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The World's Great Wonders: How They Were Made & Why They Are Amazing
Lonely The world's leading travel guide publisher*
Go beyond the visual spectacle of the world's 50 greatest wonders, and discover what makes them such amazing places. With stunning images and expert illustrations, experience and appreciate the most famous sights on earth in an exciting new way.
Lonely Planet
About Lonely Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places where they travel.
TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards 2012 and 2013 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category
'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times
'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 (Australia)
*#1 in the world market share - Nielsen Bookscan. Australia, UK and USA. March 2012-January 2013
Important The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.
Go beyond the visual spectacle of the world's 50 greatest wonders, and discover what makes them such amazing places. With stunning images and expert illustrations, experience and appreciate the most famous sights on earth in an exciting new way.
Lonely Planet
About Lonely Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places where they travel.
TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards 2012 and 2013 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category
'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times
'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 (Australia)
*#1 in the world market share - Nielsen Bookscan. Australia, UK and USA. March 2012-January 2013
Important The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.
- GenresTravelNonfictionHistory
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2014
7 people are currently reading
162 people want to read
About the author
Lonely Planet
3,675 books891 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.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 20, 2016
Geographical book, Geological book, Historical book, and most important, encyclopedic book.
A coverage of almost 50 sites from all over the world, a sites which have been facing several types of challenges, and still stand tall against the test of time.
To me, this book must be available in each school's library, in order to let the students make a good use of the colorful materials which include; maps, figures, images and stats.
It's a good summarized book, full of information, I can consider it as a good introduction. Like any encyclopedia, this book doesn't provide the whole image, it only gives the reader a beginning; a point to start anything.
The students of the primary or secondary schools can use this book to do the homework, and depend on the information included, but the under and postgraduate student, they are not advised to cite or quote the information of this book; the book IS NOT supplied with a references or bibliography.
I like the way the author merged the natural sites with the man-made sites, it's astonishing how the reader is able to understand the construction of this sites in order to link the the mankind learned-experience, among the years, from the nature, whom they all share the same hierarchy of components.
I recommend this book to the schools' libraries, and to the house bookshelves of any family.
A coverage of almost 50 sites from all over the world, a sites which have been facing several types of challenges, and still stand tall against the test of time.
To me, this book must be available in each school's library, in order to let the students make a good use of the colorful materials which include; maps, figures, images and stats.
It's a good summarized book, full of information, I can consider it as a good introduction. Like any encyclopedia, this book doesn't provide the whole image, it only gives the reader a beginning; a point to start anything.
The students of the primary or secondary schools can use this book to do the homework, and depend on the information included, but the under and postgraduate student, they are not advised to cite or quote the information of this book; the book IS NOT supplied with a references or bibliography.
I like the way the author merged the natural sites with the man-made sites, it's astonishing how the reader is able to understand the construction of this sites in order to link the the mankind learned-experience, among the years, from the nature, whom they all share the same hierarchy of components.
I recommend this book to the schools' libraries, and to the house bookshelves of any family.
September 30, 2016
A solid bucketlist book, with a brief deconstruction and description of the natural and man-made wonders of the world.
It wasn't as inspiring or as intriguing as I thought it would be.
This could be an interesting read for those who want to get briefly acquainted with some of the most popular travel destinations on earth. This would also work for primary school students doing a report on one of the destinations.
Overall, a pretty nice read but lacklustre.
It wasn't as inspiring or as intriguing as I thought it would be.
This could be an interesting read for those who want to get briefly acquainted with some of the most popular travel destinations on earth. This would also work for primary school students doing a report on one of the destinations.
Overall, a pretty nice read but lacklustre.
January 1, 2021
The format is too small to really do any good writing about these natural and man made wonders. It’s like several travel brochures stapled together. I enjoy reading the civelopedia in Civ V more than this. I think every reader will find something in here they aren’t familiar with, and that was nice. I didn’t know how beautiful and otherworldly the Cappadocia region is, or how incredible the maglev train and the three gorges dam are.
What I learned: the largest lake in Europe and the largest lake in Asia are both in Russia. The largest lake in Australia is sometimes dry?!? The leaning tower of Pisa is open to the public again. And it’s hollow inside.
What I learned: the largest lake in Europe and the largest lake in Asia are both in Russia. The largest lake in Australia is sometimes dry?!? The leaning tower of Pisa is open to the public again. And it’s hollow inside.
December 11, 2016
"The World's Greatest Wonders" is a travel guide that crashed into a history book. The full-color pictures are lovely and are the best thing about the book in my opinion. There are 20 natural and 30 man-made travel sights and sites that are covered. There's a brief "you are there" section that describes approaching the site. Sometimes it wasn't clear to me why the author thought the site was amazing, or it seemed to simply be because it was the biggest or deepest or other world-record. I was expecting engineering wonders from the subtitle. And many of these wonders are engineering marvels of their time--and ours!--but the book generally didn't focus on why the engineering was so difficult. It just offered simple explanations of how it was done.
Each wonder included brief travel information, like when it's best to see the site and other attractions in the area. We then get the history of the site--evolutionary geology for the natural wonders and recorded history and legends for the man-made wonders. I was disappointed that speculation was usually presented as fact for the pre-recorded-history wonders. I understand only including one hypothesis given the space limitations, but sometimes the author didn't even hint that there were other ideas on how something was made...when I knew there are several other ideas out there.
I was disappointed that the "why they are amazing" was often so vague. We're given hints on why redwood trees are marvelous, but I was left wondering why they can get so large and so old when other trees don't. The Forward did a better job at inspiring wonder in the pyramids that the actual entry, and so on.
I've seen some of these wonders. Standing next to the pyramids was every bit as awesome as I thought, but I found the inside of them extremely disappointing. The author thought even the inside was "unforgettable." I've seen the colosseum. It's more a ruin than I expected, it was very crowded, and we weren't allowed to explore. It may be the largest amphitheater built, but I've been in much-better-preserved amphitheaters where we could explore top to bottom. These were much more exciting to me. The wonders in this book may be record-holders, but unless you like things simply because they are big, you might not be as excited as the author when you actually see them.
So it's a "four star" coffee-table book full of pretty pictures, but I'm not sure it really achieved the goal the author was aiming for.
I received this review copy from the publisher through Amazon Vine.
Each wonder included brief travel information, like when it's best to see the site and other attractions in the area. We then get the history of the site--evolutionary geology for the natural wonders and recorded history and legends for the man-made wonders. I was disappointed that speculation was usually presented as fact for the pre-recorded-history wonders. I understand only including one hypothesis given the space limitations, but sometimes the author didn't even hint that there were other ideas on how something was made...when I knew there are several other ideas out there.
I was disappointed that the "why they are amazing" was often so vague. We're given hints on why redwood trees are marvelous, but I was left wondering why they can get so large and so old when other trees don't. The Forward did a better job at inspiring wonder in the pyramids that the actual entry, and so on.
I've seen some of these wonders. Standing next to the pyramids was every bit as awesome as I thought, but I found the inside of them extremely disappointing. The author thought even the inside was "unforgettable." I've seen the colosseum. It's more a ruin than I expected, it was very crowded, and we weren't allowed to explore. It may be the largest amphitheater built, but I've been in much-better-preserved amphitheaters where we could explore top to bottom. These were much more exciting to me. The wonders in this book may be record-holders, but unless you like things simply because they are big, you might not be as excited as the author when you actually see them.
So it's a "four star" coffee-table book full of pretty pictures, but I'm not sure it really achieved the goal the author was aiming for.
I received this review copy from the publisher through Amazon Vine.
July 3, 2015
I'd intended to be more excited about this than I turned out to be. This book tackles 50 "wonders" - 20 natural, 30 man-made, and a pretty arbitrary collection (though, of course, all modern lists of the world's greatest wonders are arbitrary -- this particular collection just didn't suit all my fancies). Format is a four-ish page entry for each, which includes (in reverse order) a couple pages of brief scientific explanation of how the thing came to be (with a bit of historical context), a nice big photo, a few sentences on how to get there (e.g., which bus to take to the Eiffel Tower) and what other stuff you might want to see whilst in the area, and an intro paragraph written in second-person (choose-your-own-adventure style). The intros were just silly, and I quickly chose to not read them at all. The travel info seemed like a grasping attempt to make this work as a LP 'travel' book, but the info is so sparse that it's practically worthless (except for the suggestion made no less than three times, in relation to three different "wonders," to travel to Bryce Canyon in Utah - which is a lovely place, to be sure, but goodness, there are other things to do and see). The photos and science-y information are nice and make this experiment more worthwhile. In all, though, felt a bit slapdash and didn't execute fully on any of the things it felt like the author was trying to do. At least it reminded me how much I want to go to Rapa Nui!
December 1, 2014
This is kind of halfway inbetween a coffee table book and a travel book. It's a hardback book of a less than A4 size filled with some of our world's greatest wonders split into two sections: natural and man made. The man made are roughly in chronological order and go from caves painted by ice age people to the Burj Khalifa. Each wonder begins with a tantalising introduction what it is like to encounter the wonder, a full page photograph, and 'how to get there' and what to do 'while you're there' sections. Then follows a section on the construction and history of the wonder with 'did you know' boxes and great little diagrams. It's informative and good to look at.
So why only three stars, well, because this book is neither one thing nor another. The 'what to do while you're there' sections suggest a travel book, but this is really too heavy to be carried unless you are travelling by car. The construction sections are good but so brief, too brief for me, it is not really big or detailed enough to be the kind of book you could devour at your leisure at home either.
So why only three stars, well, because this book is neither one thing nor another. The 'what to do while you're there' sections suggest a travel book, but this is really too heavy to be carried unless you are travelling by car. The construction sections are good but so brief, too brief for me, it is not really big or detailed enough to be the kind of book you could devour at your leisure at home either.
June 24, 2015
Well-presented - really good layout with fantastic large, sharp photos and easy-to-process text, with illustrations to help explain. I enjoyed reading this a lot.
Each featured "wonder" is described in approximately 3-4 pages, with a section giving details on construction or formation. E.g. The one on the terracotta warriors shows how each soldier was built and put together, with the stamp of the labourer who crafted it emblazoned on the soldier, so they knew who was accountable should workmanship be deemed shoddy. And for those "wonders" which are natural, the geological process by which they formed is explained simply and clearly with the help of illustrations.
The opening paragraph of each wonder also includes a personal account of the journey leading up to viewing it, which gives you a sense of what to expect should you decide to go see it for yourself.
Each featured "wonder" is described in approximately 3-4 pages, with a section giving details on construction or formation. E.g. The one on the terracotta warriors shows how each soldier was built and put together, with the stamp of the labourer who crafted it emblazoned on the soldier, so they knew who was accountable should workmanship be deemed shoddy. And for those "wonders" which are natural, the geological process by which they formed is explained simply and clearly with the help of illustrations.
The opening paragraph of each wonder also includes a personal account of the journey leading up to viewing it, which gives you a sense of what to expect should you decide to go see it for yourself.
December 5, 2014
This is a beautifully-illustrated and -presented review of 50 world wonders, both the familiar and the not-so-familiar, both natural (e.g., the Grand Canyon or the aurora borealis) and manmade (the Taj Mahal or the Burj Khalifa skyscraper, for instance). The book presents each wonder in four pages, usually, often with a map, a sidebar with similar sites (the Giant's Causeway with a reference to the Devil's Postpile), and a very brief "how to get there" paragraph. It's a very nice coffee-table book for the armchair traveler, but can also alert the reader to destinations they might not have considered. It is a book that can awake curiosity and provide a starting point for travels: a thumbnail tour, nicely presented. It's not detailed but it is a splendid introduction.
February 23, 2015
This is THE book on world wonders. For a long time I seen these national symbols of wonders in tv,movies,art etc. and said what are thoughs places? and looked in numerous travel books with overwhelming information.
This book takes all the major man made and natural wonders, gives a brief summery of construction/creation, history, cool facts. A great book, have't shown it to one person and they not be struck in awe and excited, could not ask for more, 5 stars definitely!.
This book takes all the major man made and natural wonders, gives a brief summery of construction/creation, history, cool facts. A great book, have't shown it to one person and they not be struck in awe and excited, could not ask for more, 5 stars definitely!.
December 13, 2014
Such an interesting book. Covered the natural wonders of the world first, then discussed the manmade wonders. 4-6 pages devoted to each wonder was great for people like myself who like to be entertained but not go too deeply into detail. Great photos and explanations!
December 22, 2015
This reminds me of a simpler Dorling Kinderseley book in some ways. Fun facts, beautiful photography: it's a good coffee table choice.
November 10, 2017
Great
Very informative with great imagery. Would recommend to people who are planning to travel, go on holiday or makeing a bucket list.
Very informative with great imagery. Would recommend to people who are planning to travel, go on holiday or makeing a bucket list.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews