Travel to the Amazon

"PercyFawcett" by User Daniel Candido 

on pt.wikipedia. Licensed under Public 

Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Science Friday has a book club. You don't actually have to listen to Science Friday or like science or be a book club type person to enjoy their most recent read. Ira Flato didn't lead me astray when he recommended The Martian by Andy Weir, so when he spoke so highly of their latest read, I was quick to pick up.

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann is mostly the story of Percy Fawcett, who was an Amazon explorer who vanished in his search for what he called "Z" or what others have referred to as El Dorado. The author weaves his own narrative with Percy's and tells the history of exploration. The cast of characters involve some of the greatest explorers in the world and the setting moves from bleak Antarctica to the deadly Amazon.

Scenes in this book will make your skin crawl as Grann takes the reader on a journey through the Amazon alongside Fawcett and then later on his search for him. The story is a great balance of narrative and history, and it builds to a very satisfying ending. It's a book for those who are explorers at heart, enjoy history, admire those who push the limits of the human body, are innately curious, or simply enjoy science.

Here's the podcast from Science Friday that encouraged me to pick up Z in the first place: The SciFri Book Club Reads ‘The Lost City of Z’

Here's the podcast from Science Friday where they discuss the book, but don't listen to it until after you've read it because otherwise you'll encounter some spoilers: The SciFri Book Club Talks 'The Lost City of Z'