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100 Things You Will Never Find
What happened to Amelia Earhart's aeroplane, Van Gogh's painting of Dr Gachet and the crew of the Mary Celeste? This fascinating book unlocks the world's lost property cupboard and sifts through buried treasure, mysterious disappearances and unknown locations, examining the evidence--and the conspiracy theories - surrounding the world's most legendary lost objects. Who erased the Nixon tapes? Did Captain Kidd really bury his treasure on Rhode Island? Is Lord Lucan still alive?
Ranging from a single gemstone (the Great Mogul Diamond) to hoards of jewels (treasure of the Knights Templar), and from a single man (Australian prime minister Harold Holt) to swathes of people (the Lost Army of Cambyses), via Shergar the stolen horse, the top secret recipe for KFC, the fifth spy in the "Cambridge Five," the much-coveted Holy Grail and the sunken Tybee Island Bomb, Dan Smith shines a torch into the darkest theories and examines the hidden truth.
A fascinating catalogue of lost things, 100 Things You Will Never Find will take you on a unique quest around the globe and across the centuries, searching for the legendary items that have inspired generations of explorers, scientists and storytellers alike.
Contents include: Amelia Earhart's Airplane, Muhammed Ali's Gold Medal, Loch Ness Monster, Log of Columbus's First Voyage, Google's Search Algorithms, Atlantis, Missing Apollo II Tapes, Montezuma's Treasure, Lord Lucan, Final Panels of the Bayeux Tapestry, Formula for WD-40, Hemingway's Lost Manuscripts, Jules Rimet Trophy, Lost City of Z, Raoul Wallenberg, Missing Nixon Tapes, Lord Byron's Memoirs and a Complete Dodo Skeleton.
Ranging from a single gemstone (the Great Mogul Diamond) to hoards of jewels (treasure of the Knights Templar), and from a single man (Australian prime minister Harold Holt) to swathes of people (the Lost Army of Cambyses), via Shergar the stolen horse, the top secret recipe for KFC, the fifth spy in the "Cambridge Five," the much-coveted Holy Grail and the sunken Tybee Island Bomb, Dan Smith shines a torch into the darkest theories and examines the hidden truth.
A fascinating catalogue of lost things, 100 Things You Will Never Find will take you on a unique quest around the globe and across the centuries, searching for the legendary items that have inspired generations of explorers, scientists and storytellers alike.
Contents include: Amelia Earhart's Airplane, Muhammed Ali's Gold Medal, Loch Ness Monster, Log of Columbus's First Voyage, Google's Search Algorithms, Atlantis, Missing Apollo II Tapes, Montezuma's Treasure, Lord Lucan, Final Panels of the Bayeux Tapestry, Formula for WD-40, Hemingway's Lost Manuscripts, Jules Rimet Trophy, Lost City of Z, Raoul Wallenberg, Missing Nixon Tapes, Lord Byron's Memoirs and a Complete Dodo Skeleton.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
256 pages, Paperback
First published September 4, 2014
12 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 6, 2025
You have to take this book for what it is, a fun, lighthearted piece, not to be taken too seriously! Some of the things/ places you'll never find were more interesting than others but a good general mix; Boudicca's grave, Amelia Earhart's plane, Lord Lucan amongst others.
May 16, 2022
An overall interesting collection of mysteries and legends. Although some of the "unsolved" mysteries clearly weren't mysteries at all. For example there were plenty of "oh, what happened to this ship?", and then it's explained on the same page that the ship sank at this specific location and at this specific time. That sort of thing annoyed my a little bit. Still an interesting read though.
June 18, 2018
Interesting little nuggets of history, some I was familiar with and some not. Not in-depth by any means, nor intended to be, it would make a great place to start if you were looking for new topics to learn about.
January 1, 2019
Trevlig bok med många intressanta försvunna skatter och legender.
July 19, 2017
Jede der 100 „Kurzgeschichten“ ist gut beschrieben und mit Bildern verdeutlicht. Es hat mir sehr viel Spaß gemacht, dieses Buch zu lesen.
March 23, 2019
The Romanovs Imperial Easter Eggs
Lost Fossils of the Bone Wars
JFK's brain
This is a good book for taking in small bites. I read it, one Lost Item per morning, over breakfast. You get a picture or three, a page or two of text, and as often as not a reason to do some quick trips down the rabbithole of Wikipedia.
Holy Grail
Shakespeare's "Love's Labours Won"
Pythagoras's complete works
Some of these, of course, are debatable. It might be that Shakespeare's lost play, for example, was simply an alternate title of "Much Ado About Nothing". About others, like the Holy Grail, there is some debate as to whether they ever existed at all. But in each case, there is an intriguing historical mystery of one sort or another, fun to think about as long as you're not too attached to the idea of mysteries having a resolution. Some of these have had no resolution for millenia.
Formula for WD-40
Leonardo's Battle of Anghiari
Gene Roddenberry's ashes
Of course for others, there is not so much mystery, it's just that you can't get to them. Roddenberry's ashes were cast into space, per his wishes. Leonardo's lost painting's location is very well known, it's just that another (also very old and historically significant) wall painting is on top of it, and you can't get to the one without potentially damaging the other. The formula for WD-40 is known to a few people, its location is fairly well known, and in any case the rest of us can pretty well guess at the majority of it at least. But they each have a good story to go with them.
There is not any particular overarching theme to go with this book other than that: good, short, at least mostly true stories. They range from the ancient (e.g. King Solomon's Mines) to the medieval (the last panels of the Bayeux tapestry) to the modern (the MV Lyubov Orlova, a 21st century ghost ship). I am tempted to check up on them periodically, to see how often one of these things that will "never" be found, gets found. In the meantime, I will have to find some other source of bite-sized food for thought to read over breakfast.
Lost Fossils of the Bone Wars
JFK's brain
This is a good book for taking in small bites. I read it, one Lost Item per morning, over breakfast. You get a picture or three, a page or two of text, and as often as not a reason to do some quick trips down the rabbithole of Wikipedia.
Holy Grail
Shakespeare's "Love's Labours Won"
Pythagoras's complete works
Some of these, of course, are debatable. It might be that Shakespeare's lost play, for example, was simply an alternate title of "Much Ado About Nothing". About others, like the Holy Grail, there is some debate as to whether they ever existed at all. But in each case, there is an intriguing historical mystery of one sort or another, fun to think about as long as you're not too attached to the idea of mysteries having a resolution. Some of these have had no resolution for millenia.
Formula for WD-40
Leonardo's Battle of Anghiari
Gene Roddenberry's ashes
Of course for others, there is not so much mystery, it's just that you can't get to them. Roddenberry's ashes were cast into space, per his wishes. Leonardo's lost painting's location is very well known, it's just that another (also very old and historically significant) wall painting is on top of it, and you can't get to the one without potentially damaging the other. The formula for WD-40 is known to a few people, its location is fairly well known, and in any case the rest of us can pretty well guess at the majority of it at least. But they each have a good story to go with them.
There is not any particular overarching theme to go with this book other than that: good, short, at least mostly true stories. They range from the ancient (e.g. King Solomon's Mines) to the medieval (the last panels of the Bayeux tapestry) to the modern (the MV Lyubov Orlova, a 21st century ghost ship). I am tempted to check up on them periodically, to see how often one of these things that will "never" be found, gets found. In the meantime, I will have to find some other source of bite-sized food for thought to read over breakfast.
January 26, 2022
I have the same complaints about this book as I have with books of a similar nature: while I'm sure there's plenty of good and accurate information included, the errors (most of them glaring enough that even a cursory read-through should have caught them) were plentiful enough that everything is a little suspect. Misspellings of place-names on maps, incorrect word usage, even an activity undertaken by an historical figure more than 80 years after that individual's death -- these errors and others should not have made it into print.
Second, some of the entries were a little bit of a stretch on the book's theme. Items like KFC's secret recipe aren't exactly lost, they're just not available. And no one should be looking for Gene Roddenberry's remains -- they were intentionally launched into space.
Also, and this is either a complaint or a sign of encouragement to intrepid treasure-hunters, some of these things you will never find actually HAVE been found in the years since the book's publication (the HMS Erebus comes to mind).
Second, some of the entries were a little bit of a stretch on the book's theme. Items like KFC's secret recipe aren't exactly lost, they're just not available. And no one should be looking for Gene Roddenberry's remains -- they were intentionally launched into space.
Also, and this is either a complaint or a sign of encouragement to intrepid treasure-hunters, some of these things you will never find actually HAVE been found in the years since the book's publication (the HMS Erebus comes to mind).
October 21, 2017
A fun read even if some things in the books aren't mysteries. Example: Someone's ashes was left in space, of couse I can't find them! Read it cover to cover, which might have something to do with my view on it.
You will learn some new things, but since it's a list you will need to look stuff up if you want to know more. That is not a bad thing! I just wish that there was more mysteries in it.
Recommend:
... Don't know, if it intressed you, sure! It's a book that's better to just flick through.
You will learn some new things, but since it's a list you will need to look stuff up if you want to know more. That is not a bad thing! I just wish that there was more mysteries in it.
Recommend:
... Don't know, if it intressed you, sure! It's a book that's better to just flick through.
August 10, 2018
I normally like this type of 100 things book. However this one was a let down. It felt like the author was struggling to find 100 items leading to too many shipwrecks and missing 20th century people. Each item got one or two A4 pages on them but somehow the author managed to say very little about them. Finally there is no organisation of the items. They could be chronological or in sets, all the shipwrecks for example. This would have helped the book feel a lot less random.
April 26, 2022
Daniel Smith takes the reader on a journey, explaining about 100 items that you will never find. Amongst the list are:
Amelia Earhart's aeroplane, the Holy Grail, Beagle 2, the final panels of the Bayeux Tapestry, official files on the Rendelsham Forest incident, a complete dodo skeleton, the lost tribes of Israel, the missing Apollo 11 tapes, Lord Lucan and Boudicca's Grave amongst 90 others.
Amelia Earhart's aeroplane, the Holy Grail, Beagle 2, the final panels of the Bayeux Tapestry, official files on the Rendelsham Forest incident, a complete dodo skeleton, the lost tribes of Israel, the missing Apollo 11 tapes, Lord Lucan and Boudicca's Grave amongst 90 others.
March 8, 2018
A mixed bag of things that no longer exist and thus obviously can't be found, things that likely never existed but, more interestingly, things that are known to have existed but nobody knows where they are anymore. A fun book to dip into every so often for bitesize mysterious tales.
February 4, 2019
Great coffee table book. Some of the entries are now out of date. For example some things have been found. You’ll need to do some extra research to find out what ...
November 11, 2021
I enjoyed reading this book.
June 2, 2016
This book covers everything from lost cities and hidden treasures to artworks and people that have vanished from history and will never turn up again.
Except that quite a few of them might. For every Harold Holt, Lord Lucan or Roanoke Colony there is a Beagle 2 (now believed found, and which almost certainly will be) or a sunken treasure that may yet be recovered. The inclusion of several items that are purely fiction is also debatable.
Some lost treasures, such as the Amber Room, get no mention whatsoever. I know there’s a limit to what could be included, but missing people are surely less interesting than immutable objects that must still exist.
There’s also a strong Western leaning to the list. There are some South American (although you’d argue linked to Western history) and Asian treasures mentioned, but far fewer of them. It’s hard to justify the inclusion of the formula for WD-40 and the Colonel’s secret recipe too, along with extinct species.
People have complained about the quality of self-published books, but this needed some more proof-reading. There are plenty of references to ‘see page xx’ where the ‘xx’ hasn’t been replaced with the actual page numbers. There are other issues that a cursory read-through would have picked up.
Not a bad book, overall, and nice to dip into, but not much more than you’d find online and the websites would likely have fewer typos.
Except that quite a few of them might. For every Harold Holt, Lord Lucan or Roanoke Colony there is a Beagle 2 (now believed found, and which almost certainly will be) or a sunken treasure that may yet be recovered. The inclusion of several items that are purely fiction is also debatable.
Some lost treasures, such as the Amber Room, get no mention whatsoever. I know there’s a limit to what could be included, but missing people are surely less interesting than immutable objects that must still exist.
There’s also a strong Western leaning to the list. There are some South American (although you’d argue linked to Western history) and Asian treasures mentioned, but far fewer of them. It’s hard to justify the inclusion of the formula for WD-40 and the Colonel’s secret recipe too, along with extinct species.
People have complained about the quality of self-published books, but this needed some more proof-reading. There are plenty of references to ‘see page xx’ where the ‘xx’ hasn’t been replaced with the actual page numbers. There are other issues that a cursory read-through would have picked up.
Not a bad book, overall, and nice to dip into, but not much more than you’d find online and the websites would likely have fewer typos.
May 15, 2015
First, I have to say I might have given this book a 4-star rating, but the editing is horrible in this book. There are so many typos it made me doubt the spelling of everything!
This is a nice book that gives you a taste of the history of some of history's most intriguing disappearances, mysteries, myths, and lost treasures. The accounts of each item is not exhaustive, but it gives a general background of each. Some of them are well-known like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon or Amelia Earhart's plane. Some of them are more unusual like the Peacock Throne of Shah Jahan or a mysterious vanished colony of the Baltic Coast. There were also that I felt were pushing the premise like the formula WD-40 or Buddha statues destroyed by the Taliban (we know what happened to them, so we know why we can see them).
I love history's mysteries, so this is a good read for whetting your appetite!
This is a nice book that gives you a taste of the history of some of history's most intriguing disappearances, mysteries, myths, and lost treasures. The accounts of each item is not exhaustive, but it gives a general background of each. Some of them are well-known like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon or Amelia Earhart's plane. Some of them are more unusual like the Peacock Throne of Shah Jahan or a mysterious vanished colony of the Baltic Coast. There were also that I felt were pushing the premise like the formula WD-40 or Buddha statues destroyed by the Taliban (we know what happened to them, so we know why we can see them).
I love history's mysteries, so this is a good read for whetting your appetite!
February 23, 2015
A fascinating quick look at 100 things you will never find. Although some of the information was stuff I'd read before, there was other sections that were entirely new to me. Plus, most of the topics were things I already find intriguing, so it was win win!
From the secret recipe to KFC, to lost treasure ships and whole groups of people, this book has a little of everything to keep your interest for the entirety, and to perhaps encourage you to read more on the topic in the sure. Beautifully presented too, with gorgeous photos, illustrations and quotes. Highly recommend!
From the secret recipe to KFC, to lost treasure ships and whole groups of people, this book has a little of everything to keep your interest for the entirety, and to perhaps encourage you to read more on the topic in the sure. Beautifully presented too, with gorgeous photos, illustrations and quotes. Highly recommend!
June 17, 2015
Överlag en trevlig bok att läsa över lunch, varje mysterium presenteras på ungefär 1-2 sidor och texten är luftig, lättläst och frikostigt illustrerad. Boken får en bonus för att den faktiskt inte bara täcker in de klassiska mysterierna utan också bidrar med historier som jag personligen inte hört talas om (ex Muhammed Alis guldmedalj, Reimerswaal, Q-källan osv). Det är också en bra spännvidd på det tidsmässiga och landsmässiga planet. Det är mysterier från olika länder och olika tidpunkter i historien, från nutid till långt före vår tideräkning.
December 13, 2014
The various mysteries and lost cities and hoards were very interesting. Sometimes I was hoping for more information when I flipped a page, and found that there was none. I would have liked suggestions for further reading, or references to the main sources used. Sometimes the limited number of pages spent on a mystery meant that none of the arguments were explored very in-depth. However, it still was an interesting and fun read! Three and a half points, really.
January 2, 2015
did not say much about the things that were missing
September 5, 2016
The book was a fun and interesting read but the spelling and grammatical errors throughout were a big distraction.
September 15, 2016
This book is a fun and entertaining read. Felt the coverage is very little for other parts of the world - Asia and Africa.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews