Douglas Preston is a masterful writer, one who can keep your attention whether he is recanting something mysterious or mundane. At times, The Lost City of the Monkey God swings from one extreme to the other and somehow manages to keep your attention anyway because the story being told is real. 

This book recounts Preston's expedition into the Honduran rainforest to find the legendary White City. His adventure includes rickety planes, old helicopters, Lidar mapping technology, snakes, insects, and pathogens. Where the book wins is in delivering all of these things as Preston and company discovered the ruins of a vanished culture. Where the book falls slightly short is that the story is interesting but never feels harrowing as an adventure story. 

Still, one must give Preston credit. His narrative style provides a swift, easy read. Not only does he share an adventure on the ground but through history — covering everything from the accidental conquest of the Americas to research being done by the medical community on various deadly and incurable diseases. 

All in all, it's an interesting and informative book that leaves you a little smarter than when you began, even if you don't learn anything definitive about the people who once inhabited this remote jungle valley (the research is still being down, but no longer in person). And yet, somehow, Preston shares his addiction for adventure in such a way that you secretly wish archeology what part of your daily purview.