The Lost World (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1912)

(178 pages)

Of course the Sherlock Holmes books are quite excellent.  I had rather forgotten about this book - one of just a few by Sir ACD featuring "Professor Challenger" - was reminded of it as our little book club read this book, to which "The Lost World" owes its setting and plenty of plot elements and details.

It's purely a romp; a tale; thoroughly enjoyable.  Four Londoners explore a lost world.

Heinrich Schliemann was considered a bit of a wrecker for his approach in excavating Troy, but he had nothing on these high-spirited fellows. 

Perhaps my favorite scenes are those taking place at the Royal Geographic Society just before and just after the expedition.

Sir ACD can write!

The Lost City of Z (David Grann, 2005)

(319 pages)

Book club selection (via Nick; session held 5 September 2018).

I like this genre.  But so far had only read about it in the context of the Nile (Alan Moorehead's White Nile and Blue Nile, biographies of Stanley and Livingstone, etc.

It was interesting to think about the differences - the Nile was impossibly difficult, but the Amazon seemed far worse. 

Another point of reference was Arthur Conan Doyle's Lost World - a great story, and modeled to some extent on this adventure.

Story is built around a fellow named Percy Fawcett; he rattles around in British colonial outposts; like famous African explorers, he seems immune to the hardships.  Fawcett becomes convinced that the Amazon formerly supported large cities (or at least one large one), and works to raise funds, launch an expedition, and hope to find it.  Takes his son and his son's best friend on the final effort.

He disappears without a trace; various folks go looking for him (generally with awful results); the author also goes out into the Amazon, after a fashion. 

History of the Conquest of Peru (William H. Prescott, 1847)

Much enjoyed Prescott's write-up of the conquest of Mexico; had forgotten to follow up on this second key work until recent NOC-POC Peru trip led to discussions.  I'd prefer the Mexico book over the Peru book if pressed - but both are quite delightful.  The only downside on the Peru book is that so much of the story line is devoted to infighting among the Spanish conquerors - including several of the quite vigorous Pizarro brothers.

My favorite part of the book was the descriptions of the Inca empire prior to arrival of the Spaniards - if accurate, these folks were ridiculously well organized.  Roads, food system, religious, etc.  Yet they never figured out the wheel; very primitive writing.  As discussed in this book, and also here - Peru such a unique environment - so many micro-climates at such a low latitude - they could grow pretty much anything.

Pizarro benefited from lucky timing - arriving during a period of heightened imperial infighting - similar to Cortez in this respect.

But the courage, or madness, of the tiny group of adventurers is simply breathtaking.  Also borrowed from Cortez:  the bold abduction of the emperor.  The room full of gold.

How quickly the system fell apart once the emperor was taken; how quickly and permanently the changes wrought via the Spaniards reduced the country.

And how little long-term benefit to Spain - the ongoing myth that it was enriched - visible to Prescott - ". . . the wealth thus suddenly acquired, by diverting them from the slow but surer and more permanent sources of national prosperity, has in the end glided from their grasp, and left them among the poorest of the nations of Christendom."  Exploiting colonies wasn't a great strategy except for a handful of insiders, as discussed here.

Rampant inflation.

Charles V needing cash for wars - influx of precious metals helped in short run.

A younger Pizarro brother makes an incredible journey into the Amazon.

Definitely stranger than fiction.

The Honorary Consul (Graham Greene, 1973)

I like Greene's books, and will continue to work through them.

Protagonist is a doctor (Plarr) who moved south from Paraguay with his mother when a child - leaving behind his politically dubious father (in a country where that always seems to be a big problem).  Now he lives in a small town near the Paraguayan border.  Half-English and half Paraguayan; identifies with the local English community (consisting of three members, including him).  The Honorary Consul (English) is an aging mediocrity with a new, young wife who Plarr finds interesting, let's say.

The Honorary Consul is mistakenly kidnapped and held for ransom with some desperate amateurs who were going after the U.S. ambassador.  The kidnappers are Paraguayans with information about Plarr's father; Plarr is mixed up in their activities.  Head of the kidnapper group is a former priest, which gives Greene some room to work in his Catholic themes.

Good, I liked it.

Killing Pablo (Mark Bowden, 2001)

This book was a birthday gift from KHG. It focuses on a 16-month effort to capture (though the goal turned simply to killing, once they figured out imprisonment was hopeless) drug kingpin Pablo Escobar; the effort succeeded in December 1993. The book also gave lots of background information about Escobar's rise to power in Colombia.

The story simply feels unbelievable - but apparently it all happened.

It seems impossible that one criminal (admittedly with a well-paid, loyal organization) could exert such control over an entire country. Seems he had a pretty simple system in dealing with people - (a) they could do what he wanted and be paid handsomely, or (b) they would be killed. Also seems he left no doubt that he would enforce the system - stunning numbers of murders of judges, police, anybody in the way. Accordingly, huge numbers of folks selected (a). The organizational reach was unbelievable - politicians, judges, police. He had intelligence about almost everything that was going on.

Particularly telling was his negotiated "surrender" leading to "imprisonment" in a luxe facility he built for himself (before eventually escaping by slipping through a cordon of hundreds of soldiers who somehow "didn't see" him). What a deal.

There was a Harrison Ford movie some years ago based on some popular novel where the story line was built around an Escobar figure. I thought it was pretty hyped up. I was wrong, the real-life guy had far more money and influence.

All this is a bit unsettling thinking of the drug violence in Mexico and elsewhere; also the incredible challenge of running honest politics in countries with this kind of heritage. (But that might get me started on U.S. politics.)

But you know what? There is some room for optimism. There were some honest folks that took PE down, and I'm guessing that took courage in quantities most of us couldn't even imagine, and very few are ever called on to show.

Good book.

Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard (Joseph Conrad, 1904)

I read this about six months ago at the gym. I much like Conrad's stuff, including this book. One thing that's interesting is that he uses the English language so well when he didn't learn it until his 20s (native Pole).

This is set in an imaginary South American republic (Costaguena). Conrad does a great job of setting up a pretty large group of interconnected characters. And really goes into depth. The descriptions of the local politicians and governments would be spot-on today, at the risk of sounding condescending or rascist (except the basic weaknesses in this area aren't at all confined to Latin America or any other geography). The good-hearted Englishman who brings along the mine into production to the benefit of the entire area, and ends up being pretty much owned by the mine. The local families. The old Italian who worshipped Garibaldi and ran a local lodging place. The cynical journalist who gets over being disconnected - by falling in love with a local - and stays to fight the good fight.

All with weaknesses, but the book is pretty optimistic in the end.

The central figure (Nostromo) is an Italian who heads what I guess you'd call the longshoremen. He is incorruptible; a heroic figure in the town; entrusted with hiding a bunch of silver; this leads to some erosion of his incorruptibility, you could say.

A more detailed description can be found here - but I'd stay away from the description and just read the book.