Lost Cities of North & Central America (Lost Cities Series)

I thought I was a student of the esoteric but David Hatcher Childress makes me realize I am still only an alcolyte. History is a mystery and you can believe it because I told you so, just like your highschool history professor. This book will take you on the grand tour of North America and reveal some of the mystery that historians attempt to hide from us in their ivory towers. If you want to expand your mind without taking a lot of mind altering drugs try reading Mr. Chilress' Lost City books. He must have spent a lot of time in the underground book stores prior to his travels. That might be why he decided to hit the road in the first place, to find out for himself. Could America once have been a land of giants, or do pterydactyls still carry off unsuspecting travelers, or are there hidden books with knowledge from the ancients? Maybe, and maybe after reading this book, you will want to take a road trip and find out for yourself.

There are two ways to read Childress. If you want to live in a button-down, straight laced world of academic archeologists, then every time Childress asks a question, just answer (to yourself) No! Then go about with your boring life. But if you want to live a little wild, to peel back the layers & pierce the veil, then answer (again, to yourself) Yes! to every one of his questions. Should you do that, you will have a gay old time figuring out how the world all fits together!Honestly, DHC's speculations are full of BS, but it sure is fun suspending your disbelief & reading these books. Someone mentioned that DHC really seems like a great guy, and you get that sense reading this book. Sounds like he would be a really cool guy to travel & chat with. His travel writing is straighforward, but exciting.Unfortunately, the book is full of typos & poorly done photographs. After reading 5+ of the Lost Cities series, I don't even notice anymore, but it will bug some beginners.

David H. Childress's Lost City series has been one of the most interesting collection of books I have read in a long time, however, I really don't know how accurate many of his theories are. Even many minor statements he makes, such as "Native Americans can not grow facial hair" are fallacies, I know an abundance of Native Americans, and they're facial hair rivals that of Che and Fidel. So when a guy gets facts as simple as these garbled, how much credibility can he possibly have when he starts rambling on about "Smithsoniangate", and "living dinosaurs".I find these possibilites as intriuguing as the next guy, but exactly where is his proof. He cites some archival information from an Arizona newspaper as proof that in the Grand Canyon in the early 1900's researchers found a cave full of Egyptian Hieroglyphics and Egyptian artifacts, and the Smithsonian museum came in and barricaded the area to this day(sort of like Raiders of the Lost Ark). And he uses oral history as proof that there are living Pteradactyls in the forests of Arizona. Perhaps Childress is correct in these assertions, and the US gov't is suppressing evidence of his relatively outlandish claims, then again, perhaps he's just trying to exploit the gullibility of the American public. But judging from his appearances on various talk shows, my guess is that he honestly believes that the gov't is suppressing information on the esoteric subjects he discusses in his books, of course this doesn't neccessarily mean that he's correct in these claims. I suppose that Childress's writings are extremely interesting, whether they are complete fabrications or are truisms. Reading this book certainly won't make you a better person, but it will force you to question what the author is claiming(that the US gov't is involved in clandestine activities of a paranormal nature, and that there are living prehistoric creatures), and will almost definitely force you to ponder what the US gov't plans to accomplish by suppressing ancient history(from my perspective they recieve no incentive by suppressing info that would link the Egyptians with North America). If you have a relatively large amount of time on your hands, I would definitely recommend this book, it makes you question the "accepted" history of the North American continent, but it also frustrates the reader with the lack of viable evidence to support his outrageous suggestions.

Childress opened my eyes to a new world of suppressed/lost discoveries in archeology. Given some of the examples in the book, current dogma deserves as much scrutiny as the "underdog" theories of ancient civilizations. However, Childress gets personal in his travel dialogue and some of the ancient civilization subjects are just briefly mentioned. But overall, it was very interesting.

This was the first Childress book that I had ever read. It was very informative as to what is actually found in North and Central America. Being somewhat of a history and achaeology buff, my eyes were opened wide as to what can be found in our own backyards. The fact that the author includes his own everyday experiences while travelling makes the book more pleasant. I would reccomend this book to anyone thinking of driving across North America.