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Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story
Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story | Douglas Preston
#1 New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston takes readers on an adventure deep into the Honduran jungle in this riveting, danger-filled true story about the discovery of an ancient lost civilization.
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Decalino
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Pickpick

Writing for National Geographic, the author accompanied an expedition into an incredibly remote and untouched region of Honduras in search of proof that an ancient city had once existed in the rainforest. Cutting edge lidar technology enabled them to uncover the past at a site that was truly dangerous, not least from aggressive and deadly fer-de-lance vipers. What they found was amazing, but the risks were even greater than they knew. Fascinating.

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Christinak
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Next up - some more nonfiction
After reading chapter one - What could possibly go wrong? 🐍🕷️🐛🐜

catiewithac It‘s definitely not what you expect! 9mo
26 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Librarybelle
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It was hard to choose a book for #September , because I read quite a number of standout books! This is Preston‘s nonfiction account of exploration & danger. Preston writes with humor and knows how to build suspense and describe scenes enough that I felt itchy from the bugs. It‘s fascinating. #12BooksOf2023

Honorable mentions:

How Can I Help You by Laura Sims
The Murder of Mr Wickham by Claudia Gray
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

Andrew65 This has had a few nominations, and sounds like a good month. 10mo
56 likes1 comment
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Susanita
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Merry Christmas, Littens! I‘m kicking off #12booksof2023 with this book I read in January.

Bookzombie I really enjoyed this one too! 10mo
Andrew65 Seen good reviews for this one. 10mo
36 likes2 comments
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Bluebird
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Pickpick

I wasn‘t familiar with Douglas Preston, journalist, but WOW! He joined the expedition into the rain forest of inner Honduras to report on the search for an ancient lost city. Snakes, bugs, mud, a curse, and so much more. It felt like an Indiana Jones adventure. But real..so all the more terrifying! I couldn‘t put this down! Archaeology, science, medicine. My cuppa tea! I must read another of Preston‘s non fiction. Such a fan now! #novelnovember

Andrew65 Sounds excellent, I was looking at this book the other day as I need a book to read that takes in Honduras. 11mo
Bluebird @Andrew65 nice! It sounds like a good fit for you…and it has mystery 😅 11mo
18 likes2 comments
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Librarybelle
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Pickpick

Preston joins an exploration for La Ciudad Blanca, or the White City, in #Honduras that reportedly has riches beyond belief. What is discovered is quite amazing, with some moments of me squealing in disgust as Preston comes in close contact with reptiles and bugs.

It should be noted too that the methods used in this exploration raised a lot of controversy in the archaeology community - Preston does address this and gives his thoughts. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Librarybelle ⬆️⬆️⬆️Nevertheless, this is fascinating. There are chapters with really dense background, but the experience in the mountainous rainforest is edge of your seat type reading. Preston also addresses disease - there is a reason why (I won‘t spoil it!). But, his cautions of worldwide epidemics are a foreshadowing of what we experienced in 2020 (this was published in 2017). I was riveted. Highly recommended…⬇️⬇️⬇️ 13mo
Librarybelle ⬆️⬆️⬆️ though I would also recommend reading the articles of the dissenters for their thoughts on this expedition. 13mo
See All 16 Comments
Hooked_on_books I read this a couple years ago and really enjoyed it. I especially appreciate how inept he was at adventuring. 😂 I found that relatable! 13mo
Librarybelle @Hooked_on_books I know! 😂 13mo
Cinfhen I read this awhile back and LOVED it!!! He‘s such a great NF writer!!! I‘ve read others by him and they‘ve all been OUTSTANDING 😁 13mo
squirrelbrain Great review! Makes me really want to read the book…stacking! 13mo
BarbaraBB Wow this sounds great! 13mo
Librarybelle @Cinfhen I really liked his true crime investigation in Italy! 13mo
Librarybelle @squirrelbrain @BarbaraBB It was a lot of fun! 13mo
Cinfhen Me too! 13mo
Bluebird I‘ve had this book on my TBR mountain for awhile and despite hearing so many good things about it, it remains unread. I think I will add to my bookspinbingo list for November so I remind myself to get to it soon! Looking forward to going down the rabbithole with this one 13mo
Librarybelle @Bluebird That sounds wonderful, and a perfect addition for Nonfiction November! 13mo
julieclair Sounds sooo good! Stacked! 13mo
89 likes1 stack add16 comments
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eanderson
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Pickpick

Finished! Fascinating but dragged in a few places. I would have loved to hear more about the city. ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
#jubilantjuly

Andrew65 Brilliant 👏👏👏 An author I need to read more of. 1y
38 likes1 comment
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Susanita
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January #wrapup mashed with #two4tuesday

1. Tagged book was my favorite of the month. It‘s technically narrative nonfiction, but it covers several topics.

2. I read it because of #ReadingTheAmericas2023 along with the other books marked with 🌎 but not including books set in the US because that‘s bound to happen every month!

TheSpineView Looks interesting! Thanks for playing! 2y
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Susanita
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Pickpick

A few parts dragged a little bit, but overall this was a fascinating and sobering book about the exploration of a pre-Columbian site in a remote area of Honduras.

There are several interesting threads about: colonialism, corruption, archaeological techniques, deforestation, pandemics, and other topics. The author packs a lot of information into about 325 pages.

Some of my other thoughts are more personal/idiosyncratic. See more in comments.

Susanita My first thought is how the heck did I not hear about this expedition in real time? Considering the participation of the military and later the President, it should have been all over the news sources I was following at the time. (edited) 2y
Susanita It was also amusing to see a reference to the “coup” of 2009 that was an extremely hot topic in my office long after the situation was resolved. 2y
Susanita Last but not least, I recently learned through Facebook that a friend and former coworker is now living in Honduras. I guess that explains why I haven‘t heard from her in a while? 2y
Suet624 There is so much going on it‘s hard to know everything 😂 especially expeditions! 2y
39 likes4 comments
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Mshookquilts
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Pickpick

Non-fiction is not my genre unless there is something I really want to learn. However, this book was recommended by so many friends, I gave it a read. Preston was invited to be a part of the team who researched, ground verified and documented a jungle buried city in the Mosquitia area of Honduran rainforest. Some history given, the adventure itself and dealing with the unusual (for our country) disease.

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Julsmarshall
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Pickpick

This book was intense and interesting, it takes you on along on a fascinating expedition to search for a lost civilization in Honduras. It was filled with larger than life characters, bits about ecology, anthropology, and epidemiology. The epidemiology piece, written in the ‘before times‘ surprised me and there was quite a bit about epidemics and pandemics and reading that now was felt quite prescient. #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 2y
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Christy2318
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Completely unrelated to this book other than they are both about a lost city. The movie was cute and fun and I love that Sandra Bullock is a #romcom star still at 57.

DGRachel I can‘t wait for this to reach a streaming service (still not going to a movie theater). 3y
Dragon A fun movie 🎥 💚🐉 3y
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BookwormAHN
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Pickpick

This was a really entertaining and eye opening look at how lost cities are found using Lidar. It can be quite technical at times and somewhat frustrating. Scientists can be overly sensitive babies and most of the jungle just wants to kill you. But if you can get past that it is a fascinating tale.
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks
#Booked2021 #ContainsPhotos @Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraTheBibliophage

Cinfhen I LOVED this book!! I really enjoyed the author‘s writing style 3y
TheAromaofBooks Oooo this one sounds interesting!! 3y
BarbaraTheBibliophage I was thinking this one might work for the #Booked2022 prompt #involvesanexploration. You think? 3y
BookwormAHN @BarbaraTheBibliophage It would definitely work 😺 3y
73 likes4 comments
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BookwormAHN
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Thanks for the tag @MoonWitch94
1- Lost City of The Monkey God
2- My dogs
3- The Guy is a jerk but only because he really loves her which only slightly beats out the tough women who has a chip on her shoulder but soon learns to love again 🤦🏼‍♀️
I tag @AmyG @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Lollymya
#ThoughtfulThursday

AmyG Thanks for the tag! 3y
MoonWitch94 Thanks for playing 🍂📖✨ 3y
54 likes2 comments
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BookDragonNotWorm
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Pickpick

Adventure abounds as a team of explorers brave part of the Guatemalan rainforest that man abandoned over 500ya - but why? Was it the abundance of lethal snakes? The many deadly diseases carried by insects? Or was there a more sinister reason? This true story details how cutting edge science was used to discover cities long reclaimed by the jungle, and how, despite our advances, the challenges they present test our capabilities to this day.

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Kayla8
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One minute a great adventure story, the next a sobering and cautionary tale of environmental degradation/climate change, income inequality/class division, and the ever present threat of a new pandemic.
This book fuses modern science and ancient mythology.
Engaging read!

#naturalhistory #travel #adventure #jungle #rainforest #archeology

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Timb
Pickpick

An epic tale of archeological mystery and account of modern day anthropology and the challenges associated. It definitely challenged my view of the optimum society (specifically the US) as a whole and gave me a lot to think about.

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SMH86
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Pickpick

Slow fairly scientific start but very interesting to me who studies human geography and geographic information systems. It was fascinating how combining very different studies could lead to great recent discoveries of lost cities. Also interesting ending related to disease spread such as effected us all recently.

Shmemilina I loved this one! Though I didn‘t exactly love reading it in West Africa - it‘s not comforting reading about mystery diseases in a country where you can get exposed to lots of them lol 3y
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Conservio
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Really enjoyed this. It was an easy read and while I think I would‘ve enjoyed more actual archaeology/ history, I appreciated the chapter and discussion leishmaniasis. #honduras #archaeology #tropicaldisease #mosquitia

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Conservio
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I bought this a few years ago... and then recently rebought it at barnes and noble when they were doing a #blinddate display.

Taking it as a sign to actually read it #tbr

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Twainy
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Pickpick

🎧 $6 Audible sale, thank you Hoopla.

It plods along in Honduras, rain forest. Looking for a rich lost civilization.

I like archeology, love it in his fiction but I wasn‘t sure how non-fiction would fly. I found it interesting. Stick it out if it‘s not totally your jam because last 25% takes a turn.

This isn‘t a perfect comparison but here goes ....

Indiana Jones meets the Hot Zone. Good book worth the price. Billy Mumy narrates.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Twainy ** Shakes fist at autocorrect 😆 4y
28 likes1 comment
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Sreckess
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Pickpick

A nonfiction account of an archeological dig, close calls with jungle animals, a mysterious illness and the roles of government, academia and private funders to preserve an ancient city retaken by the jungle. There is a lot to unpack with this book around archeological ethics, the voice of indigenous people, corruption and money, and the potential for diseases to become pandemics (!). It would be an excellent choice for a book club.

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Blueberry
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Liz_M Great picture! 4y
Blueberry @Liz_M thanks 😀 4y
Eggs Beautiful photo with book blending into more wilderness 💚💚 4y
61 likes3 comments
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Blueberry
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4th day of Christmas.
#12booksof2020 @Andrew65

Bookzombie I really liked this one! 4y
Blueberry @Bookzombie you might enjoy Turn Right at Machu Picchu. 4y
Bookzombie @Blueberry Thanks! I will look for that. 4y
50 likes3 comments
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Traci1
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37 likes1 stack add
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Blueberry
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Currently reading.

Cinfhen Loved this book!!! 4y
Megabooks @Cinfhen I remember our buddy read! 4y
TheRiehlDeal I loved the audiobook! Hope you enjoy it! 4y
Cinfhen I loved it slightly more than you did @Megabooks 💚💚 4y
52 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Addison_Reads
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Pickpick

Excellent read! 🙌

I love books like this that take me on an exciting adventure full of history and mystery. Preston did a wonderful job writing this because it is packed with information, but it is never boring.

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LiteraryLona
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Pickpick

Interesting. It had me wanting to check everywhere for snakes the second I stepped outside.

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TheRiehlDeal
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Pickpick

Thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook! A fascinating account of going on an archeological expedition through the densest (and deadliest) forests on Earth.

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EadieB
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#WondrousWednesday @Eggs

1. The tagged book

2. Anywhere. I put the volume on high even while vacuuming

3. Gotta Keep Reading - listen here:

https://youtu.be/pzisyTuYpgw

Can you play? @Hazel2019 @Klou @EH2018 @Victoriahoperose

Eggs 💗📚💗👏🏻 I did the audio vacuuming too 🤣🤣 (edited) 4y
EadieB @Eggs It does make a mundane chore seem more enjoyable! 4y
Eggs Let‘s face it-I can do probably any hideous task if I‘m audioing 👍🏼😂😂 @EadieB 4y
See All 13 Comments
EadieB @Eggs Me too! I‘ve caught myself going over the same part of the rug many times during a good part of the book! 4y
Jennaree3 Ive never listened to an audiobook! I like the pages...and the old library smell lol 4y
EadieB @Jennaree3 Sometimes I do both together and it‘s quite a good experience! 4y
Eggs @Jennaree3 I feel/felt the same way and only started audios in the last few weeks, borrowed online (Libby). It‘s fun like readers‘ theatre 🎭 4y
Eggs @EadieB Agreed! My house is getting cleaner😂🤣😂 4y
EadieB @Eggs 👍 4y
Klou Thanks for tagging me! 4y
EadieB @Klou You‘re welcome! 4y
Hazel2019 Thanks for the tag!! Love your song 😊 4y
EadieB @Hazel2019 Thanks! 4y
35 likes13 comments
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ReadingOver50
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Pickpick

I have been wanting to read this for quite awhile. I love Preston's Pendergast series with Child. Reading this true story, I was surprised to realize what an adventurer he is. His time in Honduras on an archeological expedition is fascinating. At times, the narrative becomes a little too academic for my taste. I enjoy the parts that read like a traditional story and less like a lecture. This is a well written book about an amazing adventure.

LitStephanie @ReadingOver50 I read this during plane and bus rides while on vacation last year and really liked it. Talk about going above and beyond for the story! That jungle was crazy, and it seems amazing that cities flourished there without the benefit of modern medicine and other technologies. Those people must have been tough! 4y
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EadieB
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Pickpick

#16 #AudioOutOfComfort #LitsyBitsy

This book is a true medical mystery story of an exploration into the world‘s densest jungle and a hunt for The Lost City of the Monkey God‘s somewhere in the Honduran interior. There is an ancient curse and 500 year legend that who goes these will fall ill and die. The most interesting part was after Doug Preston returned home he had a horrific disease. You need to read this book for yourself & see what happens.

Johanna414 I loved this one! 4y
EadieB @Johanna414 Yes it was good! 4y
Cuilin #16 👍 Would be out of my comfort zone too. 😳 4y
47 likes3 comments
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Ryles
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Heard good things about this book and am sooo excited to start it. Nice breezy deck read day before the rain comes ☺️♥️

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RamsFan1963
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Mehso-so

I wanted to like it more, but I found it pretty meh. I wanted an Indiana Jones kind of adventure, but this got bogged down with discussions of helicopter maintenance, politics and jungle bugs. 3 🌟

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Lizpixie
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Bk1 in my #JanuaryBookHaul I loved The Monster Of Florence & this was highly recommended. In 2012, Preston joined a group of filmmakers using lidar to map the terrain under the rainforest canopy in Honduras. In a remote valley, they found the outlines of an undiscovered city which they then journeyed into the forest to find. Battling torrential rains, quickmud & snakes, it wasn‘t until they got home they found their tragedy had just begun.

LoveToReadLiveToRead Sounds interesting! 5y
TEArificbooks This is a very interesting book. I learned a lot from it 5y
76 likes4 stack adds2 comments
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Jenken1998
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Pickpick

I think i read this already. Lol..This weeks audiobook while hauling the kid to swim practice. Nonfiction book about the rediscovery of an ancient civilization in the jungles of Honduras, the team that rediscovered it, what they think happened to it and how history could repeat itself. Covers everything from history to politics to archaeology and tropical disease. 👇

Jenken1998 My 16 yo son who is interested in all of the above enjoyed listening. He has an interest in biology and botany and thought a jungle expedition sounded fun. Until the author describes various tropical and parasitic diseases. He now believes he will work state side in a lab. 🤣 5y
Bookzombie Yes, books like this definitely make you think the lab would be safer bet. 😂 5y
64 likes4 stack adds2 comments
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Olivia306
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Pickpick

Mr. Preston was part of an expedition to find a “lost city” in Honduras in 2015. This book deals with the unbelievable, often daunting realities of modern archeology. He doesn‘t shy away from the politics and the controversies surrounding it, the impact the expedition had on his health and on other members of his team. It‘s a fascinating hystorical analysis of the area and the terrible impact of disease over entire civilisations. A great read.

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BatsInTheLibrary
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Early spirituality is absolutely fascinating!

#historyisawesome

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BatsInTheLibrary
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Ncostell
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Pickpick

This was a non-fiction page turner. Douglas Preston is a writer for National Geographic who traveled into the Honduran rainforest with an expedition to search for the fabled Lost City of the Monkey God. I raced through this book, eager to read of their findings and learn about the history of this lost civilization.

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Johanna414
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Pickpick

I just finished this one for my public library book club. I love Douglas Preston‘s fiction, so I was excited to read The Lost City. It did not disappoint!
I studied anthropology in college so I was familiar with a lot of the history discussed, but Preston tells a really engaging story.

34 likes2 stack adds
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LeahBergen
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My current “in real life” book club read (with #Pumpkins).

The first chapter of this true story, with its disgusting disease-bearing insects and necrotizing flesh from the bite of a pit viper, is pretty #Screamathon-worthy in itself. 😳

#ScreamathonPhotoChallenge

Amiable This book made my skin crawl, ‘tis true! 5y
LauraJ My book club had fun with this one. 5y
Lizpixie I just saw the episode of William Shatners The Unexplained with a segment about this expedition. It was gross and completely awesome! 5y
78 likes1 stack add4 comments
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BarkingMadRead
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Now if everyone could just stay away so I can eat.... I mea read.... #volunteering #usedbookstore #threehoursofalmostuninterruptedreading

MrBook 😂👏🏻 Love that bookmark! Gotta get me one! 5y
36 likes1 stack add1 comment
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BarkingMadRead
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Final leg of my travels home from Germany.

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dylanisreading
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It‘s really difficult to put this book down. I had to buy my own copy.

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sherryvdh
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After listening to Chapter 1, the Honduras rainforest sounds terrifying. 🐍🦂🕷🐆☠
#AudioCleaning

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AbigailDays
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1) Lost City of the Monkey God was scientific and exciting. That's a winning combo in my book!
2) Sissy. Because my sibling couldn't pronounce my real name.
3) Ohh, tough choice! Mozzarella sticks are amazing, but it's hard to beat crispy onion rings.
4) More hiking! I've spent the week touring national parks and I'm not done yet!
5) Just two. ☹ "Es ist Freitag" and "it's Friday!"
#friyayintro @howjessreads @nerdcornerbooks

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AbigailDays
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Pickpick

So, I originally picked this up to be polite as a new friend had strongly recommended it.Good grief, I had no idea adventures like this could happen in the real world! Douglas Preston was part of an expedition to search for a fabled "lost city" in Honduras back in 2015. Preston's story is chock full of huge snakes, infectious diseases, and well- researched history in a part of the world which I know little about.
#realadventure #travel #truestory

AbigailDays Fair warning, it is not for the faint of heart. There are blunt discussions of tropical diseases, poisonous snake bites, and other slightly gruesome topics 5y
11 likes1 comment