I was searching for a biography of an explorer who wasn't an arctic explorer, and I found one! This is the story of British explorer Percy Fawcett. In 1925, Percy and his 21-year-old son trekked into the Amazon to find an ancient city called El Dorado. Father and son were never seen again. Mostly, this book taught me to stay out of the Amazon. There are too many bugs! Everything is gross and deadly. I'm too fluffy for that nonsense.

This is one of those books that's impossible to review because how do you review a person's life? I can't critique the plot or characters. The writing gets the job done. It's not anything special. Percy Fawcett was an intense dude with fascinating ideas about ancient Amazon civilizations. Like many old-time explorers, he was very selfish. He just left his wife and kids and went gallivanting around the wilderness for years at a time without the ability to contact them. I wouldn't let my husband get away with that. Percy's disappearance is a compelling mystery that kept me flying through the pages. I couldn't put this book down, even though I knew the mystery wouldn't be solved. I appreciate the end of the book where the author talks about how our understanding of the Amazon has changed. When Percy Fawcett was exploring, many people thought his ideas about lost Amazon cities were ridiculous. Nowadays, we're not so sure. Maybe Percy was on to something . . . . (I'd search for El Dorado myself, but, you know, there's all that gross and deadly stuff. Maybe it's best to let the city be lost.)




Do you like opinions, giveaways, and bookish nonsense?
I have a blog for that.