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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed this read, I'm a big fan of travelling books especially when they have have some historical perspective like this. I really liked the incorporation of Bingham's thoughts and observations. I really enjoyed Adams' sense of humor through his journey!
I bought this book several years ago and finally picked it up to read in anticipation of my upcoming trip to Peru. I was hesitant because the reviews weren’t great but I loved it! It was funny, informative, and historical. It also made me reconsider the things I want to see and do while in Peru.
More like 2.5 thanks to my book club's keen insights...
This is a solid, well-researched, well-written combination travel book and popular history of Machu Piccchu and its 'discoverer' Hiram Bingham.
That said, I did not like it as much as I had hoped. I'm ambivalent. My recent love affair with "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson and "The Lost City of Z" may well have spoiled the vast majority of travel writing for me. I can't put my finger on why, exactly -- it may well not be the book's fault -- but I had to make a conscious effort to go back to the book and finish it after about the 2/3 mark.
Final verdict? Recommended for anyone with a special interest in Machu Picchu or Incan history. Just don't expect it to be quite as much of a romp as the title and pull quotes imply.
That said, I did not like it as much as I had hoped. I'm ambivalent. My recent love affair with "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson and "The Lost City of Z" may well have spoiled the vast majority of travel writing for me. I can't put my finger on why, exactly -- it may well not be the book's fault -- but I had to make a conscious effort to go back to the book and finish it after about the 2/3 mark.
Final verdict? Recommended for anyone with a special interest in Machu Picchu or Incan history. Just don't expect it to be quite as much of a romp as the title and pull quotes imply.
Many travelogues written by white men have an overriding sense of condescension and authoritative tone that is wrongheaded and uninteresting; this book (mostly) avoids these pitfalls, although the memoir portions were definitely of less interest to me than the historical research. I learned a lot about Incan culture and the history of colonialism in Peru; I especially appreciated the effort made by the author to make clear that although Bingham is an important historical figure, he did not discover Machu Picchu.
I thought this was fascinating. Adams is an excellent storyteller, and damn funny, too. His book expertly blends Peruvian history with the story of Hiram Bingham’s 1911 expedition and Adams’s own attempt to retrace Bingham’s steps. I did this on audio, and the narration was excellent. The narrator does a fantastic Australian accent for John Leivers, the Crocodile Dundee-esque adventure guide. It might have helped to have a print version for reference as there are a lot of Peruvian names and places to keep track of. We are going to Machu Picchu in May and I didn’t know that much about the history so this was an excellent introduction. I may listen to it again.
I read this book in preparation to a trip to Machu Picchu. It was well worth it. It is full of historical details, but they are spread out so that it keeps your interest. In other words, I'm not a fan of historical novels, however this one is written in such a manner that the historical details are provided in bite-sized doses which I could easily manage. Very interesting book and I would recommend it to anyone traveling to Machu Picchu. it really helps to put the scope of the Incas and Machu Picchu into a context to better understand their civilization.
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This was a great travelogue and review of the possible histories of the Quechua people. I really wish I had the free time and total lack of a fear of heights to follow in all the footsteps of Adams and Bingham, but someday I'd like to hike as much of the area as I can. I appreciated that Adams was able to identify the many people who have helped to understand Bingham is not the sole discoverer of Machu Picchu but still recognize Bingham's important role as the one who popularized it enough to save it from returning to obscurity. But the story I really loved was the tale of John Leivers. The Inca trail is amazing, but reasonably well documented if not understood. Leivers's life provides the new wrinkle that made this book a total joy to read. What a character!
I wanted to read this book because I'm working on a project about hiking Machu Picchu and this is one of the leading books in the field. I will say this book has a ton of research, and some of it was very helpful which is why I gave it two stars.
But mostly, this book is colonialist propaganda. You can probably already tell just from the subtitle, "Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time." The jokes overall were pretty bad, even offensive at times. He normalizes a lot of the negative effects tourists like him have on Peru -- underpaid worker strikes, how Aguas Calientes became a tourist town for visitors to Machu Picchu, overpriced quinoa, and more.
What made me most angry is that the author is irrationally obsessed with Hiram Bingham, who in my opinion has no redeeming qualities. He's an outspoken racist who got credit for "discovering" Machu Picchu, a trek only possible by his generations of wealth privilege made on other racist endeavors of his family (including trying to Christianize Hawaii). In the book it even says, "Money wasn't a serious factor since Alfreda's parents [his in-laws] provided free housing and a $10,000 annual allowance--about five times the yearly salary of an assistant professor." To this day, the artifacts he stole have not been returned to Peru.
And yet despite the continued glorification of Bingham and his journey throughout the book (and the author's pride as he uncovers his own "Bingham-like tendencies"), he judges people for believing in Incan mysticism? This double standard makes no sense.
The saving grace of this book is when he meets up with Eliane Karp-Toledo, which is the only time I felt like Bingham was actually critiqued and in response, the author asks "could she think of anything nice to say about Bingham?" THE NERVE OF THIS GUY...
But mostly, this book is colonialist propaganda. You can probably already tell just from the subtitle, "Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time." The jokes overall were pretty bad, even offensive at times. He normalizes a lot of the negative effects tourists like him have on Peru -- underpaid worker strikes, how Aguas Calientes became a tourist town for visitors to Machu Picchu, overpriced quinoa, and more.
What made me most angry is that the author is irrationally obsessed with Hiram Bingham, who in my opinion has no redeeming qualities. He's an outspoken racist who got credit for "discovering" Machu Picchu, a trek only possible by his generations of wealth privilege made on other racist endeavors of his family (including trying to Christianize Hawaii). In the book it even says, "Money wasn't a serious factor since Alfreda's parents [his in-laws] provided free housing and a $10,000 annual allowance--about five times the yearly salary of an assistant professor." To this day, the artifacts he stole have not been returned to Peru.
And yet despite the continued glorification of Bingham and his journey throughout the book (and the author's pride as he uncovers his own "Bingham-like tendencies"), he judges people for believing in Incan mysticism? This double standard makes no sense.
The saving grace of this book is when he meets up with Eliane Karp-Toledo, which is the only time I felt like Bingham was actually critiqued and in response, the author asks "could she think of anything nice to say about Bingham?" THE NERVE OF THIS GUY...