Scan barcode
duchessofreadin's review
4.0
This was a great book! The lost civilization of the Maya is slowly revealed during painstaking trips and excavations - being shared through painted images and some of the artifacts that were brought back.
At first, I was not sure what I was going to think about this book, but the deeper that I got into it, the more I had trouble putting it down. I was entirely hooked, and stayed up way to late to finish reading.
Highly recommend this book if you are a history buff!
At first, I was not sure what I was going to think about this book, but the deeper that I got into it, the more I had trouble putting it down. I was entirely hooked, and stayed up way to late to finish reading.
Highly recommend this book if you are a history buff!
_ash0_'s review
3.0
More reviews at Bookish Muggle.
3.5 stars (On second thoughts, reduced rating from 4 to 3.5 as there are better sources to read up on Maya civilization).
I read Jungle of Stone book by William Carlsen just in time for my Mexico trip and I liked it. The book is about John Stevens and Frederick Catherwood as they both make their journey to Mexico and Central America in search of stones in Jungle and end up discovering Maya Civilization. Even the locals had no idea about this civilization and it is because of the expedition of these two men that the Europeans realized that western hemisphere had an advanced civilization which could match some of the ancient civilizations in the East.
The author has done extensive research on the lives of these two men who were involved in the discovery of the Maya Civilization. However, there is not a whole lot of information on the Mayans or their civilization or their stone structures. This is where I ended up getting disappointed with this book. I am not sure why the author thought that we would be interested in the lives of these men, instead of the civilization. I did like the portion of the book that spoke about the ruins and the civilization but beyond that, I got bored reading about biographies of every person involved in the discovery. I was least interested in reading about the personal lives of these men. For me, they were just explorers and I got bored with any detail about their life that did not involve exploration or adventure. Instead of dedicating chapters and chapters on their lives, the author could have given us more information about the Mayan civilization. I wanted to understand what each building meant in the ruins, how the hieroglyphics were decoded, how the Mayan calendar can be read and so much more about Maya but all these were very briefly touched upon.
So the book starts with the men making a trip to Central America in search of stone buildings and after that, the author gets distracted with the political turmoil in Guatemala. There is mention about others who had seen these ruins before these two men and had written reports about them. But these reports were lost in some archives and never came to light. Author spends next few chapters on the politics of the country which was slightly intriguing since I had no idea about that country. After that, he goes back in time and talks about Stephen's expedition to Greece, Egypt, Petra, Jerusalem etc, which was also interesting to read since it was again a travel story. But I did not understand how it was relevant for a book on Maya Civilization.
He talks about another expeditions put forth by the British to explore these ruins. Then finally when the author starts talking about the ruins, he skims over their discoveries as if in a rush to get to other topics. He is always talking about mosquitoes, malaria, rain and other problems faced by these men. The temples, palaces and other stone structures are briefly touched upon. Nothing is described in detail in any of the sites they visit. This is where the problem lies since anyone picking this book would want to read more about the ruins and not about the men involved in finding the ruins.
These two men make two different trips to Mayan Ruins. Their second trip is mostly to Yucatan which is when they find Chichen Itza and Tulum. Again, I felt these chapters lacking in details. The author did make up for it by having a dedicated section which talks about everything we know currently about this civilization. That section of the book was the best and I did learn a lot about these ancient people. After this section, the author again goes into some tangent about Panama Railroad construction and politics of US and Central American countries. This is where I lost interest in the book. The last few chapters were dragging, talking about some random people and events in history, which had nothing to do with the topic of the book. I skimmed through the last few chapters and ended up closing the book after being disappointed with the content.
I wish the book had less of these digressions and the author focused on the topic at hand - which was ruins. The author wanted to highlight how difficult it was to make a trip to Central America and Mexico due to all the political issues, but he ended up putting readers to sleep in the process. The editor could have done a better job I guess. There is a comparison of Mayan pyramids with Egyptian pyramids and I loved that section a lot. It was interesting to see how two different civilizations who were not in contact with each other ended up building similar structures for different purposes. While one was a tomb, the other was a temple. The chapter that mentions self-mutilation and human sacrifice practices in Maya was great as were the descriptions about their Gods and how the King was considered to be a shaman of the God. There is a short section about Cenotes too and how the civilization disintegrated and fell.
Anyway, it was interesting to learn how Europeans thought these structures were built by someone who had come from Europe or Asia. It was only after the fall of Spanish Empire that these ruins came into light. They did not think the indigenous population of America, whom they considered to be savages could build something that spectacular. The author also highlights the destructive nature of Europeans and the way they destroyed all the stone structures that were constructed by native Americans in the past. Some of these were hidden into thick jungles and thankfully survived. I think not much is known about this civilization even today and the scholars themselves have multiple theories since this civilization was long gone when Europeans landed in the western hemisphere. They only have the hieroglyphs and stone inscriptions to make deductions about these lost people and their lives.
What blew my mind was that this civilization had invented their own calendar system using which they were able to predict eclipses and other cosmic events. They had their own hieroglyphics and wrote about their kings. They cultivated corn and did not domesticate animals it seems. They did not use pulley or wheels and did not use metals, yet ended up building such wonders. They were not in touch with the rest of the world so everything they built, they built on their own. There was always exchange of information and ideas in Europe and Asia, but they did not have that advantage. I would love to read and learn more about this lost civilization.
I give this book 4 stars. The middle section of the book was amazing and deserves 5 stars. I am cutting 1 star for all the irrelevant material and biographies present in the book. The book about Machu Picchu that I read earlier was perfect and I sort of expected this book to match that book I guess, which is why I ended up getting disappointed. Please let me know if you have read a better book about the Maya Civilization.
3.5 stars (On second thoughts, reduced rating from 4 to 3.5 as there are better sources to read up on Maya civilization).
I read Jungle of Stone book by William Carlsen just in time for my Mexico trip and I liked it. The book is about John Stevens and Frederick Catherwood as they both make their journey to Mexico and Central America in search of stones in Jungle and end up discovering Maya Civilization. Even the locals had no idea about this civilization and it is because of the expedition of these two men that the Europeans realized that western hemisphere had an advanced civilization which could match some of the ancient civilizations in the East.
The author has done extensive research on the lives of these two men who were involved in the discovery of the Maya Civilization. However, there is not a whole lot of information on the Mayans or their civilization or their stone structures. This is where I ended up getting disappointed with this book. I am not sure why the author thought that we would be interested in the lives of these men, instead of the civilization. I did like the portion of the book that spoke about the ruins and the civilization but beyond that, I got bored reading about biographies of every person involved in the discovery. I was least interested in reading about the personal lives of these men. For me, they were just explorers and I got bored with any detail about their life that did not involve exploration or adventure. Instead of dedicating chapters and chapters on their lives, the author could have given us more information about the Mayan civilization. I wanted to understand what each building meant in the ruins, how the hieroglyphics were decoded, how the Mayan calendar can be read and so much more about Maya but all these were very briefly touched upon.
So the book starts with the men making a trip to Central America in search of stone buildings and after that, the author gets distracted with the political turmoil in Guatemala. There is mention about others who had seen these ruins before these two men and had written reports about them. But these reports were lost in some archives and never came to light. Author spends next few chapters on the politics of the country which was slightly intriguing since I had no idea about that country. After that, he goes back in time and talks about Stephen's expedition to Greece, Egypt, Petra, Jerusalem etc, which was also interesting to read since it was again a travel story. But I did not understand how it was relevant for a book on Maya Civilization.
He talks about another expeditions put forth by the British to explore these ruins. Then finally when the author starts talking about the ruins, he skims over their discoveries as if in a rush to get to other topics. He is always talking about mosquitoes, malaria, rain and other problems faced by these men. The temples, palaces and other stone structures are briefly touched upon. Nothing is described in detail in any of the sites they visit. This is where the problem lies since anyone picking this book would want to read more about the ruins and not about the men involved in finding the ruins.
These two men make two different trips to Mayan Ruins. Their second trip is mostly to Yucatan which is when they find Chichen Itza and Tulum. Again, I felt these chapters lacking in details. The author did make up for it by having a dedicated section which talks about everything we know currently about this civilization. That section of the book was the best and I did learn a lot about these ancient people. After this section, the author again goes into some tangent about Panama Railroad construction and politics of US and Central American countries. This is where I lost interest in the book. The last few chapters were dragging, talking about some random people and events in history, which had nothing to do with the topic of the book. I skimmed through the last few chapters and ended up closing the book after being disappointed with the content.
I wish the book had less of these digressions and the author focused on the topic at hand - which was ruins. The author wanted to highlight how difficult it was to make a trip to Central America and Mexico due to all the political issues, but he ended up putting readers to sleep in the process. The editor could have done a better job I guess. There is a comparison of Mayan pyramids with Egyptian pyramids and I loved that section a lot. It was interesting to see how two different civilizations who were not in contact with each other ended up building similar structures for different purposes. While one was a tomb, the other was a temple. The chapter that mentions self-mutilation and human sacrifice practices in Maya was great as were the descriptions about their Gods and how the King was considered to be a shaman of the God. There is a short section about Cenotes too and how the civilization disintegrated and fell.
Anyway, it was interesting to learn how Europeans thought these structures were built by someone who had come from Europe or Asia. It was only after the fall of Spanish Empire that these ruins came into light. They did not think the indigenous population of America, whom they considered to be savages could build something that spectacular. The author also highlights the destructive nature of Europeans and the way they destroyed all the stone structures that were constructed by native Americans in the past. Some of these were hidden into thick jungles and thankfully survived. I think not much is known about this civilization even today and the scholars themselves have multiple theories since this civilization was long gone when Europeans landed in the western hemisphere. They only have the hieroglyphs and stone inscriptions to make deductions about these lost people and their lives.
What blew my mind was that this civilization had invented their own calendar system using which they were able to predict eclipses and other cosmic events. They had their own hieroglyphics and wrote about their kings. They cultivated corn and did not domesticate animals it seems. They did not use pulley or wheels and did not use metals, yet ended up building such wonders. They were not in touch with the rest of the world so everything they built, they built on their own. There was always exchange of information and ideas in Europe and Asia, but they did not have that advantage. I would love to read and learn more about this lost civilization.
I give this book 4 stars. The middle section of the book was amazing and deserves 5 stars. I am cutting 1 star for all the irrelevant material and biographies present in the book. The book about Machu Picchu that I read earlier was perfect and I sort of expected this book to match that book I guess, which is why I ended up getting disappointed. Please let me know if you have read a better book about the Maya Civilization.
angeladobre's review against another edition
4.0
https://booknation.ro/recenzie-jungla-de-piatra-de-william-carlsen/
cimorene1558's review
5.0
Excellent book! Utterly fascinating; I knew a little about the Maya, but nothing about the discovery of their cities.
counthannahreadsalot's review
5.0
Well written and a great account of how the ancient Mayan civilization came to be recognized by the greater public globally. The included illustrations done by Catherwood are absolutely stunning, and for me were the highlight of the book. It does a good job of talking both about the Mayan ruins and giving background into catherwood and stephens and their journeys around the world.
monicaa_d's review
adventurous
slow-paced
4.0
This book is about two white adventurers who explored and documented ruins throughout the Yucatan and Panama. Though there is plenty to be said about the circumstances that led to white men "discovering" Mayan civilization, this book does not handle those themes and instead focuses on facts, as well as the feelings of Stephens and Catherwood. We follow the two men as they fight tooth and nail to get through the wilderness so they can document the ruins in as much detail as possible. Their motivations were selfish, but they had a reverence and awe appropriate to appreciate the works of the Maya. The men are drawn back to the region repeatedly, and it brings them their greatest successes as well as great suffering.
The writing itself is information-packed, but takes enough time to build imagery and allow the reader to experience the adventurous spirit and reverent awe that drove Stephens and Catherwood.
The writing itself is information-packed, but takes enough time to build imagery and allow the reader to experience the adventurous spirit and reverent awe that drove Stephens and Catherwood.
geve_'s review
4.0
Let me just say this: Thorough.
What I thought the book was gonna be about: The uncovering of previously forgotten or lost cities in Mexico and Central America with some Mayan history/culture for context.
What I got: Everyone's biography. A bunch of political history of central america and mexico during the time period. Financial troubles. Sailing and steaming. Publishing books. For some reason a lot of information about this one dude's divorce. The fact that the other dude's adult sister wasn't married, though unclear if his adult brother was married or not, wasn't mentioned with as much emphasis for some reason.
So, although it didn't meet my expectations, this was still pretty good. I wanted a lot more Mayan history, but I actually did enjoy the modern central american and mexican histories, of which I knew very little about during that time frame (early-mid 1800s). As expected, the story was obviously more about these two guys getting to go on an adventure than about the ruins themselves, and that kinda tracks with the characters involved, given that one of them was famous for writing about his travel adventures.
This felt a bit like a reference, which I liked. I would refer back to this, certain chapters at least.
Overall, a pretty good read. Tons of information, perhaps a bit dry, but very detailed. May have strayed a bit further into biography territory than I personally like, but I forgive. Now I want to read some actual Mayan histories. Would recommend to people who love extremely dry detailed histories. Would not recommend for anyone looking for narrative adventure non-fiction.
What I thought the book was gonna be about: The uncovering of previously forgotten or lost cities in Mexico and Central America with some Mayan history/culture for context.
What I got: Everyone's biography. A bunch of political history of central america and mexico during the time period. Financial troubles. Sailing and steaming. Publishing books. For some reason a lot of information about this one dude's divorce. The fact that the other dude's adult sister wasn't married, though unclear if his adult brother was married or not, wasn't mentioned with as much emphasis for some reason.
So, although it didn't meet my expectations, this was still pretty good. I wanted a lot more Mayan history, but I actually did enjoy the modern central american and mexican histories, of which I knew very little about during that time frame (early-mid 1800s). As expected, the story was obviously more about these two guys getting to go on an adventure than about the ruins themselves, and that kinda tracks with the characters involved, given that one of them was famous for writing about his travel adventures.
This felt a bit like a reference, which I liked. I would refer back to this, certain chapters at least.
Overall, a pretty good read. Tons of information, perhaps a bit dry, but very detailed. May have strayed a bit further into biography territory than I personally like, but I forgive. Now I want to read some actual Mayan histories. Would recommend to people who love extremely dry detailed histories. Would not recommend for anyone looking for narrative adventure non-fiction.
35lauriemb's review
2.0
this should have been more interesting to me. The author had a tendency to digress and fill in the pages with details that didn't fit the story. For example, too much information and illustrations about the explorers previous ventures in Egypt and elswehere. Also information about another exploring party traveling to Palenque. It didn't fit with the rest of the narrative. I read to page 230 before giving up. Didn't grab my interest.
nicolaspratt's review
4.0
A must-read for anyone interested in Mayan archaeology, or the people of Guatemala-Yucatan. Carlsen does wax lengthy on certain characters, but the overall picture he paints brings the often-dry historical events to life. Since reading (via audiobook) I have made an effort to look up the sketches and photos that Carlsen references, which I highly recommend to anyone not reading the physical book with physical images.