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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
Great book for anyone interested in hiking the Inca Trail or learning more about the Incas.
Not great and very out of touch. Romanticizes colonial perspectives and highlights white male “explorers” as experts of the place, steamrolling over indigenous knowledge and sense of place.
I am certainly more interested in walking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu after this book; Adams made it sound appropriately appealing (if crowded).
A dilettante hiker/camper, Adams became inspired to follow in the footsteps of Hiram Bingham III, the man who "discovered" Machu Picchu. It is very clear from this book and from history that Bingham discovered nothing. The locals knew about Machu Picchu - there were several families actually living on it. He was not even the first foreigner to have known about it. It was never a lost city buried by the jungle. Bingham's real claim to fame is that he energized the American public's interest in it through his self-promotion.
Adams seems to have liked Bingham more than I do, but the real downside of this book is that there is not enough about the Incans or modern day Peru. Although Adams provides descriptions of the Incan Empire as it was conquered by the Spanish, I did not feel like I came away with as much understanding of their culture and history as I had wished. Same for Peru - there are tidbits about Peru and Peruvians, but I still do not have a firm sense of the country.
The other downside was that the book was a bit disjointed, with sometimes abrupt changes of topic within a chapter. Overall, I found it enjoyable and a good introduction into Machu Picchu but I wanted a little bit more out of it.
A dilettante hiker/camper, Adams became inspired to follow in the footsteps of Hiram Bingham III, the man who "discovered" Machu Picchu. It is very clear from this book and from history that Bingham discovered nothing. The locals knew about Machu Picchu - there were several families actually living on it. He was not even the first foreigner to have known about it. It was never a lost city buried by the jungle. Bingham's real claim to fame is that he energized the American public's interest in it through his self-promotion.
Adams seems to have liked Bingham more than I do, but the real downside of this book is that there is not enough about the Incans or modern day Peru. Although Adams provides descriptions of the Incan Empire as it was conquered by the Spanish, I did not feel like I came away with as much understanding of their culture and history as I had wished. Same for Peru - there are tidbits about Peru and Peruvians, but I still do not have a firm sense of the country.
The other downside was that the book was a bit disjointed, with sometimes abrupt changes of topic within a chapter. Overall, I found it enjoyable and a good introduction into Machu Picchu but I wanted a little bit more out of it.
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
This armchair adventure to Inca sites both famous and little-known was pretty fun to read, since it was peppered not only with the author's account of his own journey (which I liked because he was often self-deprecating and honest about his shortcomings) but also with historical context and synthesis of the life and journeys of Hiram Bingham, the man who inspired the author to travel to Perú.
I wasn’t thrilled that the author took so long to address the fact that Machu Picchu was not “discovered” by Bingham, as well as the fact that Bingham’s accounts of his so-called discovery were both flawed and likely embellished.
The Andean people are relegated to a background presence in the book, while Europeans, US citizens, and Australians hog the spotlight, and that didn’t sit well with me. As a travelogue and memoir, this makes sense because it reflects the author’s personal encounters during his journey. However, as a book *about* Machu Picchu, it isn’t okay. The author presents some of the pricklier issues without offering an opinion, and I wish he had presented Andean concerns in more detail and been more willing to condemn the shadier actions of Bingham and Yale University.
There are a few details that are no longer accurate, since the book was published a while ago. For example, he says visitors are never turned away even if the number of visitors exceeds the maximum daily threshold. This is no longer true; as a director of a school in Cusco, I had several groups of students who were denied entry for specifically that reason.
The publisher’s description refers to rural Perú as “still-undiscovered.” Taken literally, that makes me angry, but having read the book, I feel it’s meant facetiously and a bit tongue-in-cheek.
Despite these concerns, overall, as a travelogue, this book was entertaining and enjoyable.
I wasn’t thrilled that the author took so long to address the fact that Machu Picchu was not “discovered” by Bingham, as well as the fact that Bingham’s accounts of his so-called discovery were both flawed and likely embellished.
The Andean people are relegated to a background presence in the book, while Europeans, US citizens, and Australians hog the spotlight, and that didn’t sit well with me. As a travelogue and memoir, this makes sense because it reflects the author’s personal encounters during his journey. However, as a book *about* Machu Picchu, it isn’t okay. The author presents some of the pricklier issues without offering an opinion, and I wish he had presented Andean concerns in more detail and been more willing to condemn the shadier actions of Bingham and Yale University.
There are a few details that are no longer accurate, since the book was published a while ago. For example, he says visitors are never turned away even if the number of visitors exceeds the maximum daily threshold. This is no longer true; as a director of a school in Cusco, I had several groups of students who were denied entry for specifically that reason.
The publisher’s description refers to rural Perú as “still-undiscovered.” Taken literally, that makes me angry, but having read the book, I feel it’s meant facetiously and a bit tongue-in-cheek.
Despite these concerns, overall, as a travelogue, this book was entertaining and enjoyable.
I usually love travelogues, particularly those about travels on foot. But I struggled a fair bit with this book. In terms of structure, I think it was the fact that the author alternated chapters between the story of Hiram Bingham "discovering" Machu Picchu and his own story of following in Bingham's footsteps that made the narrative feel quite choppy to me. That and the fact that the whole narrative felt...dry. Perhaps the enthusiasm just didn't translate for me, because the author couldn't possibly have been unenthusiastic if he embarked on a multi week hike across the Andes, but beyond retracing Bingham's footsteps 100 years after his first visit I didn't really feel like I understood why the author was keen on pursuing this journey. And for Bingham, while you can't accuse the author of any sort of hero worship, I also can't say I fully understand how the author really felt about Bingham after the trip and after doing all of his research. I guess my biggest problem was I never really found out much about the author and his reasons for doing this trip beyond the most basic, and for a travelogue about a personal journey that just didn't work for me.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
an interesting read prior to visiting machu picchu. Easy to read.
It was good but at times felt like it dragged on. I think it would be more enjoyable if I'd either been to Peru before, or if I was in the process of planning a trip. I will hopefully come back to this book someday when I do plan travels to Peru.