He has geared up, abandoned his family and climbed into the vortex himself—stung by his subject’s obsession.

Fawcett believed the impenetrable jungle held a secret to a large, complex civilization like El Dorado, which he christened ‘City of Z’.

While other members of his party were dropping like flies from a host of illnesses or injuries, he just marched on. The British explorer Percy Fawcett’s exploits in jungles and atop mountains inspired novels such as Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World". In the deft storytelling hands of David Grann, explorer Percy Fawcett emerges as one of the most ambitious, colorful, just plain intrepid figures ever to set foot in the New World. Because the book includes information gleaned from writings, journals and other sources from the time, there are some racist overtones in portions of this story.

The joy of Grann's writing isn't just in the sense of action and adventure he offers in his works, but the incredible reportage and detail he puts into each of his books. Even if that doesn’t kill you, you’d probably starve to death in what is described as a counterfeit paradise.

The high rate of fatality of these epidemics disrupted the people and their society: in only a few years, they were so devastated by disease that they had virtually died out. I went somewhere in the middle, unfortunately, as I really thought it would be on a par with Krakauer’s works. Y es que, es imposible contar todos los viajes, idas y venidas y padecimientos que sufrió el explorador en su obsesión por encontrar su destino. The inspiration behind Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel The Lost World, Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett was among the last of a long line of British gentlemen explorers. A fascinating, fun read that probably would have been a bit more riveting if I hadn't read The River of Doubt quite so recently.