Explore Machu Picchu: An Intimate Journey Through the Lost City's Ancient Paths

Melissa Douglas: Terribly written and awfully dull. I have no idea how this is a best seller. Adams follows the footsteps of a famous adventurer that travelled to Machu Picchu but it isn’t written well. It’s written like a child wrote it “and then he did this and then he did this and then he did that”

Maybe it’s not awful if you’re visiting Machu Picchu but I read a lot of travel literature and this is the only book that I have had to force myself to finish and hated.

United Kingdom on Nov 12, 2023

Bruce J. Bowlus: The book is a fun and very interesting read of the non-Peruvians rediscovering Machu Picchu.

United States on Oct 13, 2023

Noelle McNamee: The Inca, Aztec and Maya people and cultures have always been of great interest to me, so when I saw Mark Adams' "Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time" I knew this was my “Set in South America” book. I liked how the author researched his topic and added his own experience to tell a great story. After I finished reading the book I went back through to the pictures and maps to help me recall the story of how HIram Bingham III discovered (in 1911) the city of Machu Picchu, which was thought to be the summer retreat of the royalty of the Incas. It was interesting that the author followed the same route as Hlram Bingham III, that had to have been very interesting.

United States on Sep 05, 2023

Melinda Mitchell: I really enjoy this book. We picked this book for our book club because we are going to Peru next year. I loved reading this educational and amusing book. I loved how the author really researched his topic and added his own experience to tell a great story! I plan to read his other books.

United States on Jul 28, 2023

Amazon Customer: Kind of boring

Canada on Dec 29, 2022

richa: I was always intrigued by the mighty Machu Picchu but never did try to find any books written on it. I coincidentally stumbled upon this book when trying to find some books written about travel and dived into reading it the minute the book reached me. This book describes the authors adventurous trip to Machu Picchu and gives a good insight into his entire journey along with detailed description with humor thrown in here and there.. In addition to the actual adventure, he has brilliantly summed up a lot about the history and the discovery of Machu Picchu. If anyone is just looking forward to reading about the journey per se and isn't a history buff, then this book may not be the right one. But again, without understanding how this lost city was discovered, totally makes understanding Macchu Picchu incomplete.... Overall, a highly recommended read for all book worms...

India on Mar 10, 2016

S. Warfield: The Inca, Aztec and Maya people and cultures have always been of great interest to me, so when I saw Mark Adams' "Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time" I knew I had to read it. I loved it. After I finished reading the book I went back through and reread parts I especially liked and I've gone back to the pictures and maps many times to help me recall the story of how the author traveled to Peru to take the same route that that HIram Bingham III did in 1911 when he discovered, high in the Andes mountains, the city of Machu Picchu, thought to be the summer retreat of the royalty of the Incas.

Mr. Adams, the author, was the editor of several travel magazines in New York and held an interest in explorers and travel, but had never slept in a tent except once as a child and had never made his way through a jungle like the one he was about to tackle. The one-hundredth anniversary of Bingham's finding of Machu Picchu and other cities of the Inca people was a perfect time for Adams to go. With the help of an Australian veteran explorer and guide, John Leivers, and with help from an Alaskan explorer named Paolo Greer, Mark Adams started his...

United States on Jun 15, 2015

Amarczon: Die Ruinenstadt Machu Picchu auf einem Berggipfel in den Anden Perus gehört heute zu den berühmtesten und beeindruckendsten Sehenswürdigkeiten der Welt. 2011 jährte sich das einhundertste Jubiläum der offiziellen Wiederentdeckung der Bergfestung im Jahre 1911. Dabei ist genau dieser Punkt heute sehr umstritten. Die einheimischen Bauern, die zum Zeitpunkt der „Entdeckung“ Machu Picchus ebendort lebten sind genauso der Meinung, dass Bingham die Stadt nicht wirklich entdeckt hat, wie mindestens zwei weitere Abenteurer, welche die Stadt schon im 19. Jahrhundert beschrieben hatten und zahllose Grabräuber, die sie vor der „Entdeckung“ mehrfach plünderten.

Diese Geschichte der vermeintlichen Entdeckung der Stadt durch den Yale Professor Hiram Bingham III faszinierte den Journalisten Mark Adams, der in den frühen Jahren des 21. Jahrhunderts in New York für ein Reisemagazin arbeitete. Mehr als Hobby denn für seinen Job beschäftigte er sich näher mit dieser Geschichte, und verspürte zunehmends den Drang, die Stätte einmal selbst zu besuchen. Allerdings nicht in der bequemen Form, in der es heutzutage Touristen ermöglicht wird den Gipfel auf einem schnellen...

Germany on Jan 17, 2015

Clare G: I would definitely recommend this book to anyone going to macchu picture and/or doing the inca trail. It tells you a lot About the history of the incas, about the discoveries by hiram Bingham and what to expect on the walk but in an amusing, alternative way of getting the information. I wished I'd started it earlier as I was only a third of the way through when we were there, but it really helped. I especially liked his self-deprecating way he tackled the treks and the image of john- ex encounter overland - is so true to people I've come across. Having now come back it is harder to finish it, but it still makes me want to do longer treks like he did. Just 4 days doesn't seem enough when reading all the routes they took. I hope more people read it and review it, it should be 'the book' for anyone travelling to cusco area.

United Kingdom on Aug 05, 2014

Kalakala: Machu Picchu is simply a place I must visit before I get too old, that's all there is to it. I've had this fixation long before reading "Right Turn at Machu Picchu", and now that I know the "back-way" which presents even more ancient Inca sites in the area, I can see my visit shall last several weeks (months?) and require a new resolution to my physical health long before my plane arrives in Cuzco.

Mark Adams doesn't seem to suffer from my affliction; it seems his motivation was more due to the 100th anniversary of Hiram Bingham's "rediscovery" of the site. I especially enjoyed the research the author did on Bingham himself, giving us an insight of an upper-cruster, who enjoyed rubbing elbows with the social movers and shakers, more often to shake them down for expedition funding than anything. It is obvious that Mr. Adams is more than a bit suspicious of Bingham, not only to what degree the documentation of his travels bore accuracy, but about the character of the man himself.

As far as global exploration of the time was concerned, the turn of the 1800's into the new century was indeed an interesting era. It was also during this period that in Cambodia a French...

United States on Aug 30, 2011