Blowhard, Esq. writes:

Just as Into Thin Air made me never, EVER want to go anywhere near Mt. Everest, this story makes me never, EVER want to go anywhere near the Amazonian jungle. The two landscapes are so different it’s hard to imagine them existing on the same planet. Whereas Everest seems to wear you down with its unrelenting bleakness and desolation, the Amazon overwhelms you with life that is, essentially, constantly trying to eat you. Insects and other animals will literally burrow into your flesh and consume you from the inside out.

The book is the story of Percy Fawcett, a gentleman-explorer who disappeared into the Amazonian jungle 85 years ago. Considered one of the great explorers of his era, he was one of the models for Indiana Jones. But the “gentleman” part is debatable. He ignored his wife (who died penniless and demented) and showed little interest in his children. He was a maniacal obsessive whose compulsions ruined many men. (Shades of Aguirre). He was blessed with a preternaturally hardy constitution and grew very cross when others could not keep up, thus driving his men to exhaustion, mutiny, and sometimes death. Like another Krakauer hero, civilization held no interest for him and he was only at home in the wild. While searching for the lost civilization of El Dorado his obsession finally did him in, killing him and his son.

Reading the book, I kept thinking of those manic CEOs who seem to sacrifice everything to succeed in business. People who have no interest or time for those people or that do not further their project, corporation, or bottom line. They have a magnetic charisma, attracting other like-minded obsessives and repelling those who do not share or cannot fathom their vision. (See Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs.)

I gave the book 4 stars on goodreads b/c, absorbing as it was, it was still too long at 320 pages. Lucky for you, it was expanded from a New Yorker magazine piece that, while quite lengthy, is more manageable. Read it here.