no its real, i seen the jeweled insects and met the guy who wrote the book, they were on exhibition at the Tucson gem and mineral show... from what i heard is their are some references to some mountain ranges and landmarks where i live, i was actually thinking about picking up a copy of the book. The details to the locations of the stuff is given throught the text (not pictures) that is in the book. but from what i gather, the jeweled insects are not what is hidden through out the land, its these gold tokens or somthing that you use to redeem you prize... and they are in places that are in the open, not hidden or on private property.