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  • The Lost City of the Monkey God

  • A True Story
  • Written by: Douglas Preston
  • Narrated by: Bill Mumy
  • Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (123 ratings)

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The Lost City of the Monkey God

Written by: Douglas Preston
Narrated by: Bill Mumy
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Publisher's Summary

A 500-year-old legend. An ancient curse. A stunning medical mystery. And a pioneering journey into the unknown heart of the world's densest jungle.

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, best-selling 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 21st century.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2017 Douglas Preston (P)2017 Hachette Audio

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What listeners say about The Lost City of the Monkey God

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

great story w some questions re: politics

Great story -- personalities were all interesting. Just beware the political naive commentary regarding the Honduran president and military. Read this story for the imaginative -- not the political insights. Imagine a civilization that is almost impossible to conceive -- huge population and sophisticated, disappearing. It is a humbling fact that we know so little about the the past.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Pandemic for the win

The story was great and quite believable. Then towards the end the author talks about if a pandemic were to hit now it would be global and unstoppable. Like he was looking into a crystal ball! Covid-19 did indeed become world wide and unstoppable.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Not what I expected.

I liked it but I thought it would be more about the city and treasures found there.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it.

Fascinating and horrifying truths revealed. Dense with details of the long search for this forgotten civilisation... I will be listening to this again!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing adventure and lots to learn.

This book is very well written and leaves you at no point bored. Many thanks to the author for writing this and going on that trip!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

this book was like bunch of side quests in a game

i liked the book but it was a little off topic from what you think its going to be about... its more like random side quests that goes off from the main story

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I read this in paperback & audio was even better

loved the narration right to the flow. this story has it all. adventure, danger hope and tragedy. highly recommended.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not what you expect it to be

An important account of the real world tribulations of archeology digs in the jungle. Unbiased politically, humanely wrought journalism. Do not plan to read this at lunch time! An holisticly impactful thinker.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Reads like Michael Crichton

Didn't go at all in the direction I thought it would, but an adventurous weekend read. No regrets on spending a credit here.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

We went to La Mosquitia and all I got was this...

I have to say most of this book was fascinating. It was a chronological account of the attempts of treasure hunters and archaeologists to explore a region of Honduras that had been abandoned around the time of the Spanish conquest. More specifically, it recorded the author's account of his own involvement in a 21st century attempt to explore the interesting and compelling society buried deep in the jungle. But for me, the most interesting parts were the description of the effects of the European conquest on the indigenous population of South America. I was more familiar with the devastation wrought by the outbreaks of European diseases in North America but was unaware of the death toll in Central America. Ostensibly, this was to be a story about an archaeological find, but it is more about disease. Also it must be a little embarrassing for the author because the Honduran president that he describes in a very favourable light was arrested on drug trafficking charges and extradited to the US where he is being prosecuted.
Nevertheless, this is an important book. Just keep your salt shaker beside you.

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