Customer Reviews

Lost Cities and Ancient Mysteries of South America (Lost Cities Series)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Through the high altitude ruins of Peru and the dust-dry deserts of Chile, across the fertile range of Argentina and the carnival-infested streets of Rio, David Childress seeks the unknown, the undetermined, the secretive and the source of strange rumors; of vanished cities and twelve-foot-tall giants; and though he finds relatively little in the way of closure for the mysteries presented in _Lost Cities and Ancient Mysteries of South America_, one must remember it is the trip, not the destination, that buoys the author along...and for the casual reader, there is much to learn.

Despite his hyperbolic claims, Childress is definitely not an archeologist, a profession that tends to be dry, dusty, and for the most part dull-rather, he is a shoestring traveler with a yen for history and adventure. Which suits this material fine: instead of a `professional' report detailing one particular society as it lived and co-existed in its environment, Childress' breezy travelogue takes us through a dozen different societies, ancient and modern, with a fair amount of speculation that most academics wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole: the lost continents of Atlantis and Mu and how they relate to the rise of Inca civilization; supposed alien visitors; Amazon dinosaurs still on the prowl; a tunnel system spanning the American continent; a half-dozen myths of missing gold-hordes... nothing here that would impress the professor, but it certainly is an entertaining read, and the theories about South America's ancient colonies, including the Irish (!), Egyptians and Romans, are fun to ponder over.

Moreover, Childress' tone throughout places his book above the usual alternative-history exhortations, for he takes each and every story/legend with a grain of salt, even discrediting some by pointing to obvious discrepancies. By compiling these theories, he lets the reader sort through it all rather than try to hammer in a belief structure. The good-natured ease of the author's voice as he distills these legends/theories makes this tome a pleasant affair rather than tedious or obnoxious.

One thing did bother me: because of a variety of problems, including low funds, low energy, and the dangers involved in trekking through out of the way regions (snakes, mountain cats, cocaine smugglers), Childress doesn't actually visit the majority of the sites/cities he writes about. This is rather disappointing, as are the numerous typos and grammatical mistakes. One star deduction.

Recommended to those interested about South America and/or alternative history.

I had several issues with this book:
1. His writing is spine-tingling horrendous. The grammatical errors, typos, etc. litter the entire page. Pick a page from the book -- I promise you'll find an error.
2. The title of this book makes me laugh hysterically, because that is hardly what the book is about. Basically, the book was this continuous cycle of hitch hiking, meeting someone, finding a hotel (and listing all hotels and prices in that area), getting plastered, and having sex. The way he writes about the lost cities is just plain... well, corny. He'll start out talking about the beer in a certain city and then "suddenly" recall this article he read about the lost city close to there. Considering he doesn't even visit a majority of these cities, I hardly believe he's truly thinking about them while hammering down drinks.
3. HE DOESN'T EVEN GO TO MOST OF THE "LOST" CITIES. This, above all problems, is absolutely unexcuseable. He talks about them, yes. Visit them? No. I would say 40% of the book is talking about various articles and arguments he has read ABOUT the cities. While this is very helpful and interesting, I picked up the book to read about treks into the jungle looking for these lost cities -- not to read what other people have said about them. About 10% of the book consists of him actually at the lost cities, which even then, it's not his own thoughts, but his interpretations of other writers'/adventurers' arguments. The other 50% of the book consists of him hitch-hiking, having sex, getting drunk, getting mugged, talking about hotels (Because I care about the price of a run down hostel in some unheard of town of South America in the 1980's), and asking ignorant nobodies about their views of the lost cities.

This book is a waste of time, I assure you. Unless you are looking for a book about some middle aged guy going broke and hitch-hiking, while talking about hotels in a horrific writing style, I would stay far from this book. If you want an excellent adventure/non-fiction that's actually looking for lost cities and writing from his own perspective, check out Exploration Fawcett.

The book makes a great read, same as DHC's other books of the "Lost Cities" series. Very entertaining, thought provoking, and well written. One thing though: I don't get why the author keeps calling himself "a rogue archeologist": someone has to explain to him what archeologists do. DHC is no archeologist, whatever he might think; he's a traveler, a gossip gatherer, and a free spirit, but all this has little to do with archeology. I enjoyed his open-mindedness, and the relativism with which he judges most of the theories and hypotheses considered. Going through his whole opus, I can't help noticing that this writer is a really great guy, and that his travel companions and friends must have been lucky to have met him, but archeologist? Please, give me a break. And use some proofreader, for the next edition.

This was the first book I read in Childress' "Lost Cities" series, every single one of which is impossible to put down. It is an incredible journey of a man's attempt to unite myth and fact and propose new explanations for historical events and archaeological enigmas. I cannot imagine anyone but the most jaded and cynical reader not enjoying this, regardless of whether you agree with the author's hypotheses or not. I will say though that if you are an officer in the Grammar Police it will drive you crazy at times. I hesitate to blame the author, however. I suspect that if the books in this series had an editor, which seems unlikely, than that person should have chosen another profession. If you are the type that cannot get beyond that then perhaps you should avoid the book but for anyone looking for a highly entertaining, thought-provoking take on history, travel and archaeology do not hesitate to buy every single book in this series.

This book is one of the worst written I have ever encountered. The ideas and concepts are interesting--the title and the photos are inviting. But the breezy style that wastes so much space on insignificant detail of the authors travels is just space filler. And the grammatical and spelling mistakes are just unforgiveable. I just cannot read something that has multiple, numerous mistakes throughout the book--you cannot escape them, and they are so blatant and numerous that the detract from thinking about the subject matter.

Childress leaves almost no stone unturned as he leads the reader into unknown worlds in a personal quest to encounter and document the lost cities, pyramids, and megaliths of South and Central America. The ones he missed are the perfect spherical stones of Costa Rica documented in the AUP publication ATLANTIS IN AMERICA: NAVIGATORS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD.

I thought the author gave much thought of the mysteries associated with South America. As an amateur adventurist I could share experiences with the author. His travels are much like my own so I imagine that I'm biased but...it made for a very interesting read. The folklore and myths combined with his perception, well...just read it for yourself!

The Lost Cities series by David Hatcher Childress has proven for me to be probably the most entertaining, thoroughly informative, and thought provoking series of books I have ever read and have also served as an invaluable road map for my own travels around the world in search of ancient mysteries. I have traveled, so far, to several locations in Egypt, Malta, Europe, Asia, Central and South America and each time I have used his books to plan my route and have taken whichever one I needed for the journey as a guide. I bought the whole series long ago and they are generally beat to hell if not falling apart at this point and I wouldn't have them any other way. Reading this series made me make up my mind that I could never be satisfied being a spectator of the debate, but the only way to truly know these mysteries was to be a participant and see them for myself. At the very least this series should inspire you to get out there, live your life as a traveler and not a tourist and go see these places for yourself. Save the money, do it cheap, whatever you have to do, but don't let the opportunity to actually go there pass you by in this life.

Equal parts detective story, travel guide, diary, history book, and compendium of esoteric knowledge; what makes these books so unique, among other things, is that Childress takes the reader with him through every step of the journey -cold beers, missed trains, broken legs, chance encounters, stolen wallets, one night stands in far away places, wishing you could stay but knowing you can't. All the while on the trail of an ever growing mystery with every answer leaving only more questions spurring you on to the next stop wondering what will happen next. One thing I always respected about Childress in these books, which some may not get the point, is that while at times he does present off-beat esoteric ideas about lost civilizations, it is done so not to promote any particular idea, but rather to give a greater context of the history of the literature of the last few hundred years concerning lost civilizations in the hope that something worthwhile might be gleaned from even the most outlandish or dated of source. To him it is a journey and to his credit does little to leave any stone unturned. But also unique to Childress compared with other writers of the genre is that other than the obvious general idea that there is much more to the story of history than we know, he rarely takes a definitive stance on any pet theory, but rather presents the information with more of a sense of wonder and openness and is really not trying to sell the reader on anything either way other than the necessity to keep an open mind. All just interesting to know and he leaves the reader to think of it what they will which is refreshing.

All and all very interesting and entertaining and I highly recommend getting the whole series. The Lost Cities series are true classics of the genre and should be a front and center addition to any alternative researchers library and as a whole are an unparalleled source of of information about many megalithic sites and discoveries you will be hard pressed to find anywhere else. Hopefully they will inspire you as they did me.

This book is about the personal experiences of the author in travelling through South America. The author writes in an interesting and informative style and provides valuable information about the sites he visited. Having travelled to some of the sites he describes, I can say that his information is very accurate. He at least did some investigation into the sites he described. Because of his descxription of some of the sites I have not visited, he has encouraged me to make another trip to South America. I was, however, put off by the descriptions of his casual personal sexual trysts in various cities that could have been left out, as well as his descriptions of his other personal activites.

While first published in 1986, Childress' book is still a decent compendium of the lost civilizations and legends of South America. As with all in this series, the author uses his travels as a reason to recount and excerpt the tales and legends of others who went before him. He visits some of these locations, but mostly those accessible to all tourists. He's not actually an archaeologist or an Indian Jones type, but like all these books, he allows readers to travel to distant lands as he distills what he has discovered in his studies. He doesn't latch on to strange theories here as much as in some of his other books. Much of interest is revealed such as tunnel systems, potential locations of King Solomon's mines and the disappearance of Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett. You can read more about Fawcett in the excellent The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon. See also Mysteries of Ancient South America.