Friday, December 05, 2008

The Lost City of Z

Wow! The Lost City of Z, by David Gramm, is a very cool book. It's the tale of Col.Percy Fawcett, the last of the great Victorian explorers. In 1925, he set off on his last great journey of discovery, the quest to find the mysterious Amazonian city that he called Z. He, his eldest son, and a third companion set off into the rain forest to search for it and were never seen again. Many other people set off into the rain forest to find the trio, and many of them--100 by the author's estimation--also disappeared without a trace.

Col. Fawcett was a very experienced explorer, and, unlike many of his contemporaries, he made a habit of befriending the Indians he encountered in his travels. He knew how to live off the land, and had an almost legendary immunity to tropical diseases. He was getting old, but even so, he was remarkably fit. His disappearance was very mysterious.

This book is an action filled account of Col. Fawcett's life as an explorer, the events surrounding his disappearance, and the author's own journey into the Amazon to find answers. If I were to make a list of the top ten books I read this year, this book would probably make the list.

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