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dustysummers's review against another edition
3.0
"In other words, the most impactful concept ever put forth by the most celebrated philosopher of all time was the famous tale of a lost civilization that sank beneath the waves."
aberdeenwaters's review against another edition
5.0
I’m a sucker for any book that brings mythology into the modern age and teases it apart. I love that there are fervent disciples of Atlantology trying to prove where it was. It’s a great read with a lot of good stories, even if the math went over my head.
jilligin's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to like this. I was just boring at many places.
hannahsatreat's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this one! If you have ever been interested in the lost city of Atlantis, Adams explores many theories in current circulation. I loved the travels and adventures found in this nonfiction book. Adams has an easy to read and humorous style that made for an engaging book.
worldofjoel's review
2.0
The story of Atlantis and whether or not it exists is something that I've only passingly thought about in my life. But over the last week, I read the novel Meet Me in Atlantis by Mark Adams which deep dives on several explorers in their quest to discover the lost city Atlantis.
I never realized how deep (and a bit insane) the theories around Plato's Atlantis story really are. One of the many people Mark interviews for this book is a gentleman who ran statistical models trying to find Atlantis in Morocco. Many who Mark interviews have spent their entire lives in search of the lost city.
My problem with Meet Me in Atlantis isn't that it's about Atlantis but that it's quite frankly boring. If you buy into Atlantis then I can see being swept up by the various theories but if you don't (like me) I found the entire novel to be a complete slog. Adams spends what feels like an eternity breaking down Plato's words, his various potential meanings, and what that could mean in discovering Atlantis. And yet by the end of the novel, I found his "conclusions" to be laughable.
Whether or not Atlantis exists, I found this book to bring little to the table. Great nonfiction writing is when an author is able to build a narrative that brings even the least informed on the subject along for the journey. And although there was an interesting intro to this book, as we followed Mark through his travels around the Mediterranean I could help but drift off and wonder why on Earth I was reading this book.
I never realized how deep (and a bit insane) the theories around Plato's Atlantis story really are. One of the many people Mark interviews for this book is a gentleman who ran statistical models trying to find Atlantis in Morocco. Many who Mark interviews have spent their entire lives in search of the lost city.
My problem with Meet Me in Atlantis isn't that it's about Atlantis but that it's quite frankly boring. If you buy into Atlantis then I can see being swept up by the various theories but if you don't (like me) I found the entire novel to be a complete slog. Adams spends what feels like an eternity breaking down Plato's words, his various potential meanings, and what that could mean in discovering Atlantis. And yet by the end of the novel, I found his "conclusions" to be laughable.
Whether or not Atlantis exists, I found this book to bring little to the table. Great nonfiction writing is when an author is able to build a narrative that brings even the least informed on the subject along for the journey. And although there was an interesting intro to this book, as we followed Mark through his travels around the Mediterranean I could help but drift off and wonder why on Earth I was reading this book.
elzabetg's review against another edition
5.0
This was pretty good. The author writes an engaging story that is very funny in places. Sarcasm much, Mr Adams? He does a really good job conveying his innate skepticism and his increasing desire to believe that some of Plato's tale could be true. All that traveling too, just ask a few questions. Some which never get answered because of his subjects' passion for finding Atlantis. I really enjoyed this book. It was very "In Search of..." without devolving into "Ancient Aliens".
mrsfligs's review
2.0
I very rarely abandon books, but I did with this one. It wasn't necessarily bad, but I ended up not being very interested in the subject matter. I'm not even sure how I came to have this book in the first place. Although I was interested in learning more about Atlantis (for example, I didn't know that Plato was the source of most of our information on Atlantis), I just struggled to care about finding it. I figure if and when we "discover" Atlantis, I'll read more about it then. : )
cescelia's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.5
kaitlynhermansen's review against another edition
2.25
Adams travels around the world interviewing researchers obsessed with studying Atlantis. An interesting premise that ultimately fell flat for me because of its heavy descriptions and use of dialogue. Some of the interviews could have been summarized, but are rather written word for word on the page. Some interesting information was in here, but I often found myself skimming interviews. Most of the people he interviews are studying maps and geography, and I was hoping for more archeology based work.