What do you think?
Rate this book
Secret Marvels of the World: 360 Extraordinary Places You Never Knew Existed and Where to Find Them
Featuring communist bunkers, burning gas craters and at least one sponge-rock fluorescent grotto built by Polish monks, this book reveals weird and wonderful sights the crowds don't reach.
We've all heard of India's Taj Mahal, but what about Karna Mata Temple? It's a building teeming with rats so revered they enjoy A-list treatment with daily offerings of milk and fruit.
It's no secret that visitors to Berlin can see parts of its infamous Wall still standing in the city. Not so many people know that segments of the wall have travelled all around the world and can be found in places including Los Angeles, Japan and Iceland.
Stonehenge is one of the UK's most popular tourist sites. So why not beat the crowds and head to Nebraska instead, where you can marvel at a Carhenge - a replica of the great monolith site constructed entirely from vintage cars.
This packed and fascinating title takes its readers on a journey through the world's lesser known marvels. Dive into an underworld of the planet's most surprising, fun, perplexing, kitsch and downright bizarre sights - and explore human stories and mysterious happenings that you won't find inside a regular guidebook.
From eerie natural wonders to historical oddities and bizarre architecture, this is a travel companion for the incurably curious.
About Lonely Planet: Since 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel media company with guidebooks to every destination, an award-winning website, mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet covers must-see spots but also enables curious travellers to get off beaten paths to understand more of the culture of the places in which they find themselves. The world awaits!
Lonely Planet guides have won the TripAdvisor Traveler's Choice Award in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.
'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media
'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times
We've all heard of India's Taj Mahal, but what about Karna Mata Temple? It's a building teeming with rats so revered they enjoy A-list treatment with daily offerings of milk and fruit.
It's no secret that visitors to Berlin can see parts of its infamous Wall still standing in the city. Not so many people know that segments of the wall have travelled all around the world and can be found in places including Los Angeles, Japan and Iceland.
Stonehenge is one of the UK's most popular tourist sites. So why not beat the crowds and head to Nebraska instead, where you can marvel at a Carhenge - a replica of the great monolith site constructed entirely from vintage cars.
This packed and fascinating title takes its readers on a journey through the world's lesser known marvels. Dive into an underworld of the planet's most surprising, fun, perplexing, kitsch and downright bizarre sights - and explore human stories and mysterious happenings that you won't find inside a regular guidebook.
From eerie natural wonders to historical oddities and bizarre architecture, this is a travel companion for the incurably curious.
About Lonely Planet: Since 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel media company with guidebooks to every destination, an award-winning website, mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet covers must-see spots but also enables curious travellers to get off beaten paths to understand more of the culture of the places in which they find themselves. The world awaits!
Lonely Planet guides have won the TripAdvisor Traveler's Choice Award in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.
'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media
'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times
304 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2017
72 people are currently reading
548 people want to read
About the author
Lonely Planet
3,680 books886 followersOUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
November 18, 2018
Whenever I read a book like this, I'm always amazed at how many fascinating places there are to see around the world. No matter how many books I read, each one always has several unique entries that I have never read about before. There are natural wonders such as Lac Rose in Senegal and historic sights like Campanile di Curon in Italy. I must also mention the interesting (or just plain strange!) museums and other oddities -- Mr. Toilet House comes to mind. It's a theme park in South Korea dedicated to "the humble toilet in all its forms." If South Korea is not in your travel budget this year, don't worry as there may be another "toilet tribute" closer to home in the other nine mentions of Top 10 Tremendous Toilets.
As a mystery lover, I enjoyed learning about the Winchester Mystery House in California with its unusual design, hidden passageways, doors to nowhere and other spooky mystery/haunted house elements. Another residence with a creepy element is The Glass House in British Columbia, built of the glass bottles from embalming fluid.
I find this book to be an eclectic mix of natural sights, man-made marvels, and other curiosities. Many of the man-made marvels, while unusual and peculiar, are definitely once in a lifetime, say you've been there, types of places. Fun to read about and a great place for a rest stop on a journey. Whether you're seeing them in person or just from your favorite comfy chair at home, enjoy the sites/sights!
As a mystery lover, I enjoyed learning about the Winchester Mystery House in California with its unusual design, hidden passageways, doors to nowhere and other spooky mystery/haunted house elements. Another residence with a creepy element is The Glass House in British Columbia, built of the glass bottles from embalming fluid.
I find this book to be an eclectic mix of natural sights, man-made marvels, and other curiosities. Many of the man-made marvels, while unusual and peculiar, are definitely once in a lifetime, say you've been there, types of places. Fun to read about and a great place for a rest stop on a journey. Whether you're seeing them in person or just from your favorite comfy chair at home, enjoy the sites/sights!
June 22, 2019
The book is a fun addition to any collection, an Atlas Obscura–like book listing some of the marvels and marvelous natural and man-made places across the world. Organized by columns of longitude (which would make it a little difficult to search for particular countries' spots—the book's best selling-point is that many of the descriptions are written as 1st person small narratives from actual expert travelers who discuss their experience and what drew them to the places they describe. The book is best used not as a true guide but as a fun coffee table book dipping into strange places and phenomena around the world that you might otherwise not know about.
All that said, it's important to note that this book does poorly what Atlas Obscura often does well. Atlas Obscura writes widely and broadly about the world's oddities, but is particularly careful when mentioning the respectful ways to visit certain places, or when advising travelers not to actually visit. Lonely Planet attempts to take a more factual approach, merely mentioning how to get there, but rarely adds subjective notes to whether you should.
My primary example: in its description of Aokigahara Suicide Forest, Atlas Obscura is careful to note the tragic, awful aspect of this place, the controversies around tourists going there to gawk, and it notes the need to be respectful if you visit and what to do if you find a victim of suicide. Lonely Planet, on the other hand, has no such notes in its description of Aokigahara Forest, which I find irresponsible. Often in this book, I found myself questioning their descriptions of sacred places and rituals, wondering whether any Western tourists really should go. The book is centered around visitors rather than locals; on one it reads "Most local Kanak people just wonder what all the fuss is about," making it seem like the locals are silly/ignorant when perhaps it instead highlights something about the way Westerners explore these spaces and regions. It also notes even within the descriptions that many of these places are closed to tourists or that locals disapprove, only to then advise you on how to get as close as you can. The only time it's good at noting when not to go is when something might be dangerous for visitors, and even then it often downplays the danger.
Ultimately, I don't not recommend this book. But I would be careful to see it only as a book to explore within its pages, and to think carefully and do your own research if you'd actually like to see any of these places, as I suspect that tourists rolling up to many of these could be disrespectful, disturbing the natural environment, or puzzling to locals.
All that said, it's important to note that this book does poorly what Atlas Obscura often does well. Atlas Obscura writes widely and broadly about the world's oddities, but is particularly careful when mentioning the respectful ways to visit certain places, or when advising travelers not to actually visit. Lonely Planet attempts to take a more factual approach, merely mentioning how to get there, but rarely adds subjective notes to whether you should.
My primary example: in its description of Aokigahara Suicide Forest, Atlas Obscura is careful to note the tragic, awful aspect of this place, the controversies around tourists going there to gawk, and it notes the need to be respectful if you visit and what to do if you find a victim of suicide. Lonely Planet, on the other hand, has no such notes in its description of Aokigahara Forest, which I find irresponsible. Often in this book, I found myself questioning their descriptions of sacred places and rituals, wondering whether any Western tourists really should go. The book is centered around visitors rather than locals; on one it reads "Most local Kanak people just wonder what all the fuss is about," making it seem like the locals are silly/ignorant when perhaps it instead highlights something about the way Westerners explore these spaces and regions. It also notes even within the descriptions that many of these places are closed to tourists or that locals disapprove, only to then advise you on how to get as close as you can. The only time it's good at noting when not to go is when something might be dangerous for visitors, and even then it often downplays the danger.
Ultimately, I don't not recommend this book. But I would be careful to see it only as a book to explore within its pages, and to think carefully and do your own research if you'd actually like to see any of these places, as I suspect that tourists rolling up to many of these could be disrespectful, disturbing the natural environment, or puzzling to locals.
May 28, 2020
This book took me to a trip between the past and present, to various worlds, caves, museums, and history. From 360 places that are consider secrets of marvels of the world, I was lucky because I just visited 1 place. This book helped me to get ideas of countries that I can visit and some activities that I can do.
November 13, 2017
Review title: Armchair Globe Trotter
I'm a sucker for these kind of books--see my recent reviews of
Atlas Obscura and Atlas of Lost Cities. The world is a big, strange, and sometimes wonderful thing, and there are parts of it I'll never see, so having a chance to hold the marvelous in my hands is worth the shelf space. Lonely Planet positions itself as a source of unique travel writing, so while this title might be a me-too effort following the two earlier ones that mine the same territory, at least LP has street credit.
Because of the crowded shelf, organization and presentation are key differentiators between these three. Secret Marvels is arranged by longitude, starting at - 180, or halfway around the globe from Greenwich 0 meridian, starting in the Pacific to the west of the North American continent and moves eastward around the globe, coming back to the Pacific and Eastern Australia and Asia. This sequence has the added interest of showing the geographic proximity of the locations, and makes more sense than a country by country arrangement.
Another distinction is that Lonely Planet provides directions on how to reach its locations; Atlas Obscura just provides longitude and latitude for most locations. I'm torn about which approach is better, but lean toward not making these locations easier to find for armchair travelers, since many of these sites would be life-threatening for the average armchair traveler. The intrepid traveler who is physically and financially capable of mounting an expedition to the sites will be able to find them without Lonely Planet's help.
And the other reason I prefer the Atlas Obscura approach is that the more tourists who do find these spots, the less obscure, secret, and marvelous they become. Most of these sites deserve more than a q ticking a box on an itinerary or crossing off an item on a bucket list. The wonder is best observed by most of us from our armchairs,with one of these three guides as our guide.
The spots themselves range from natural wonders and oddities to historical sites to human creations that defy expectations or possibilities. There is a substantial overlap between the Atlas Obscura and Secret Marvels, with the Atlas Obscura providing more sites over more pages (and better indexing as a bonus). Both are richly decorated and printed in hardback on high quality paper so neither is compact and light enough to travel with. I'm giving Atlas Obscura the edge 4 stars to 3, but both these books are a treat for the armchair adventurer.
I'm a sucker for these kind of books--see my recent reviews of
Atlas Obscura and Atlas of Lost Cities. The world is a big, strange, and sometimes wonderful thing, and there are parts of it I'll never see, so having a chance to hold the marvelous in my hands is worth the shelf space. Lonely Planet positions itself as a source of unique travel writing, so while this title might be a me-too effort following the two earlier ones that mine the same territory, at least LP has street credit.
Because of the crowded shelf, organization and presentation are key differentiators between these three. Secret Marvels is arranged by longitude, starting at - 180, or halfway around the globe from Greenwich 0 meridian, starting in the Pacific to the west of the North American continent and moves eastward around the globe, coming back to the Pacific and Eastern Australia and Asia. This sequence has the added interest of showing the geographic proximity of the locations, and makes more sense than a country by country arrangement.
Another distinction is that Lonely Planet provides directions on how to reach its locations; Atlas Obscura just provides longitude and latitude for most locations. I'm torn about which approach is better, but lean toward not making these locations easier to find for armchair travelers, since many of these sites would be life-threatening for the average armchair traveler. The intrepid traveler who is physically and financially capable of mounting an expedition to the sites will be able to find them without Lonely Planet's help.
And the other reason I prefer the Atlas Obscura approach is that the more tourists who do find these spots, the less obscure, secret, and marvelous they become. Most of these sites deserve more than a q ticking a box on an itinerary or crossing off an item on a bucket list. The wonder is best observed by most of us from our armchairs,with one of these three guides as our guide.
The spots themselves range from natural wonders and oddities to historical sites to human creations that defy expectations or possibilities. There is a substantial overlap between the Atlas Obscura and Secret Marvels, with the Atlas Obscura providing more sites over more pages (and better indexing as a bonus). Both are richly decorated and printed in hardback on high quality paper so neither is compact and light enough to travel with. I'm giving Atlas Obscura the edge 4 stars to 3, but both these books are a treat for the armchair adventurer.
January 6, 2018
Books like these never fail to excite! These under the radar marvels are definitely something to daydream about, and the information is great if you want to up your game on some general knowledge!
December 17, 2019
An average book. Some places I wouldn't call "extraordinary" at all; others were indeed quite interesting and remarkable. The destinations featured range from nature spots in exotic isles like Vanuatu, to city shopping stops like the Unclaimed Baggage Centre in Alabama, USA.
November 7, 2018
Lonely Planet digs up lots of photos of unusual places with information that at times stuns. Good for the curious young as well as suitable for the adult arm-chair traveler.
July 17, 2020
Atlas Obscura knockoff that doesn't quite live up to the real thing. Sure, there are some really fascinating places featured here, but there's some serious organizational problems that keep this book from being casually browsable. For really poorly explained reasons, this book isn't organized by region (ie, South America or Oceania) but by longitude (ie, locations with longitudes between -180 and -120). It's weird and random and, I think, chosen far more to make the book seem even more quirky than it already is than for any logical reason, because it leads to a lot of bizarre placements. Like a location in Canada being next to a location in Antarctica, or two locations in South Africa being ten pages apart and sandwiching locations in Romania. This would be less annoying if there were a place index, so you could corral everything in Canada in one place, but there isn't such a thing, and it leaves Canadian and US locations scattered between three separate chapters.
And for a book about places you've supposedly never heard of, there's far too many well known historical and geographical oddities, tourist traps, and roadside attractions. Stuff like the Winchester Mystery House, Carhenge, the Nazca Lines, and the Paris catacombs have no place in a book like this. They're far too well known, and the Winchester Mystery House and Paris catacombs are positively mainstream at this point. I was also uneasy with how many locations were included that don't welcome visitors, with instructions on how to get there. It's outright encouraging trespassing in more than a few entries. That's all aside from how blatantly this book encourages gawking at religious and culturally significant rites and ceremonies, with a few entries literally just being, "Look at this weird religion! Isn't it funny?" And it's not cool or edgy to be a tourist in Aokigahara Forest.
Look, this book was published in 2017. Three years ago, I think most people would have easily understood that it was, at the very least, rude to treat a religious temple like Disneyland. I know that the vast majority of people who read this book will never get to any of the places listed, and that's great. Using this book would teach them nothing about how to respectfully observe another culture. This is where Atlas Obscura beats this book hands down: the instructions for how to visit a location are legal and generally respectful.
And for a book about places you've supposedly never heard of, there's far too many well known historical and geographical oddities, tourist traps, and roadside attractions. Stuff like the Winchester Mystery House, Carhenge, the Nazca Lines, and the Paris catacombs have no place in a book like this. They're far too well known, and the Winchester Mystery House and Paris catacombs are positively mainstream at this point. I was also uneasy with how many locations were included that don't welcome visitors, with instructions on how to get there. It's outright encouraging trespassing in more than a few entries. That's all aside from how blatantly this book encourages gawking at religious and culturally significant rites and ceremonies, with a few entries literally just being, "Look at this weird religion! Isn't it funny?" And it's not cool or edgy to be a tourist in Aokigahara Forest.
Look, this book was published in 2017. Three years ago, I think most people would have easily understood that it was, at the very least, rude to treat a religious temple like Disneyland. I know that the vast majority of people who read this book will never get to any of the places listed, and that's great. Using this book would teach them nothing about how to respectfully observe another culture. This is where Atlas Obscura beats this book hands down: the instructions for how to visit a location are legal and generally respectful.
September 17, 2017
Impressive collection and descriptions of some unusual sites around the world, whether historic, cultural, or just plain bizarre enough to rate a mention. Liked some more than others, and was astounded to discover one that's basically in my backyard, and didn't know about!
September 10, 2017
Okay, so I haven't actually read every word of this. I did look at all the pages, though. And I read a good number of those. The snippets of information are actually the best part of the book; I expected the photos to be. Unfortunately, many of the photos aren't actually pictures, but only sketches, which is pretty crappy. As someone who has been known to plan international travel based on Google searches like "coolest places on earth" or "most beautiful/unique destinations on the planet," I am most disappointed that this book did not add anywhere to my "need to go there" list.
February 20, 2018
Sometimes, it's best to go off the beaten path in order to find something unique and an experience you'll never forget. I like that this was divided by longitudes in order to focus on these extraordinary places that most people have never heard about. While I was familiar with some of the places and "events" (How can you not know about the red crab migration on Christmas Island?), the majority were very new and quite fascinating (Fremont Public Sculptures in Seattle and Lac Rose near Dakar, Senegal--the lake looks pink, y'all) and others were... beyond bizarre.
If you like places that aren't the norm and featured in every other travel special or guidebook, check this out.
If you like places that aren't the norm and featured in every other travel special or guidebook, check this out.
March 22, 2019
What's not to love about a hunt for marvelous places?
Much love to my daughter Abi for choosing a book that takes me around the world in 300 pages to check out wonderful and magical places.
Having focused so intently these last few years on serious and heavy plot driven literary juggernauts, this was a refreshing dive into the wondrous and beautiful. Laid out across lines of longitude versus nation by nation, you get a sense of globetrotting to amazing places. Some well known. Some a little more obscure. All fascinating.
Compiled and edited by Lonely Planet, it's a wonderful break from deeper reading. Sometimes, you just need to be refreshed by majestic vistas, you know?
Much love to my daughter Abi for choosing a book that takes me around the world in 300 pages to check out wonderful and magical places.
Having focused so intently these last few years on serious and heavy plot driven literary juggernauts, this was a refreshing dive into the wondrous and beautiful. Laid out across lines of longitude versus nation by nation, you get a sense of globetrotting to amazing places. Some well known. Some a little more obscure. All fascinating.
Compiled and edited by Lonely Planet, it's a wonderful break from deeper reading. Sometimes, you just need to be refreshed by majestic vistas, you know?
February 3, 2020
This is not a bucket list like 1000 places to see before you die. These are lesser known wonders, I had only heard a of a few and had visited just two. It is a good reminder that there is something beautiful and exciting almost everywhere and that even the most worldly traveler will never have seen it all.
September 11, 2018
Secret Marvels of the World by Lonely Planet reads like a travelogue. Going over a projection map of the globe it splits the places it covers roughly into Longitude. Given a standard Mercator Projection of the Globe, it starts with a far left position that covers Alaska, Hawaii and a few of the Pacific Islands.
The book is split into articles and gives the coordinates of the place it is talking about along with a pictorial example of the sights you get to see. At the end of the article is a description of how to get to that location. Local airports come up a lot in some of the areas. The distances seem to mostly be in kilometers. I don’t know if that messes with people, but personally, I am used to miles. Sometimes being an American is stupid.
Anyway, this book covers the things that are off the beaten path of what people visit, or so it says. One of the articles covers the Winchester Mystery House, and I know that I have heard of that. Maybe it just covers it because it is a peculiar place. Along the way are other places both man-made and natural, teeming with interesting qualities. Like the house built of glass embalming fluid bottles up in British Columbia.
While I understand that a lot of the book is limited by space, some of the entries are a bit too weird for me. Also, I don’t think I would want to go to a lot of these places. Although some of them are nice, not too many of them were in the United States. If they were, they weren’t near the Midwestern United States.
In any case, the book is interesting enough, but I don’t really know about going to these places.
The book is split into articles and gives the coordinates of the place it is talking about along with a pictorial example of the sights you get to see. At the end of the article is a description of how to get to that location. Local airports come up a lot in some of the areas. The distances seem to mostly be in kilometers. I don’t know if that messes with people, but personally, I am used to miles. Sometimes being an American is stupid.
Anyway, this book covers the things that are off the beaten path of what people visit, or so it says. One of the articles covers the Winchester Mystery House, and I know that I have heard of that. Maybe it just covers it because it is a peculiar place. Along the way are other places both man-made and natural, teeming with interesting qualities. Like the house built of glass embalming fluid bottles up in British Columbia.
While I understand that a lot of the book is limited by space, some of the entries are a bit too weird for me. Also, I don’t think I would want to go to a lot of these places. Although some of them are nice, not too many of them were in the United States. If they were, they weren’t near the Midwestern United States.
In any case, the book is interesting enough, but I don’t really know about going to these places.
January 31, 2019
Alleen deze cover en de titel al - ze ademen gewoon de negentiende eeuw, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, en de laatste grote ontdekkingsreizigers. Net als de opmaak in het boek; het is zo knap gedaan, met alle mooie (en goed leesbare!) lettertypes en de knappe foto's. Dit is duidelijk Lonely Planet. Het idee om alle plekken niet per land maar op lengtegraad te sorteren is ook zo origineel!
Ik heb altijd wel een beetje een belangstelling gehad voor de meer esoterische, vreemde, ongewone, buitenaardse aspecten en zaken op deze planeet (ik heb wel meer van dat soort boeken gekocht doorheen de jaren) en dit past daar helemaal in. Behalve wat de korte inhoud achteraan ons belooft, kan je ook nog dingen als dit verwachten (zoals vermeld in de inhoud): "In which we encounter disappearing islands… a cave of giant crystal, and a museum at the bottom of the sea… an Island teeming with snakes, a shimmering pink lake… a town being subsumed by the desert, and a hill of 100,000 crosses... a golf course laid on an airport runway… and a cave illuminated by glowworms." Je merkt het: dit boek maakt je wildste verwachtingen waar. Dit zijn, zonder twijfel, inderdaad de grootste marvels die je je maar kunt voorstellen - en de meeste kan je je niet voorstellen. Als je interesse hebt in de gekste verhalen, onbekendste plaatsen en de raarste maar ook de prachtigste creaties op onze planeet, gemaakt door de mens én door Moeder Natuur, dan is dit boek een absolute aanrader!
Ik heb altijd wel een beetje een belangstelling gehad voor de meer esoterische, vreemde, ongewone, buitenaardse aspecten en zaken op deze planeet (ik heb wel meer van dat soort boeken gekocht doorheen de jaren) en dit past daar helemaal in. Behalve wat de korte inhoud achteraan ons belooft, kan je ook nog dingen als dit verwachten (zoals vermeld in de inhoud): "In which we encounter disappearing islands… a cave of giant crystal, and a museum at the bottom of the sea… an Island teeming with snakes, a shimmering pink lake… a town being subsumed by the desert, and a hill of 100,000 crosses... a golf course laid on an airport runway… and a cave illuminated by glowworms." Je merkt het: dit boek maakt je wildste verwachtingen waar. Dit zijn, zonder twijfel, inderdaad de grootste marvels die je je maar kunt voorstellen - en de meeste kan je je niet voorstellen. Als je interesse hebt in de gekste verhalen, onbekendste plaatsen en de raarste maar ook de prachtigste creaties op onze planeet, gemaakt door de mens én door Moeder Natuur, dan is dit boek een absolute aanrader!
July 29, 2018
Completely phoned it in, as is happening with so many of the inspiration-list books they're churning out lately. Yeah, there are plenty of interesting locations mentioned in the book, but the formatting and editing is inconsistent and lousy -- text written by a wide variety of folks and not standardized, so sometimes you get actual info about the site, but sometimes you just get a first-person account of how intrepid and bold the person was in finding the interesting thing (I DON'T really care, I just want to know about the interesting thing itself, thank you); sometimes there are photos, sometimes there are crappy illustrations, sometimes there's nothing; and, as one other reviewer pointed out, "longitude" is spelled incorrectly on EVERY single page. This would make a nice blog, sure. But I am wholly unimpressed with the half-assed attempt to monetize a random collection of lists and pass it off as something actually marvelous.
October 17, 2018
Clearly there are too many places to travel in the world for one human being to ever see it all. Secret Marvels of the World helps a little with that, providing excellent descriptions and illustrations for numerous fascinating destinations.
That said...some descriptions were pretty barebones and a few places lacked an accompanying image. Nitpicky, I know, but when you're reading a book about "extraordinary places," you want the full story and a vivid picture of the place. A handful of the entries are written like first-person travel essays, which is interesting the first time, but towards the end I just wanted the information, not the "this is how I felt about the waterfalls" crap.
Small quibbles. It's still an outstanding book, suitable for any coffee table.
That said...some descriptions were pretty barebones and a few places lacked an accompanying image. Nitpicky, I know, but when you're reading a book about "extraordinary places," you want the full story and a vivid picture of the place. A handful of the entries are written like first-person travel essays, which is interesting the first time, but towards the end I just wanted the information, not the "this is how I felt about the waterfalls" crap.
Small quibbles. It's still an outstanding book, suitable for any coffee table.
December 2, 2019
This is the poor man's Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders. I love Lonely Planet guidebooks, but this was just them trying to capitalize on something popular in the market, but by putting a weird "twist" on it's organization - by longitude. Dumb. Also, as a person who just wants the facts about the sight (how to get there, what it is, and how much), I personally didn't care for the journalistic flare that some entries had - especially when this "fancy" description was all there was about the "marvel". Overall, if you like the topic - just go read Atlas Obscura.
January 7, 2020
While I think the Lonely Planet books are generally fantastic, the Secret Marvels of the World fails to live up to the very high standards set in other Lonely Planet books.
There are certainly a number of places within the book which will be added to my travel list, but my main issue with the book is the decision to use some arty pencil sketches of some of these places rather than photos. When compared to other Lonely Planet publications, The Travel Book for example, which has high quality photos for each country, these sketches do not really give the reader a feel for what these places are like.
There are certainly a number of places within the book which will be added to my travel list, but my main issue with the book is the decision to use some arty pencil sketches of some of these places rather than photos. When compared to other Lonely Planet publications, The Travel Book for example, which has high quality photos for each country, these sketches do not really give the reader a feel for what these places are like.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 20, 2018
So I'm pleased that I have been to a number of these Secret Marvels in both my home country of Australia, and more in Europe with my previous trip!
But there are definitely a few places that will be making my bucket list, and 2018 Europe II Itinerary because they look extraordinary!!
Secret Marvels of the Worlds explores a number of extraordinary places all around the world that will have you adding to your next trip; but there are a few places I will definitely be missing. Better luck next time Lonely Planet!
But there are definitely a few places that will be making my bucket list, and 2018 Europe II Itinerary because they look extraordinary!!
Secret Marvels of the Worlds explores a number of extraordinary places all around the world that will have you adding to your next trip; but there are a few places I will definitely be missing. Better luck next time Lonely Planet!
January 30, 2018
So I would have said I loved this book!!! BUT the pictures in it were atrocious! Felt like looking at a book from the 1970s. So nothing was grabbing my attention. If a place sounded unique or interesting I started leaving my laptop open, typing in name of place and then was astounded and excited about some of these places. So the concept of the book I love!!! And I added a ton of intriguing things to my bucket list BUT cover of book should say "must have access to Internet to actually look up sites if interested" or you'll hate the book!!
February 21, 2018
Different than most books of its kind, but in line with the sort of travel Lonely Planet typically tries to promote and the youthful audience it focuses on, although happily for this traveler, not so obsessed with high octane daredevil stuff that doesn't interest me. I'm not sure the mode of organization, based on longitudinal zones, helps much. The illustrations are good.
I'm still looking for the travel guide that blends wanderlust inspiration with useful practical travel information, but as an example of the former, this is worth a browse.
I'm still looking for the travel guide that blends wanderlust inspiration with useful practical travel information, but as an example of the former, this is worth a browse.
January 26, 2019
The sort of book you put in the john so you can read a few pages when you need to contemplate. Fun flipping through the pages and the short articles about each place are well written and entertaining. But unless you're preparing to do some world traveling, or at least traveling to Hawaii, not a necessity.
June 30, 2024
Good premise, poor execution. Why were there not pictures (not drawings) of every entry?
I read this book electronically, so possibly the print version is different, but either way, some of these “marvels” are not marvels at all.
The Kelpies for example. I just visited Scotland. The Kelpies are interesting, but far from Marvelous.
I read this book electronically, so possibly the print version is different, but either way, some of these “marvels” are not marvels at all.
The Kelpies for example. I just visited Scotland. The Kelpies are interesting, but far from Marvelous.
Read
February 3, 2018I paged through this and read about some of the more bizarre places or the ones accompanied by color photos that caught my attention. Most of these are way off the beaten path and in countries I’ll probably never visit.
May 30, 2018
Als jemand der gerne reist und auch schon an einigen kuriosen Orten war, empfand ich das buch als lesenswert. Vor allem gab es zwei oder drei Orte an dennen ich sogar schon war. Wie der Vulkan Stromboli oder die Kelbies in Falkirk.
January 2, 2018
Didn't have time to read everything - need to check it out again whenever I will be traveling again.
December 30, 2017
Found this gem at the library after returning from Ecuador. It’s an amazing world!
February 3, 2018
Some amazing places detailed here, to be sure. But the copy was a little dense to do them justice, and the black & white illustrations certainly didn’t. More vivid photos, por favor!
June 22, 2018
They spelled "longitude" wrong on every page.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews