Wonders of the World

by 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 and, 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. Collectors traveled the globe, met people from any country on earth, and learned about their customs. They visited lost civilizations, too, or stood in awe before the wonders of their own world. They studied plants and animals, followed the evolution of commerce and transport, discovered the secrets of agriculture, forestry, and fishing, learned how new inventions were transforming industry. They met up with music and literature, great art and architecture, famous men and women of all ages, and, most importantly for children no doubt, with giants and dwarfs, elves and gnomes, riddles and fairy tales! In hindsight, strange as it may sound, the company’s most important contribution 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 book resurrects a portion of grandmother’s magical Internet.
Book 5 of the SURFING A MAGICAL INTERNET series presents nearly 100 pictures and associated stories. Right away, we meet the “seven wonders of the ancient world” of which, sadly, only the great pyramids of Egypt survive. But we can still visit the wonders of our own world, natural and man-made. We stand in awe before powerful volcanoes and geysers, amazing rock formations, and strange bridges that nature has built. We marvel at the beauty of giant caves and magnificent waterfalls, follow the paths of explorers through narrow waterways between the world’s oceans, enjoy the grandeur of fjords and the breathtaking splendor of mountain passes. We learn how people built seemingly impossible tunnels through the Alps, view colossal statues from ancient and modern times, inspect the ruins of lost cities and civilizations. Are nature’s works longer lasting? We examine the question by looking at lights in our the sun and the moon, comets, rainbows, mirages and more.
In the end, readers of all ages will learn loads of fascinating things about our world. Did you know that the Great Pyramid of Giza, at a height of 481 feet, was the tallest man-made structure in the world for 3,800 years? That the Statue of Liberty, in contrast, is a mere 151 feet tall, not counting the pedestal on which it stands? That there are Indonesian volcanoes right now that produce no lava, but spew mud and gas and water instead? That one of them is 6 miles in diameter? That a Guatemalan rock formation, inscribed with strange hieroglyphs, tells us of a Mayan civilization long gone? That nature has built the strangest of bridges all over the globe, of limestone, of fallen trees or twining plants, of granite or ice or even moss? Did you know that the famous blue grotto on Capri is almost 500 feet deep? That Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave includes more than 390 miles of passageways? That one Swiss waterfall drops a thousand feet? That rocks, currents, and whirlpools in the Strait of Messina inspired the legend of Scylla and Charybdis? That the Simplon Tunnel in the Alps was built through 65,000 feet of solid rock? That the city of Pompeii remained buried under a 20 foot deep blanket of volcanic ash for some 1,500 years? That some mirages, such as the Fata Morgana, are real optical phenomena and can be captured on camera?

202 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 21, 2015

About the author

HEINZ KOHLER was born in Berlin, Germany, where he grew up before and during World War II. By the war's end, he found himself in rural East Germany and spent years watching the Nazi tyranny give way to a Communist one. He made it to West Berlin before the Wall went up and came to the United States in the late 1950s. Since 1961, he was associated with Amherst College, Massachusetts, where he became the Willard Long Thorp Professor of Economics, taught Economics as well as Statistics and published numerous textbooks on both subjects. His most recent books include the series SURFING A MAGICAL INTERNET, Book 1: Extraordinary Birds, Book 2: Brainteasers, Book 3: Unusual Plants, Book 4: Remarkable Animals, Book 5: Wonders of the World, Book 6: The World's Greatest Inventions, Book 7: Exploring Northern Europe, Book 8: Exploring Western Europe, Book 9: Exploring Southwestern Europe, Book 10: Exploring Central Europe, Book 11: Exploring Africa, Book 12: Exploring Southeastern Europe, Book 13: Exploring Russia and Central Asia, Book 14: Exploring Western Asia, Book 15: Exploring Southern Asia, Book 16: Exploring Eastern Asia, Book 17: Exploring Australia and Oceania, Book 18: Exploring North America, and Book 19: exploring Central America--all of which introduce the Internet equivalent of the late 1800s, CAUTION: SNAKE OIL! which shows how statistical thinking can help us expose misinformation about our health, and MY NAME WAS FIVE, a memoir of World War II.