Book 9 of 52: Lost in Shangri-la

When I was a kid I used to come home from school and turn on the TV and eat a bowl of cereal while watching Gilligan's Island. I can still sing the entire theme song today. This book had a similar theme, a plane carrying WWII soldiers out for a "3 hour tour" of Shangri-La in New Guinea. It crashes into the jungle-covered mountains near a beautiful valley (named 'Shangri-La') on May 13, 1945. This part of the island is inhabited by over 100,000 spear-wielding natives that had never seen "outsiders" before. Unfortunately of the 24 on board there are only 3 survivors (one woman and two men). It is a true story of how these survivors, severely injured, managed to survive in the jungle and eventually get rescued, despite the fact they are unreachable where no plane or helicopter could ever get to them. It also tells of one of the last times a truly untouched culture on earth has been encountered.

Based on the intriguing story, and the fact I'm really starting to enjoy non-fiction books a lot more these days, I had high hopes for the book. I was a little let down. Parts of it read like a history text, with the author simply reporting the story based on diaries, interviews, and news accounts of those involved, including natives of the area who still remember. The author also goes off and gives us the family and career history of every single person remotely related to the crash or rescue efforts. These were some of the parts I actually skimmed over and didn't read in detail. Really, I only wanted to know about the 3 survivors and how they get out of Shangri-La. That said, parts of the book were very engaging, so I was happy I stuck with it in the end. The photos of the survivors and natives are terrific, and I'm glad I had a paper copy of this book. I'll be recommending this book to my dad, who likes wartime stories and does some writing of his own, but I hestiate to recommend it more broadly, unless you have an interest in WWII or a longing to revive your childhood memories of "Gilligan's Island".

Here's a video that I came across that introduces the book:

http://www.goodreads.com/videos/list_author/328012.Mitchell_Zuckoff