Atlantis and the Silver City

Daughtrey lays one more stone in the bumpy road to Atlantis with this misdirected guide to the lost city. Using the “Plato test”—a list of clues left by the philosopher and believed by some to indicate the location of the mythical metropolis—Daughtrey is astonished to find that Atlantis was near his current home in Portugal, just “a five minute drive from where I have been living for twenty-seven years.” His investigation touches on a bewildering and entertaining array of topics—including the Tunguska event, a lost alphabet, Edgar Cayce’s “Bimini Road,” and drug-tested Egyptian mummies—but Daughtrey’s conclusions remain speculative at best. Corroborative evidence consists largely of the writings of other theorists, Wikipedia entries, and the pursuing of insubstantial hearsay—one friend mentions a single “throw-away comment” regarding a submerged settlement revealed after a 1755 earthquake and an ensuing tsunami, and Daughtrey, despite his research producing “no local records, legends, or folk memory of a sunken settlement,” concludes that the town must have been flooded “before living or recorded memory.” His is a fun trip through the myth of Atlantis, but despite his claims, the actual city—if it ever existed—remains elusive. 16 pages of color illus. Agent: Andrew Lownie, Andrew Lownie Literary Agency. (Mar. 20)