"It's time to get off the beaten path. Inspiring equal parts wonder and wanderlust, Atlas Obscura celebrates over 700 of the strangest and most curious places in the world. Talk about a bucket list: here are natural wonders-- the dazzling glowworm caves in New Zealand, or a baobob tree in South Africa that's so large it has a pub inside where 15 people can drink comfortably. Architectural marvels, including the M.C. Escher-like stepwells in India....

Ancient civilizations hid the secrets of their incredible knowledge of astronomy in their temples and palaces, built to align with the sun, on the same day, all over the world. Revealing humankind's obsession with the sun, across thousands of years and every continent, this is architectural magic on a cosmic scale.

Disc 1. The lure of the city -- Catalhoyuk, first experiment in urban living -- Jericho and its walls -- Uruk, city of Gilgamesh -- Mysterious Mohenjo-daro -- Kahun, company town in the desert . Disc 2. Work and life at Deir el-Medina -- Amarna, revolutionary capital -- Knossos, palace, city, or temple? -- Akrotiri, Bronze Age Pompeii -- Mycenae, Tiryns, and the mask of Agamemnon -- Athens, civic buildings and civic identity. Disc 3. Athenian domestic...

A hundred years ago, the Minotaurs saved Caeli-Amur from conquest. Now, three very different people may hold the keys to the city's survival. Once, it is said, gods used magic to create reality, with powers that defied explanation. But the magic-or science, if one believes those who try to master the dangers of thaumaturgy-now seems more like a dream. Industrial workers for House Technis, farmers for House Arbor, and fisher folk of House Marin eke...

Who lived in our world's ancient places? How did they survive? Travel back to the lost cities of Babylon, Karnak, Herculaneum, Mesa Verde, Angkor Wat, Great Zimbabwe, Easter Island (or Rapa Nui), Tenochtitlan, Machu Picchu, Fatehpur Sikri, Jamestown, Caughnawaga, and Akrotiri. See why these civilizations were lost--and how they were found! -back cover.

Professor Harl begins during the Bronze Age and the emergence of urban-based literate civilizations and carries the story forward until the demise of Persia's great empire at the hands of the Greeks, who embraced many of the achievements of these Near East civilizations but clearly represented a different kind of civilization, built on different institutions. Along the way, he examines advances like the invention and evolution of writing; the development...