me that the story begins over and over but there is no closure.

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Apr 11, 2018 Heidi The Reader rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

A well-researched tale by journalist David Grann about Percy Fawcett, the intrepid explorer who disappeared in the Amazon jungle on his search for the city he called 'Z'.

The part in this book that I appreciated the most was Fawcett's struggle to learn about and appreciate the cultures of the people he discovered in the Amazon, while at the same time, juggling his own biases against any culture other than his own.

In some ways, he was a product of his time, but the fact that Fawcett at least tried ...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Mara rated it liked it

Recommends it for: Anyone looking for reasons to avoid jungle expeditions.

Recommended to Mara by: Kemper

Shelves: 2014-reads, the-great-outdoors, recommended-to-me, non-fiction, library-books, codename-duchess

You can see how someone, perhaps someone who goes by the alias of Kemper, would read this book and come to the conclusion that we need to destroy the rainforest immediately (see review and comments that follow for a glimpse at the behaviors of peoples who have never before come into contact with sarcasm).

Seriously though, as noted in my review of Candice Millard's The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey, and further evidenced in reading this tale, the jungle is a punishing, dan ...more

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Apr 15, 2009 Trish rated it really liked it

Shelves: adventure, mysteries, nonfiction, south-america

What a great read. For really the first time I understood the fascination with the phrase 'armchair traveller.' In other circumstances, I always thought it was somewhat absurd to think that reading about a thing was as fun as doing it. In this case, it was a lot more fun to read about it than to do it. Pit vipers, swarms of biting insects, interminable wet, death by maggots...and in all of it, a frustrating mystery. At its heart, this is a story of the search for a magnificent civilization in th ...more

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Oct 03, 2017 J.K. Grice rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nf-nature-outdoor-adventure

THE LOST CITY OF "Z" is an amazing adventure in the Amazon jungle. It also chronicles the history of Amazon exploration and various attempts to discover a "lost city." David Grann is a superb writer and I enjoyed this book immensely.

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Apr 02, 2017 Ken rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A great non-fiction account of British explorer Percy Fawcett and he’s attempt to find what he believed to be lost city in the Amazon during 1925.
Journalist David Grann try’s to piece together Fawcett journey.

I wasn’t aware of this story until the movie adaptation, it was such a fascinating read.
It gave a real sense of what the conditions would have been like for Fawcett.

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Nov 23, 2008 Sara rated it really liked it

The Lost City of Z by David Grann is exceptional book that I can altogether recommend to every variety of reader. This well-rendered and deeply researched biography of Percy Fawcett, centers on his all consuming obsession with the Lost City of Z (evidence of a great but forgotten jungle civilization), the international fever that follows his mysterious disappearance and some of the more exciting tidbits of Grann’s journey to piece together Fawcett’s tale.

The book is unrelenting in its portraya ...more

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May 05, 2018 Juli rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-audiobooks-2018, backlist-read-2018

Percy Fawcett, a famous British explorer in the 20th century, disappeared into the Amazon jungle with his son and his son's best friend in 1925. Fawcett was searching for an ancient lost city that he called Z. The 3 men were never seen again. Over the decades after their disappearance, several teams and even individuals ventured into the dense jungle to find the famed explorer. Some of them reappeared weeks or months later sick and emaciated, and some were never seen again. No real trace of Fawc Percy Fawcett, a famous British explorer in the 20th century, disappeared into the Amazon jungle with his son and his son's best friend in 1925. Fawcett was searching for an ancient lost city that he called Z. The 3 men were never seen again. Over the decades after their disappearance, several teams and even individuals ventured into the dense jungle to find the famed explorer. Some of them reappeared weeks or months later sick and emaciated, and some were never seen again. No real trace of Fawcett was ever found. Plenty of rumors and lies......but no bodies or real evidence as to their fate. Fawcett's wife was never the same again. Flash forward to modern times, and New Yorker writer David Grann also goes to the Amazon jungle in search of evidence of Fawcett's fate.

I love history and tales of the old style explorers....the men who trekked off into the unknown just because it was unknown. Not the sort of people who explored to make money, or to gain renown. But real explorers....the ones who mapped the world, discovered indigenous peoples and didn't plot to murder them all or evangelize them, the ones who climbed, trekked and discovered new places just because they were there. Fawcett was one of these men. Unfortunately, as with many explorers, his belief in himself, his obsession with his quest and his feelings of invincibility eventually caught up with him -- and he took two young men with him. He escaped fate multiple times.....but it catches up with everyone eventually. In 1925, he walked into the jungle in a valiant attempt to search for the Lost City of Z that he knew to his soul was there, and disappeared forever into the mysteries and tall tales that grow from such stories.

Just a head's up for readers -- this is not a fictionalized story. This is a non-fiction account of the history of exploration in the Amazon jungle, the story of Fawcett's life and treks around the world, the fate of other explorers of the time, facts about his son and friend that went along on the 1925 trip, and the aftermath of the disappearance. There is also an accounting of David Grann's trip to the Amazon to glean facts about the fate of Fawcett, the local indigenous peoples and how the area has changed since the 1920s. Readers who don't like historical accounts of facts and information might want to pass this book by. But, for those who enjoy history....this story is awesome!! I loved this book! Anyone who enjoyed Douglas Preston's recent book, The Lost City of the Monkey God, will also enjoy this book.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book. Read by Mark Deakins, the audio is just over 10 hours long. Deakins reads at a nice pace with an even, pleasant tone. I have hearing loss but was easily able to understand this entire book.

It is obvious that Grann did a lot of detailed research into Amazon exploration, Fawcett and many other treks around the world at the time. He gives details of Fawcett's journals and news stories from the time, and information gleaned from Amazon natives and others. Such an interesting and intriguing story!!

Because the book includes information gleaned from writings, journals and other sources from the time, there are some racist overtones in portions of this story. Many scientists, explorers, politicians, journalists -- hell, even the general white populus -- viewed indigenous peoples (or people of color in general) as lesser human beings, stating that there is no possible way they ever created a large society because it would be impossible for them to do so. At times as I listened, I found myself making snarky remarks to these long-dead idiots. Some of those old views were what started horrible and asinine beliefs/movements like eugenics, or cultural destruction by evangelization. Oh, we are white and must go to these countries and whitesplain to the natives that they are inferior, and must mold to our moral ideals or perish. Blah, blah, blah. What a load of racist crap. My take on the entire matter is this: how could anyone believe themselves superior to people who can survive and thrive in the most hazardous and inhospitable parts of the world when the whites who ventured there died in droves?? But as they were venturing into the jungle and dying of disease, starvation, accidents, predation, and native attacks, they wholeheartedly believed themselves freaking superior because of the color of their skin and their fat, sheltered lives in the modern world. Really?? Seems to me the people that can survive and feed themselves in that place are the superior ones.

Amazon has released an original movie based on this book. I wanted to watch it, but had to follow my rule of always reading the book first. Now that I've read the book, I can enjoy the film! :) I hope it keeps the integrity of Grann's research and doesn't fall into over-grandizing fiction, rather than the interesting true facts of the case.

David Grann is the author of several books including The Devil & Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness & Obsession. I'm definitely going to be reading more of his books! ...more

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May 22, 2017 Matthew Quann rated it liked it

Recommended to Matthew by: Josh Bragg

Shelves: non-fiction

A question for my nonfiction-loving friends: what is it you love about nonfiction?

I ask this question not because I have an inherent dislike for the factual, more that I find fiction much more compelling, readable, and entertaining. It’s why I’ve switched to taking in the bulk of my nonfiction through audio: I just find it easier to get through in that medium. Still, I like to take the occasional foray into reading my nonfiction. With The Lost City of Z, then, I’m confused as to what I make of t A question for my nonfiction-loving friends: what is it you love about nonfiction?

I ask this question not because I have an inherent dislike for the factual, more that I find fiction much more compelling, readable, and entertaining. It’s why I’ve switched to taking in the bulk of my nonfiction through audio: I just find it easier to get through in that medium. Still, I like to take the occasional foray into reading my nonfiction. With The Lost City of Z, then, I’m confused as to what I make of the whole experience.

On one hand, the story is wild in every sense of the word. Grann chose well in his subject as Fawcett’s obsession over a hidden city in the Amazon is compulsively readable. Unfortunately, I found I was taken out of the story by the endless exposition. Hey, I get it. This is a superbly researched and probably hella accurate book, but I’m not pulled in by tidbits unveiling whose journal documented Fawcett’s journey, I just want to read about the journey.

Despite the fact that this book caused me to struggle with my relationship to nonfiction, I was rather taken with the concept. In fact, I think if I had listened to this book rather than read it, I’d be all over it. Grann brings the exploratory culture of the early 1900s to life through tales of warm weather, mysterious jungle, and some truly gnarly infectious diseases. Fawcett’s slow circle of the drain towards toxic obsession is also really interesting. We get to see the man take dangerous and almost superhuman treks into the wilderness with an almost blatant disregard for those who come with him.

My favourite sections were those in which Grann tells his parallel tale of discovering Fawcett and developing his own obsessions about the explorer’s unknown fate. It was these passages that kept me turning the pages between brief tedium. Throughout the whole book, Grann maintains an objective style that is to the point and well-organized.

So, overall, I’m a little bummed out about this one. I had really been looking forward to reading it, but I found it slow and it took me way longer to read than I had anticipated. I’ll be checking out more of Grann’s work through Audible though, since I am impressed with his thorough research even if I wasn’t always entertained by it. ...more

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May 21, 2018 K.J. Charles added it

Shelves: 1920s, historical, non-fiction

The tale of Colonel Percy Fawcett--what a name--an Edwardian explorer of the most fantastically Rider Haggard kind. Derring do, apparent natural malaria resistance, absurd physical courage and endurance, mad as a spoon, obsessed with the Amazon. He mapped the borders between various South American countries, but became obsessed with finding El Dorado and the fabled Lost City of Z. No, really.

At the time received wisdom was that the indigenous tribes of the Amazon basin were inferior, weak, savag ...more

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Oct 07, 2009 Bruce rated it it was ok

Shelves: history

Two stars is probably generous. The rating stems from having known but little about the Amazon rainforest from an experiential point of view. Had I even taken more than a few trips to the National Zoo's only-slightly-muggy version largely without free-roaming pestilence, my rating would probably have been lower. So expectations and foreknowledge are everything here. The more you already know about what a godforsaken wasteland the Amazon is (from a nontropical, industrialized, rocking-chair, arti Two stars is probably generous. The rating stems from having known but little about the Amazon rainforest from an experiential point of view. Had I even taken more than a few trips to the National Zoo's only-slightly-muggy version largely without free-roaming pestilence, my rating would probably have been lower. So expectations and foreknowledge are everything here. The more you already know about what a godforsaken wasteland the Amazon is (from a nontropical, industrialized, rocking-chair, artisanal beer-swilling perspective), the weaker I imagine this book will appear.

On that note, perhaps you're interested in reading about the exciting new disoveries that analysis of satellite imagery and carbon dating combined with sympathetic boots on the ground are lending to the field of pre-Columbian anthropology in the Americas. This is not that book. That book, referenced here only at page 284, is apparently Charles Mann's 1491 and one which I look forward to reading at some point.

Perhaps your interests are less expansive, limited to Michael Heckenberger's work with and in proximity to the Kuikuro and Kalapalo tribes in the Amazonian Xingu region, presumably near to Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett’s last-known whereabouts in his quest for the burg whose romantic name The Lost City of Z serves as the title of this book. You know, a book documenting a theory that represents a paradigm shift away from the 20th century view of Amazonia as a “counterfeit paradise” incapable of sustaining population density sufficient to yield a complex culture. Well, this is not that book, either. That book, referenced here a mere four pages from the end of his narrative at page 273, is Heckenberger’s own work called The Ecology of Power and has been described by archaeologists and geographers (as related by David Grann) as “extraordinary,” “monumental,” “transformative,” and “earth-shattering,” which sounds worthy of at least a browse.

Perhaps..., perhaps really you’re a fan of quirky travel, adventure, and outdoorsy exotica of the type to be found in Douglas Adams’ amusing Last Chance to See or Jon Krakauer’s harrowing exposes of human folly and hubris Into the Wild or Into Thin Air and hoping to find here a biography of intrepid Edwardian explorer Fawcett that will match Adam Hochschild’s telling of Lord Stanley’s disturbing exploits in the Belgian Congo in King Leopold’s Ghost. Alas, none of those terrific books are this one, either.

In fact, it’s hard to say what this book is, as David Grann doesn’t seem himself to know. Here’s how he opens the book: Preface – the author is lost and alone deep in the Amazon in pursuit of his story (this is actually not the case, but does self-destructively set the stage for the frustrating futility which the reader will perceive throughout the book). Chapter 1 - introducing Fawsett onboard ship destined for Brazil and what will become his last documented trip into the rainforest in 1925. Chapter 2 – introducing James and James, Jr. Lynch, wealthy bankers who managed to survive their own “In Search of…” quest into the Green Hell in 1995 only by ransoming themselves to a hostile kidnapping tribe (give ‘em a hand, folks, as they will be returning only once later in this story in a cameo role). Now here comes Chapter 3, melodramatically surtitled, “The Search Begins” (for what? the dimly-charted border between Bolivia and Brazil? Ninety-year old undocumented human remains which in the best of conditions would surely have vanished within the first decade of disappearance? the fact that water is wet, heat hot, and indigenous cultures mercilessly exploited and victimized? quel surprise!) and we’re back with the author in first person again as he documents what will ultimately prove to be only his own pointless, journalistic narcissism. Thus bumblingly shifting through multiple points of view, Grann exhausts readers’ patience and sympathy for the characters intended to be their surrogates. As no one even arrives at the jungle until nearly 80 pages in, this book even fails as a member of the nature-as-monster genre.

You do pick up some interesting facts about life in the Amazon (via the author’s ultimate encounters with Heckenberger) and a bit of Edwardian-era explorer gossip (via mildew-spotted correspondence with the Royal Geographic Society circa 1911), but nothing worth a book-length investment. I read this in anticipation of a book talk and am now dying to find out why this particular work was chosen. I’m hoping Heckenberger will turn out to be the speaker. If it’s Grann, I won’t waste my lunch hour. ...more

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Jul 30, 2012 Michael rated it really liked it

Shelves: history, biography, brazil, non-fiction, memoir, south-america, journalism, amazon, bolivia, archaeology

Excellent engaging read of a quest of a quest. Grann, a non-athletic journalist in New York, becomes obsessed with the obsession of an early 20th century British explorer, James Fawcett, with the uncharted areas of the Amazon near the boundaries of Bolivia and Brazil. His fame for several expeditions between 1905 and 1915 skyrocketed to nearly Airhart proportions when he disappeared with his son and his friend on a 1925 journey into the vast Mato Grosso wilderness of Brazil in search the ruins o Excellent engaging read of a quest of a quest. Grann, a non-athletic journalist in New York, becomes obsessed with the obsession of an early 20th century British explorer, James Fawcett, with the uncharted areas of the Amazon near the boundaries of Bolivia and Brazil. His fame for several expeditions between 1905 and 1915 skyrocketed to nearly Airhart proportions when he disappeared with his son and his friend on a 1925 journey into the vast Mato Grosso wilderness of Brazil in search the ruins of an ancient civilization Fawcett codes as the "Lost City of Z."

Rumors of a lost civilization and clues to its general location was what was driving him, not unlike the quest since the time of the Conquistadors for a gold rich El Dorado. Grann deftly charts the origins of Fawcett's character from his Victorian family upbringing, the worship of antecedent explorers like Burton, and an early experience looking for ruins in Ceylon while in the colonial army. His charisma and competence were sufficient to garner the backing of the Royal Geological Society and later the U.S. counterpart. On the ugly side, he had little empathy for anyone in his party who could not keep up with his pace, and he neglected his family. Paradoxically, Fawcett respected the many Indian tribes enough to avoid violent encounters at all costs, yet believed along with nearly all Europeans in their genetic inferiority.

Fawcett came to believe that Amazon dwellers achieved a high civilization before the arrival and destructive impact of colonialism and European disease (e.g. Machu Picchu found in 1911). However, he bought into the idea that such civilization had been spread by ancient Phoenicians.

Grann's research among Fawcett's letters and descendents led him to pursue his own foray to Brazil to uncover the mysteries of his disappearance and the potential real foundation for the lost city. In this, he was following along in the footsteps of numerous expeditions from the first in 1928 to the last one in 1996, all of which ended in failure and led to perhaps 100 deaths. It is hard to consider that there can be a spoiler to a journalistic memoir, but there is a surprise bit of archaeology at the end. Grann had to know about it, but he kept it tucked away to enhance the drama. I didn't appreciate this bit of showmanship in what otherwise passed as an objective account. ...more

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Aug 29, 2018 L.A. Starks rated it it was amazing

Another superb book from David Grann. I read this after reading his later Killers of the Flower Moon.

Grann researches, and then replicates, Amazon explorers' efforts to find the El Dorado (or "Z") of the Amazon. As in KFM, he focuses on the story of one individual, Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett, and his extensive efforts.

We take satellite pictures and maps of the world for granted, but Grann shows so much of the world remained unmapped until the 1900s, and that the Royal Geographic Society supp ...more

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Jan 02, 2014 Christopher rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobooks, 21st-century, american, non-fiction

Don't you think the magic is gone from this world? There's nothing left to explore or discover. And if I were to pack a backpack and trek off into the Amazon rain forest in search of a city made of gold and possibly the fountain of youth, you'd institutionalize me.

But not Percy (F'ing) Fawcett, the guy whose mustache and zeal for adventure more than makes up for his sissy first name.

He's the real-life Indiana Jones. A treasure hunter, not an archaeologist (and by the way, it's clear to me now t ...more

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Jun 20, 2016 Becky rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2015-2016-adventure-read

The jungle is super scary ya'll. I havent had this many gross out moments since i read "The Illustrated History of Cannibalism." So there is no way you will get to the end of this book without being wildly impressed at the abilities of PJ Fawcett and what he was able to do and when he did it. No radios, violent (rightfully so, btw) Indians, no modern medicine, and yet he helped mapped thousands of miles never mapped before in the middle of a jungle.

Likewise you will be equally disgusted to learn ...more

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Apr 03, 2011 Jeremy rated it liked it

This is kind of an odd accomplishment: an adventure book that will make you really really glad your not an adventurer. Grann's descriptions of Fawcett et al trampling through the amazonian rainforest with their crass, (often racist) imperialist delusions of grandeur and discovery are often gut-wrenching. Skin peels off in sheets, everyone gets malaria, parasites, maggot infections (shudder), gangrene, etc. Trekking through unspoiled tropical jungles is utterly horrifying, you basically just turn ...more

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Nov 22, 2010 Ryan rated it really liked it

The most dangerous moment in my highly amateurish hiking career was when I fell a little behind my friends and then fell off a mountain path. Fortunately, I was holding a rope and did not roll down the cliff into the rocks below. Unfortunately, my friends couldn't hear me screaming for help. I held on tight, calmed myself, and climbed back on to the path.

It scared the living daylights out of my mom when I told her, even though I was clearly still alive as I told the story.

So you can bet that my The most dangerous moment in my highly amateurish hiking career was when I fell a little behind my friends and then fell off a mountain path. Fortunately, I was holding a rope and did not roll down the cliff into the rocks below. Unfortunately, my friends couldn't hear me screaming for help. I held on tight, calmed myself, and climbed back on to the path.

It scared the living daylights out of my mom when I told her, even though I was clearly still alive as I told the story.

So you can bet that my mom would not have wanted to know Percy Harrison Fawcett, an English explorer tasked with exploring the Amazon rain forest at the start of the 20th century. Not easy. Any creature not poisonous is probably trying to reproduce in your skin. Fawcett referred to the jungle as hell, but he couldn't stop himself from exploring it repeatedly, relentlessly, and obsessively. By the 1920s, Fawcett became convinced that a lost city had been buried within the forest. He set out in 1921 and again in 1925 to find it, only to disappear in the attempt.

What a story!

Which is exactly why David Grann sets out to tell Fawcett's tale of obsession in The Lost City of Z.

To his credit, Grann has a great eye for details, describing the horrors of the jungle, the arrogance with which the Royal Geographical Society viewed the Amazonian Indians, and the preparations needed to plan an expedition. I also enjoyed his discussion of spiritualism in an age that ostensibly celebrated reason and science. Grann's favorite example, and mine, was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was enthusiastic about exploration, invented Sherlock Holmes, and believed wholehearted in psychic mediums. More than anything else, Grann has a great sense of pacing and of narrative. In fact, The Lost City of Z may be the most exciting work of non-fiction that I have ever read.

However, perhaps Grann's dedication to the story gets the best of him.

For one thing, Grann enters the jungle, which he passes off as obsession (nicely done), but by the end of the book I found myself wondering if it wasn't just a marketing gimmick. This is perhaps unfair, so please let me explain.

Ostensibly, Grann enters the jungle to trace Fawcett's route and to find his remains, if possible (about 80 years later). He has also made contact with Michael Heckenberger, an anthropologist studying the Amazon. Grann implies that their meeting is a surprise. And he further confesses his shock that *surprise* there is evidence of a lost civilization after all. Quite frankly, it seems unlikely to me that Grann wouldn't have known of Heckenberger's findings before heading into the jungle. Surely amongst all this obsession he looked up Heckenberger's work before heading to Brazil.

But it does make for a good story to suddenly discover, just as Grann is about to return to New York, that there is evidence of an ancient civilization after all.

So although I am suspicious of Grann the reporter, I certainly recommend Grann the story teller. ...more

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Apr 07, 2018 The Captain rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction

Ahoy there me mateys! For those of ye who are new to me log, a word: though this log’s focus is on sci-fi, fantasy, and young adult, this Captain does have broader reading tastes. Occasionally, I will share some novels that I enjoyed that are off the charts (a non sci-fi, fantasy, or young adult novel), as it were. So today I bring ye:

the lost city of z: a tale of deadly obsession in the amazon (David Grann)

This pirate Captain has a slight obsession with exploration, treasure, and secrets. I rec Ahoy there me mateys! For those of ye who are new to me log, a word: though this log’s focus is on sci-fi, fantasy, and young adult, this Captain does have broader reading tastes. Occasionally, I will share some novels that I enjoyed that are off the charts (a non sci-fi, fantasy, or young adult novel), as it were. So today I bring ye:

the lost city of z: a tale of deadly obsession in the amazon (David Grann)

This pirate Captain has a slight obsession with exploration, treasure, and secrets. I recently read a fascinating non-fiction book about a stowaway to Antarctica. Then I saw this book about the Amazon which features missing people, a lost city, treasure, exploration, and death. Arrr! A must-read or in this case must-listen.

Now first off all let me just say that I will keep me sharks, kraken, and man-eating white whales. The sea has nothing on the Amazon. The Amazon has so many types of disgusting flesh eating bugs, flesh eating diseases, and flesh eating fish. Ye thought piranhas were bad. Try candiru. Ugh. Sailing that river does not appeal.

What did appeal was the lengths and struggles that man would go to find and conquer nature. Or attempt to conquer it. This novel mostly chronicles the adventures of Percival “Percy” Harrison Fawcett. Percy was a “British geographer, artillery officer, cartographer, archaeologist and explorer of South America.” He became obsessed with finding a lost city in the jungles of Amazon. Some called it El Dorado. He called it Z. Finding the city would consume him and eventually lead to his disappearance in the jungles of Brazil in 1925. What happened to hardened and experienced Percy on that last ill-fated expedition? Author David Grann was determined to solve the centuries old case.

Like the book about Antarctic explorers, this tale was full of details about the lengths to which these men would go to protect “their” finds and their fame. It also showcases how much effort went into planning and funding an expedition. I found the details of the flora, fauna, and geography of the Amazon to be fascinating. The author even portrays his own trip into the jungle in the name of research.

Really the novel is dense with detail and history. It was riveting and seemingly well researched. The only downside I had was the ending which mentioned some interesting new archeology finds in the area of the Kalapalous tribe that may change the entire historical landscape of South America. These findings by Michael Heckenberger were only touched on. I wanted more!

Side note: While researching for this post, I found a rather scathing article by John Hemming on how the author’s book was immensely exaggerated and factually incorrect. ...more

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Jun 05, 2018 Kavita rated it really liked it

Shelves: biography, travel, history, amazonia

David Grann is a journalist, who got fascinated with the legend of Percy Fawcett, the Amazon explorer who disappeared into the Amazon in 1925, along with his son and his son's friend. Fawcett's obsession with an ancient and highly complex civilisation within the Amazon rainforest forms the basis of this book. Grann sets out to prove that Fawcett was right, and makes a journey into the Amazon himself.

The Lost City of Z is basically a biography of Fawcett and concentrates on his quest for the lege ...more

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About David Grann

David Grann

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David Grann has written about everything from New York City’s antiquated water tunnels to the hunt for the giant squid to the presidential campaign. His stories have appeared in several anthologies, including What We Saw: The Events of September 11, 2001; The Best American Crime Writing, of both 2004 and 2005; and The Best American Sports Writing, of 2003 and 2006. A 2004 finalist for the Michael ...more

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“Years later, another member [of the Royal Geographical Society] conceded, "Explorers are not, perhaps, the most promising people with whom to build a society. Indeed, some might say that explorers become explorers precisely because they have a streak of unsociability and a need to remove themselves at regular intervals as far as possible from their fellow men.” — 19 likes

“...much of the discovery of the world was based on failure rather than on success--on tactical errors and pipe dreams.” — 15 likes

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