Heinz Kohler's Blog
March 18, 2017
New Kindle Book
Another volume yet of my SURFING A MAGICAL INTERNET series is now available at Amazon's Kindle Store. Excerpts of Book 11, Exploring Africa, can also be found at my website at www.surfingamagicalinternet.com.
Some 150 years ago, the newly formed Liebig’s Extract of Meat Company rewarded loyal customers with gifts of colorful picture cards. Each card was a work of art; before long, thousands of them were circulating. Their beautiful images and associated commentary captivated people and new editions were eagerly awaited. As a group, they told fascinating stories about every conceivable aspect of life on earth and, similar to what the internet might do in our time, came to embody the sum total of human knowledge. With the help of these cards, collectors could travel the globe, meet people from any country on earth and learn about their customs. They could visit lost civilizations, too, or marvel at natural and man-made wonders around the globe. They could study up on plants and animals or the evolution of commerce and transport, learn about geography and history and natural science. They could discover the secrets of agriculture, forestry and fishing or trace the origin of new inventions that were transforming industry and life in general. They could familiarize themselves with music and literature, great art and architecture, with famous men and women of all ages and, most importantly perhaps, with children’s favorite world of giants and dwarfs, elves and gnomes, riddles and fairy tales!
As a result, strange as it may sound, the company’s most important contribution, perhaps, was not to the kitchens of the world, but to the education of millions of people of all ages who could not go to school or afford books! The author’s grandmother was one of them and, many years later, when he was a child, she used her large collection of Liebig cards, as one might the modern-day internet, to satisfy his urge to find out everything about the big wide world. This eleventh volume of the SURFING A MAGICAL INTERNET series, resurrects another portion yet of grandmother’s magical internet.
Book 11, Exploring Africa, presents over 160 pictures from an imaginary trip to Africa at a time, before World War I, when many of the 29 modern nations visited here were still colonies of various European powers. In the process, we find ourselves at the fortress of Ceuta, the Kasbah of Marrakesh, among the minarets of Tunis. We stand in awe before the rock temple of Abu Simbel, the Great Sphinx of Giza, and Cheop’s Pyramid---at 481 feet it had been the tallest man-made structure on earth for over 3,800 years! We travel among the wonders of nature, too, from the snow-capped Atlas Mountains to Saharan petrified forests and on to Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, which tops 19,300 feet. We follow some of the world’s longest rivers: the Nile, 4,350 miles, the Congo, over 700 feet deep at times and almost 3,000 miles long, and the Niger, 2,600 miles. We meet the most amazing plants---the Welwitschia, over a thousand years old, the manna lichens, said to have provided nourishment to the Israelites during their 40-year flight from Egypt, the baobab tree, storing 26,000 gallons of water in its swollen trunk. We meet most unusual animals, too---the Barbary sheep, the klipspringer and the dromedary, whose incredible abilities will surprise you, and the aardvark, whose sticky tongue can catch 50,000 insects in a single night! Using grandmother’s time machine, we can go further back in time as well, stand before Roman citadels, amphitheaters, triumphal arches, the ruins of Carthage, hang out with Phoenician traders, who brought us our alphabet, or watch Pharaoh Ramesses and his gods in 1300 B.C. And, of course, we meet dozens of modern-day tribes---Kabyles, Bedouins, Maasai, Bushmen, Zulu and many more, whose customs are simply fascinating.
Exploring Africa
Heinz Kohler
Some 150 years ago, the newly formed Liebig’s Extract of Meat Company rewarded loyal customers with gifts of colorful picture cards. Each card was a work of art; before long, thousands of them were circulating. Their beautiful images and associated commentary captivated people and new editions were eagerly awaited. As a group, they told fascinating stories about every conceivable aspect of life on earth and, similar to what the internet might do in our time, came to embody the sum total of human knowledge. With the help of these cards, collectors could travel the globe, meet people from any country on earth and learn about their customs. They could visit lost civilizations, too, or marvel at natural and man-made wonders around the globe. They could study up on plants and animals or the evolution of commerce and transport, learn about geography and history and natural science. They could discover the secrets of agriculture, forestry and fishing or trace the origin of new inventions that were transforming industry and life in general. They could familiarize themselves with music and literature, great art and architecture, with famous men and women of all ages and, most importantly perhaps, with children’s favorite world of giants and dwarfs, elves and gnomes, riddles and fairy tales!
As a result, strange as it may sound, the company’s most important contribution, perhaps, was not to the kitchens of the world, but to the education of millions of people of all ages who could not go to school or afford books! The author’s grandmother was one of them and, many years later, when he was a child, she used her large collection of Liebig cards, as one might the modern-day internet, to satisfy his urge to find out everything about the big wide world. This eleventh volume of the SURFING A MAGICAL INTERNET series, resurrects another portion yet of grandmother’s magical internet.
Book 11, Exploring Africa, presents over 160 pictures from an imaginary trip to Africa at a time, before World War I, when many of the 29 modern nations visited here were still colonies of various European powers. In the process, we find ourselves at the fortress of Ceuta, the Kasbah of Marrakesh, among the minarets of Tunis. We stand in awe before the rock temple of Abu Simbel, the Great Sphinx of Giza, and Cheop’s Pyramid---at 481 feet it had been the tallest man-made structure on earth for over 3,800 years! We travel among the wonders of nature, too, from the snow-capped Atlas Mountains to Saharan petrified forests and on to Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, which tops 19,300 feet. We follow some of the world’s longest rivers: the Nile, 4,350 miles, the Congo, over 700 feet deep at times and almost 3,000 miles long, and the Niger, 2,600 miles. We meet the most amazing plants---the Welwitschia, over a thousand years old, the manna lichens, said to have provided nourishment to the Israelites during their 40-year flight from Egypt, the baobab tree, storing 26,000 gallons of water in its swollen trunk. We meet most unusual animals, too---the Barbary sheep, the klipspringer and the dromedary, whose incredible abilities will surprise you, and the aardvark, whose sticky tongue can catch 50,000 insects in a single night! Using grandmother’s time machine, we can go further back in time as well, stand before Roman citadels, amphitheaters, triumphal arches, the ruins of Carthage, hang out with Phoenician traders, who brought us our alphabet, or watch Pharaoh Ramesses and his gods in 1300 B.C. And, of course, we meet dozens of modern-day tribes---Kabyles, Bedouins, Maasai, Bushmen, Zulu and many more, whose customs are simply fascinating.
Exploring Africa
Heinz Kohler
February 3, 2017
New Kindle Book
Another volume yet of my SURFING A MAGICAL INTERNET series is now available at Amazon's Kindle Store. Excerpts of Book 10, Exploring Central Europe, can also be found at my website at www.surfingamagicalinternet.com.
Some 150 years ago, the newly formed Liebig’s Extract of Meat Company rewarded loyal customers with gifts of colorful picture cards. Each card was a work of art; before long, thousands of them were circulating. Their beautiful images and associated commentary captivated people and new editions were eagerly awaited. As a group, they told fascinating stories about every conceivable aspect of life on earth and, similar to what the internet might do in our time, came to embody the sum total of human knowledge. With the help of these cards, collectors could travel the globe, meet people from any country on earth and learn about their customs. They could visit lost civilizations, too, or marvel at natural and man-made wonders around the globe. They could study up on plants and animals or the evolution of commerce and transport, learn about geography and history and natural science. They could discover the secrets of agriculture, forestry and fishing or trace the origin of new inventions that were transforming industry and life in general. They could familiarize themselves with music and literature, great art and architecture, with famous men and women of all ages and, most importantly perhaps, with children’s favorite world of giants and dwarfs, elves and gnomes, riddles and fairy tales!
As a result, strange as it may sound, the company’s most important contribution, perhaps, was not to the kitchens of the world, but to the education of millions of people of all ages who could not go to school or afford books! The author’s grandmother was one of them and, many years later, when he was a child, she used her large collection of Liebig cards, as one might the modern-day internet, to satisfy his urge to find out everything about the big wide world. This tenth volume of the SURFING A MAGICAL INTERNET series, resurrects another portion yet of grandmother’s magical internet. Book 10, Exploring Central Europe, presents over 270 pictures from an imaginary trip, well over a century ago, across the pre-World War I world of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Switzerland, which then included all sorts of places now found in Poland, the Czech Republic, and even Slovenia. In the process, we enter something like a time machine, which makes for an especially intriguing tour. To be sure, finding ourselves along the banks of the Rhine or the Danube, among breathtaking peaks and valleys of the Alps, or in front of grand structures from Baroque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Rococo times—city gates, cathedrals, town halls, court houses, castles and palaces, and houses of parliament---we may feel quite at home even in, say, 1895. But city streets with no automobiles in sight and people dressed in unfamiliar ways may well strike us as odd—not to mention their different customs, music, and dance. We certainly won’t be able to hail a cab or find a plane to fly home. In fact, as we will discover, my grandmother’s Liebig card pictures presented here can take us further back beyond her time as well. We can inspect amazing structures from the days of ancient Rome and visit with Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, who surprised the Romans in 218 B.C. by his daring attempt to cross the Alps with 100,000 men, 12,000 horses, and 37 elephants! We can learn about the days in 1241 when Genghis Khan’s Mongolian hordes reached Silesia’s capital of Wroclaw (Germany’s Breslau) and burned it to the ground. We can watch Bohemian rebels in 1618, throwing an emperor’s emissaries out of a Prague castle window (the famous defenestration) and igniting the Thirty Years’ War, while Frederick II of Brandenburg, a few years later, swelled the population of Berlin by providing refuge to 5,000 French Protestants there. And much more recently, in 1910, we can follow Géo Chávez, the Peruvian aviator, who was first in crossing the Alps by air in a tiny plane. So many stories, captivating, and so much fun!
Exploring Central Europe
Heinz Kohler
Some 150 years ago, the newly formed Liebig’s Extract of Meat Company rewarded loyal customers with gifts of colorful picture cards. Each card was a work of art; before long, thousands of them were circulating. Their beautiful images and associated commentary captivated people and new editions were eagerly awaited. As a group, they told fascinating stories about every conceivable aspect of life on earth and, similar to what the internet might do in our time, came to embody the sum total of human knowledge. With the help of these cards, collectors could travel the globe, meet people from any country on earth and learn about their customs. They could visit lost civilizations, too, or marvel at natural and man-made wonders around the globe. They could study up on plants and animals or the evolution of commerce and transport, learn about geography and history and natural science. They could discover the secrets of agriculture, forestry and fishing or trace the origin of new inventions that were transforming industry and life in general. They could familiarize themselves with music and literature, great art and architecture, with famous men and women of all ages and, most importantly perhaps, with children’s favorite world of giants and dwarfs, elves and gnomes, riddles and fairy tales!
As a result, strange as it may sound, the company’s most important contribution, perhaps, was not to the kitchens of the world, but to the education of millions of people of all ages who could not go to school or afford books! The author’s grandmother was one of them and, many years later, when he was a child, she used her large collection of Liebig cards, as one might the modern-day internet, to satisfy his urge to find out everything about the big wide world. This tenth volume of the SURFING A MAGICAL INTERNET series, resurrects another portion yet of grandmother’s magical internet. Book 10, Exploring Central Europe, presents over 270 pictures from an imaginary trip, well over a century ago, across the pre-World War I world of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Switzerland, which then included all sorts of places now found in Poland, the Czech Republic, and even Slovenia. In the process, we enter something like a time machine, which makes for an especially intriguing tour. To be sure, finding ourselves along the banks of the Rhine or the Danube, among breathtaking peaks and valleys of the Alps, or in front of grand structures from Baroque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Rococo times—city gates, cathedrals, town halls, court houses, castles and palaces, and houses of parliament---we may feel quite at home even in, say, 1895. But city streets with no automobiles in sight and people dressed in unfamiliar ways may well strike us as odd—not to mention their different customs, music, and dance. We certainly won’t be able to hail a cab or find a plane to fly home. In fact, as we will discover, my grandmother’s Liebig card pictures presented here can take us further back beyond her time as well. We can inspect amazing structures from the days of ancient Rome and visit with Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, who surprised the Romans in 218 B.C. by his daring attempt to cross the Alps with 100,000 men, 12,000 horses, and 37 elephants! We can learn about the days in 1241 when Genghis Khan’s Mongolian hordes reached Silesia’s capital of Wroclaw (Germany’s Breslau) and burned it to the ground. We can watch Bohemian rebels in 1618, throwing an emperor’s emissaries out of a Prague castle window (the famous defenestration) and igniting the Thirty Years’ War, while Frederick II of Brandenburg, a few years later, swelled the population of Berlin by providing refuge to 5,000 French Protestants there. And much more recently, in 1910, we can follow Géo Chávez, the Peruvian aviator, who was first in crossing the Alps by air in a tiny plane. So many stories, captivating, and so much fun!
Exploring Central Europe
Heinz Kohler
November 9, 2016
New Kindle Book
Another volume yet of my SURFING A MAGICAL INTERNET series is now available at Amazon's Kindle Store. Excerpts of Book 9, Exploring Southwestern Europe, can also be found at my website at www.surfingamagicalinternet.com.
The book presents over 300 pictures from an imaginary trip, well over a century ago, to some of Europe’s Mediterranean lands. As we visit Gibraltar, Spain, Southern France, Monaco, Malta, and, finally, Italy and San Marino, we enter something like a time machine, which makes for an especially intriguing tour. To be sure, finding ourselves, in, say, 1880, the Blue Grotto of Capri or the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Fountains of Rome may look the same as they do now and so will, perhaps, mountain ranges and volcanoes, great rivers and lakes and famous villas along the coast. But city streets with no automobiles in sight and people dressed in unfamiliar ways may well strike us as odd—not to mention their different customs, music, and dance. Still, if we are willing to stay around, we can marvel at grand structures from Europe’s Baroque, Gothic or Renaissance times—city gates, cathedrals and bell towers, town halls, court houses, castles and palaces, and houses of parliament---but we certainly won’t be able to hail a cab or find a plane to fly home. In fact, as we will discover, grandmother’s Liebig cards can take us further back beyond her time as well. We can inspect amazing structures from the days of ancient Rome, explore fortresses and palaces from a time when Spain and Sicily belonged to the Moors, and even visit the Medieval world and come to know artists, explorers, and scientists like Dante, Columbus, da Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian, Raphael, and more. We can meet them all using grandmother’s Liebig-cards time machine and we can feel the excitement in the air when Galileo insists that the earth is rotating around the sun rather than the sun around the earth, or when Garibaldi’s Expedition of the Thousand helps create the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.
Heinz Kohler
The book presents over 300 pictures from an imaginary trip, well over a century ago, to some of Europe’s Mediterranean lands. As we visit Gibraltar, Spain, Southern France, Monaco, Malta, and, finally, Italy and San Marino, we enter something like a time machine, which makes for an especially intriguing tour. To be sure, finding ourselves, in, say, 1880, the Blue Grotto of Capri or the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Fountains of Rome may look the same as they do now and so will, perhaps, mountain ranges and volcanoes, great rivers and lakes and famous villas along the coast. But city streets with no automobiles in sight and people dressed in unfamiliar ways may well strike us as odd—not to mention their different customs, music, and dance. Still, if we are willing to stay around, we can marvel at grand structures from Europe’s Baroque, Gothic or Renaissance times—city gates, cathedrals and bell towers, town halls, court houses, castles and palaces, and houses of parliament---but we certainly won’t be able to hail a cab or find a plane to fly home. In fact, as we will discover, grandmother’s Liebig cards can take us further back beyond her time as well. We can inspect amazing structures from the days of ancient Rome, explore fortresses and palaces from a time when Spain and Sicily belonged to the Moors, and even visit the Medieval world and come to know artists, explorers, and scientists like Dante, Columbus, da Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian, Raphael, and more. We can meet them all using grandmother’s Liebig-cards time machine and we can feel the excitement in the air when Galileo insists that the earth is rotating around the sun rather than the sun around the earth, or when Garibaldi’s Expedition of the Thousand helps create the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.
Heinz Kohler
September 7, 2016
Kindle Countdown Deals
Starting on September 9 and lasting for a week, nine of my Kindle books will be available at Amazon for 99 cents each. For a convenient listing and easy links to Amazon, visit the Buy a Book section of my website at www.surfingamagicalinternet.com
Heinz Kohler
Heinz Kohler
July 24, 2016
New Kindle Book
Starting on July 23, 2016, another volume yet of my SURFING A MAGICAL INTERNET series is available at Amazon's Kindle Store. Excerpts of Book 8, Exploring Western Europe, can also be found at my website at www.surfingamagicalinternet.com.
Over 250 pictures accompany captivating tales of a trip to Western Europe more than a century ago. As we join the author's grandmother to visit England, Scotland, and Wales, then Holland, Belgium, and France and, finally, Andorra and Portugal, we enter something like a time machine, which makes for an especially intriguing trip. When we find ourselves in Western Europe of, say, 1880, the white cliffs of Dover may look the same as they do now and so will, perhaps, mountain ranges and great rivers and lighthouses along the coast. But city streets with no automobiles in sight and people dressed in unfamiliar ways may well strike us as odd—not to mention their different customs, music, and dance. Likewise, we may marvel at grand structures from Europe’s Baroque, Gothic or Renaissance times—cathedrals, town halls, court houses, castles and palaces, and houses of parliament---but we certainly won’t be able to hail a cab or find a plane to fly home. Imagine visiting Paris without the Eiffel Tower! (It wasn’t there before 1889.) Imagine London without its famous Tower Bridge! (Construction began in 1886 and wasn’t completed until 1894.) In fact, as we will discover, grandmother’s Liebig cards can take us beyond her lifetime as well. We can visit medieval Flanders and Brabant at a time when fine Belgian lace first came into being or the England of 1750 when the first umbrella was put to use on London’s rainy streets. (Jonas Hanway, its inventor, was ridiculed by all!) And using grandmother’s Liebig-card time machine, we can even join the excitement in 1499 when Portugal’s Vasco da Gama returned home after having discovered a sea route to India!
Heinz Kohler
Exploring Western Europe
Over 250 pictures accompany captivating tales of a trip to Western Europe more than a century ago. As we join the author's grandmother to visit England, Scotland, and Wales, then Holland, Belgium, and France and, finally, Andorra and Portugal, we enter something like a time machine, which makes for an especially intriguing trip. When we find ourselves in Western Europe of, say, 1880, the white cliffs of Dover may look the same as they do now and so will, perhaps, mountain ranges and great rivers and lighthouses along the coast. But city streets with no automobiles in sight and people dressed in unfamiliar ways may well strike us as odd—not to mention their different customs, music, and dance. Likewise, we may marvel at grand structures from Europe’s Baroque, Gothic or Renaissance times—cathedrals, town halls, court houses, castles and palaces, and houses of parliament---but we certainly won’t be able to hail a cab or find a plane to fly home. Imagine visiting Paris without the Eiffel Tower! (It wasn’t there before 1889.) Imagine London without its famous Tower Bridge! (Construction began in 1886 and wasn’t completed until 1894.) In fact, as we will discover, grandmother’s Liebig cards can take us beyond her lifetime as well. We can visit medieval Flanders and Brabant at a time when fine Belgian lace first came into being or the England of 1750 when the first umbrella was put to use on London’s rainy streets. (Jonas Hanway, its inventor, was ridiculed by all!) And using grandmother’s Liebig-card time machine, we can even join the excitement in 1499 when Portugal’s Vasco da Gama returned home after having discovered a sea route to India!
Heinz Kohler
Exploring Western Europe
May 11, 2016
Kindle Countdown Deals
Starting on May 13 and lasting for a week, the Kindle editions of eight of my books will be available in the U.S. at a starting price of 99 cents and in the U.K. at a price of 0.99 pounds.
Excerpts can be found at www.surfingamagicalinternet.com
and
www.cautionsnakeoil.com
Heinz Kohler
Surfing a Magical Internet, Book 1: Extraordinary Birds
Brainteasers
UNUSUAL PLANTS
REMARKABLE ANIMALS
WONDERS OF THE WORLD
The World's Greatest Inventions
Exploring Northern Europe
Caution: Snake Oil! How Statistical Thinking Can Help Us Expose Misinformation About Our Health
Excerpts can be found at www.surfingamagicalinternet.com
and
www.cautionsnakeoil.com
Heinz Kohler
Surfing a Magical Internet, Book 1: Extraordinary Birds
Brainteasers
UNUSUAL PLANTS
REMARKABLE ANIMALS
WONDERS OF THE WORLD
The World's Greatest Inventions
Exploring Northern Europe
Caution: Snake Oil! How Statistical Thinking Can Help Us Expose Misinformation About Our Health
March 15, 2016
New Kindle Book
Would you be interested in stepping into a time machine, going back well over a century, and doing so in a way that is fun and not scary at all? You can do just that with a brand new Kindle book. Book 7 of my SURFING A MAGICAL INTERNET series, entitled Exploring Northern Europe, lets you check out Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland of long gone and you will find that some of these countries weren’t even independent at the time. (Norway gained its independence in 1905, Finland in 1917, and Iceland only in 1944.) In fact, while you are at it, you can go back even much further in history and explore a time when Norse gods ruled the world!
Heinz Kohler
Exploring Northern Europe
Heinz Kohler
Exploring Northern Europe
January 30, 2016
Kindle Countdown Deal
Starting on February 1 and lasting for a week, the Kindle editions of two of my books will be available in the U.S. at a starting price of 99 cents and in the U.K. at a price of 0.99 pounds.
Excerpts can be found at www.surfingamagicalinternet.com
Surfing a Magical Internet, Book 1: Extraordinary Birds
Remarkable Animals
Heinz Kohler
Excerpts can be found at www.surfingamagicalinternet.com
Surfing a Magical Internet, Book 1: Extraordinary Birds
Remarkable Animals
Heinz Kohler
January 21, 2016
Kindle Countdown Deal
Starting on January 23 and 25, respectively, the Kindle editions of three of my books will be available in the U.S. at a starting price of 99 cents and in the U.K. at a price of 0.99 pounds.
Excerpts can be found at www.surfingamagicalinternet.com
The World's Greatest Inventions
Unusual Plants
Brainteasers
Heinz Kohler
Excerpts can be found at www.surfingamagicalinternet.com
The World's Greatest Inventions
Unusual Plants
Brainteasers
Heinz Kohler
January 10, 2016
Kindle Countdown Deal
Starting on January 12, the Kindle edition of Caution: Snake Oil! How Statistical Thinking Can Help Us Expose Misinformation About Our Health will be available in the U.S. at a starting price of 99 cents and in the U.K. at a price of 0.99 pounds.
Excerpts can be found at www.cautionsnakeoil.com
Caution : Snake Oil! How Statistical Thinking Can Help Us Expose Misinformation about Our Health
Heinz Kohler
Excerpts can be found at www.cautionsnakeoil.com
Caution : Snake Oil! How Statistical Thinking Can Help Us Expose Misinformation about Our Health
Heinz Kohler
