The White Rock

Rating:
Summary: engrossing, informative, and immensely readable
Review: this is an engrossing book that combines the writers own exploration and travel with the history of inca exploration of explorers who went before him, while telling the stories of inca history and culture along the way.

hugh thomson has the dry wit often associated with british travel writers, and his book is detailed and academic and still completely accessible.

conquistadors, incas, hiram bingham, martin chambi, machu pichu, explorers, pre-columbian cultures, lost maps, machetes, snakes, butterflies, ruins, beer, huayno, the heady drug of exploration - this book has it all.