Percy Fawcett was born in the United Kingdom in 1867. He came from a family of interesting characters. His older brother was a mountain climber. His father was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He attended the Royal Military Academy and was appointed to several different locations once he graduated. He also worked for the secret service. He joined the Royal Geographical Society in 1901, where he studied mapmaking and surveying.

His first expedition to South America occurred in 1906. He was sent to map an area of jungle for the Royal Geographical Society. On this trip, he saw an Anaconda, which he said was over sixty feet. He was made fun of for that, as people did not believe him, but we all know now that they are huge. He also found some other animals that were unknown to the wider world, one of which was a large Apazauca spider. He did another expedition in 1913, where he reported seeing dogs with two noses. Of course, that could be a birth defect, but there are dogs called Double Nosed Andean Tiger Hounds that are found particularly in Bolivia. I had to google what they looked like, because I had never heard of them. They really do have two noses. This was also around the time that he decided there was a lost city, which he called Z, somewhere in the jungle.

In 1924, Fawcett, his oldest son Jack, and Jack's friend set out for the final expedition. His last letter was delivered to his wife by a Native runner on May 29, 1925. He had written the letter from Dead Horse Camp, and the contents of the letter seemed excited and optimistic. However, he did mention that he had some misgivings about his son's friend, Raleigh. He was reported to be crossing a tributary towards the southeast on the Amazon River. All three of the men were never seen or heard from again, and were declared lost in 1927. There are several possibilities of how they died, including disease, starvation, animal attack, or murder by local Native tribes. All sorts of rumors abound, but none can be verified with any accuracy.

I have been wanting to read this book for a while, so I was really excited to see that my local library had a copy. I haven't read a lot about South America, and the Amazon is such a deep and mysterious place, there is always something new to be learned. I had listened to a podcast about Fawcett a while back, and this book had a lot more detail in it about his life and expeditions to the jungle. The actual expedition to the lost city was way toward the end of the book, but I didn't mind that. It is important to get the backstory of how he got to that point. I thought this book was great, and I was not disappointed at all.