Book Discussion Group, Saturday, July 7, 2018, 2:00 PM, San Leandro Main Library

The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston

From his official biography: Douglas Preston was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1956 and grew up in Wellesley. He attended Pomona College in Claremont, California.

After graduating, he began his career at the American Museum of Natural History in New York as an editor, writer, and manager of publications and also taught nonfiction writing at Princeton University. He wrote about his experience at the museum in a non-fiction book, Dinosaurs in the Attic, edited by Lincoln Child, who would later become his collaborator on several series of suspense novels.

By himself and in collaboration with Lincoln Child, Preston has written more than 30 works of fiction. He has also written 10 nonfiction books and numerous articles for such publications as The New Yorker and Smithsonian.

In the video below, Preston discusses The Lost City of the Monkey God with Becky Anderson of Naperville (IL) Community Television.



In another video, documentary filmmaker Steve Elkins talks about the expedition the book was based on.



Controversy

Preston mentioned an article by archaeologist Christopher Begley, who was very critical of the expedition. I don't know if I found that article, but I found an article by Begley in Sapiens, an anthropological journal. Click on the link to read it yourself and decide if Preston adequately addressed Begley's criticisms in the book.

The Jungle

Heliconia

These are the type of plant that the crew had to hack their way through to set up the camp and reach the archaeological site.

A troop of curious spider monkeys

Above are the type of monkeys that lived in the trees above the author's camp site.

Below is a video of howler monkeys howling. They provide the chief sound effects for the rain forest from Mexico to northern Argentina.

A Jaguar

The jaguar is the largest wild cat in the new world and was a figure of power and mystery to the ancient people of the area and figured prominently in their art. The crew thought they could hear jaguars prowling around the camp site at night.

Warning for those who have phobias about creepy-crawlies the following video is about the fer-de-lance snake, but if I recall correctly, it also contains a cameo appearance by a very impressive spider.