Play Book Tag discussion

Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time 4 stars

I found this book without really looking for it and it intrigued me enough to bring it home. I am glad I did. History, Adventure, Memoir, Travelogue- a bit of everything here and most enjoyable.

Mark Adams started out as an intern, moved on to a fact checking job and then a researcher and then became an Editor at National Geographic. He got the bug to explore through these jobs, thus becoming a travel writer and book author. Turn Right, being his first book and adventure outside the office life. My reason for telling you all this is that Mark appears to be just a normal guy, not a hard-core adventurer. Thus, his writing style is plain and simple and at times a bit humorous as he relates his time in his search for answers on the reason the Incas built Machu Picchu. As a guide, on his adventure, he did team up with a hardcore adventurer (an Australian named John Leivers) and the two of them resemble the Mutt and Jeff (look it up if you don't know who they are) of the Inca Trail.

This was a fascinating story explaining a lot of things I knew nothing about. I stand before you admitting, I still had a hard time understanding some of the celestial reasoning behind/within Machu Picchu. However, it did enlighten me on the subject of the Incas and their "way ahead of the game" engineering and understanding of the Sun. Also, the story is told in 3 timelines, that of the Incas, 20th century explorer Hiram Bingham and Adams own time spent in South America and Machu Picchu .

A great read I can recommend to almost anyone.

This has been on my TBR for ages!

This I have added to my TBR - so my type of book combining those 3.

Great review!! I read this just before I traveled to Peru to hike to Machu Picchu. It was an amazing experience and I appreciated understanding the history a bit before visiting.

The Incas were AMAZING!

Oh Jen, I bet that was an experience of a lifetime! You make me so jealous, with all your travels!