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Cargando... The Lost City of the Monkey God--EXTENDED FREE PREVIEW (first 6 chapters): A True Storypor Douglas Preston
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The #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, named one of the best books of the year by The Boston Globe and National Geographic: acclaimed journalist Douglas Preston takes readers on a true adventure deep into the Honduran rainforest in this riveting narrative about the discovery of a lost civilization -- culminating in a stunning medical mystery. Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die. In 1940, swashbuckling journalist Theodore Morde returned from the rainforest with hundreds of artifacts and an electrifying story of having found the Lost City of the Monkey God-but then committed suicide without revealing its location. Three quarters of a century later, bestselling author Doug Preston joined a team of scientists on a groundbreaking new quest. In 2012 he climbed aboard a rickety, single-engine plane carrying the machine that would change everything: lidar, a highly advanced, classified technology that could map the terrain under the densest rainforest canopy. In an unexplored valley ringed by steep mountains, that flight revealed the unmistakable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing evidence of not just an undiscovered city but an enigmatic, lost civilization. Venturing into this raw, treacherous, but breathtakingly beautiful wilderness to confirm the discovery, Preston and the team battled torrential rains, quickmud, disease-carrying insects, jaguars, and deadly snakes. But it wasn't until they returned that tragedy struck: Preston and others found they had contracted in the ruins a horrifying, sometimes lethal-and incurable-disease. Suspenseful and shocking, filled with colorful history, hair-raising adventure, and dramatic twists of fortune, THE LOST CITY OF THE MONKEY GOD is the absolutely true, eyewitness account of one of the great discoveries of the twenty-first century. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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The legends about the White City tell that it was great and populous, then after multiple catastrophies befell it, its people abandoned it. They say it is cursed - anyone who enters the city will die soon afterwards.
This seems like a legend but it comes true. The city is discovered using lidar technology in Mosquitia, a remote and rare unexplored corner of the world in Eastern Honduras. An expedition is sent to confirm the findings. They face political hurdles, dangers of kidnapping and being robbed, worry about looting and deforestation. They require military escort and a colorful “manager” to dole out bribes.
Once there, they have to avoid the deadliest snakes, plants and insects on the planet; their camp and equipment sinks into mud, the jungle is near impassable. Yet they find an untouched site that will take decades to escavate.
Once back, half the team comes down with a deadly and difficult to treat variety of Leischmaniasis, one of the neglected tropical diseases that many poor people suffer from but no funding is for their reasearch. Did you know that over a billion people suffer from diseases that get no funding but have likely treatments if we would provide research funds? No profit in treating poor people. It is very sad.
Overall, an engaging albeit a bit haphazard book. It is too early to know what the findings really mean, which is what I wanted to know, nevertheless this book taught me many things I had no idea about. And it is a good tale of adventure, too. ( )