The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston

Editor and Engagement Manager Sophia Dramm shares:

The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston

One of my favorite genres is narrative nonfiction. This is when a nonfiction story is written with a compelling, easy-to-follow narrative, making it feel like you’re reading a novel, often even a thriller. The Boys in the Boat, Say Nothing, Unbroken, and The Wager and are examples of narrative nonfiction, and some of my favorite books.

I searched for books similar to these, and The Lost City of the Monkey God came up. What a fantastic read!

The book is a first-person narrative of multiple present-day expeditions in Honduras to uncover an ancient city. The author, Douglas Preston, goes along on the expeditions, reporting for National Geographic and the New Yorker; he eventually turned the content into this full-length book.

While chronicling his team’s journeys through the jungle (a place I would never step foot in after reading this book), Preston gives excellent context and background to everything, from the area’s history of corrupt exploration, to the bugs and snakes and jaguars that one encounters in the jungle, to the culture and myths that perpetuated the ancient city’s legend, and much more.

I was never bored reading this book. It kept my attention the whole time, and I was always eager to see what detail the author would delve into next.

In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I wrote fanmail (an Instagram DM) to Preston!