Richard Halliburton's Book of Marvels: the Occident

by Richard Halliburton

Written for students but loved by all ages Marvels of the Occident takes you on a journey to some of the marvels of our world. Visit wonders both natural and man-made, places you've heard about, and others you won't believe you didn't know of before.

In this book you will-
- Discover how a 10-year old brought shame on San Francisco
- Spend time in a city with no girls of any kind, not even animals
- Swim the Panama Canal
- Cross the Alps on an elephant
- Unearth a city frozen in time
- Jump into a lake like a human sacrifice
...and so much more!

Genres: Geography, Nonfiction, Travel, School, History

296 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1937

About the author

Writer, Lecturer, and World Traveler, Richard Halliburton published numerous books during his short lifetime. During his world travels, he visited exotic locales such as the Taj Mahal in India, climbed the Matterhorn, flew across the Sahara desert in a bi-winged plane, and swam the entire length of the Panama Canal. He also roamed the Mediterranean Sea retracing the route followed by Ulysses in Homer's Odyssey and crossed the Swiss Alps on the back of an elephant in a recreation of Hannibal's expedition. Halliburton died (or, more accurately, disappeared) in March 1939 as he and his crew attempted to sail a Chinese junk, the Sea Dragon, from Hong Kong to San Francisco as a publicity stunt. The vessel was unseaworthy and went down in a storm around March 23-24, 1939. His body was never recovered

Reviews

[Brit Chhangur · Rating 4 out of 5]

AO year 5 pre-read. Really great geography book. Using completebookofmarvels.com to get better photos and videos than what’s in the book and of course the kids are really enjoying that. Also love that he covers the history of the location and stories around it. Excited for the Orient!

[Jean Bowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book of marvels and adventures. It is surprisingly poetic and My 13 yr olds favorite schoolbook for the year.

Enchanting from beginning to end- living geography!

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Added a lot of new places to my bucket list 🤣

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

When my dad was about six, I think, he came across Richard Halliburton's Complete Book of Marvels. He read it over and over again. It was formative, giving him big goals, speaking to him in ways so deep that it affected my own childhood (unbeknownst to me at the time). It made him a world-traveler who has now seen more than half of these wonders, probably closer to 75%. So this book gets extra points for its legacy for my family. It almost feels like honoring my dad to read this to my kids for homeschool.

And it's a great read. Halliburton has a gift for relating an interesting historical tale associated with the landmark he's visiting. He's also a daredevil; my kids quickly picked up on the fact that as soon as he started describing how dangerous or high a place was, his next words would always be, "So now of course we're going to climb it."

After a while, the elaborate descriptions of the places run together to me. But the history really makes it stick.

[Malory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent travel book! Each chapter immersed me in the city and the beauty of its sites. I wanted to travel to these places and see the same things Halliburton did. He described the areas so well, you felt as if you were right there along with him. This is a sign of an excellent writer. I enjoyed reading this book so much and I'm sad that it's over. My 5th grader read it this year and I look forward to our next Halliburton travel book in 6th grade!

[Jessi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is living geography. The author is a real life Phileus Fogg.

[Eliza Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful. My daughter is going to love this book for her geography lessons this year.

[Hannah Shaffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this geography read aloud with my children. We read about many places I have heard about but didn't know much about, or places I'd never heard of before. I love how the author writes like he's taking you, personally, on a grand adventure. And I love how he includes the history, his personal experiences, and describes the physical attributes all in the short chapter. It's such a great book. (Keep in mind some parts are a little out of date though). We followed up these readings with map work, watching related YouTube videos, and journaling. Can't wait to read the Orient next year!

[Brittnee Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always LOVED geography, but this is the way I wish I would have been taught. I pre-read this for my son's 6th grade year and it was by far my favorite (main subject) book of the whole entire year. This is a prime example of a living book; you truly feel like you're on the journey with the author visiting these amazing places. My son is only 2/3s of the way through, but he said this has become one of his favorite books of the year too. It's so enjoyable, and Living Press also put together a whole blog page to bring these places into reality for us even more.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a way to learn geography! One of my kids’ favourite books this year (grades 2-6), we all enjoyed Mr. Halliburton’s descriptive and exciting style of writing. We watched a short YouTube video to go with each chapter so really felt like we were visiting the various locations and world wonders. Excited for Book 2 which will take us to Africa and Asia!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for world geography (though incomplete without the Marvels of the Orient, which we are moving on to now). The Occident half of the Marvels takes you on a tour of amazing natural and man-made sites in the Americas (North & South) and Europe.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the very best geography books I've read. Weaving geography with story and adventure, Halliburton rescues geography from dry, dull boredom, and sends it into the realm of excitement and fascination. We will definitely be using this in our homeschool again and again.

[Diane Madlon-Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

[Meredith Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

(with Ben & Mabry and a map)

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.
Ambleside year 5

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this is a really interesting overview of geography and wonders around the world. Some of the language needs updating to be more culturally sensitive. We used this for homeschooling.

[Amy Mauney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love! He makes geography come alive. After every chapter, the kids beg to go there! AO Y5

[Victoria Foote · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the best book we’ve ever read for Geography!!! We were enraptured by every place we visited!

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic way to make geography come alive.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting stories from a real adventurer. Some of the explanations of the actual trips are tedious. The best parts are the stories he tells of the background of the different places.

[Kmgreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic travel book for children that adults will love.

[Bethanyanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read with my 4th grader for homeschooling. We really enjoyed learning about the different places. It was especially wonderful read about places I've visited and daydream about family travels.

[Lisa Rosenow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book to the girls all year. We all really enjoyed it and learned so much. Now we have all kinds of new places we want to visit

[Lisa Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing has aged, but Richard Halliburton accomplished what he set out to do by bringing us along on a geographical tour de force. A great read aloud for late elementary/middle school.

[Nicole Bieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was captivating and so fun to read. Richard Halliburton takes you along as he visits some of the marvels around the Americas and Europe. He bring geography and history alive for all ages.

[Ailie Baumann · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a great way to visit popular and some less known places in Europe and the Americas. great way to learn Geography and create a bucket list of places to see

[Danielle Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can not emphasize how much we loved this book. My boys were enthralled just as much as me. I learned so much right along with them. This book is beyond a gem!

[Carson Meyers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had all the problems that I had with book one, only to a smaller degree. This was also very educational, and written in an intersting way. I liked it better than book two.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This makes studying geography feel like one grand adventurous road trip. Who wants to join Caleb and me to visit these places??