Read & Download Exploring Russia and Central Asia (SURFING A MAGICAL INTERNET Book 13) (English Edition) ä PDF eBook or Kindle ePUB free HEINZ KOHLER was born and Central Kindle Ð in Berlin Germany where he grew up before and during World War II By the war s end he found himself in rural East Germany and spent years watching the Nazi tyranny give way to a Communist one He made it to West Berlin before the Exploring Russia MOBI :À Wall went up and came to the United States in the late s Since he was associated with Amherst College Massachusetts where he became the Willard Long Thorp Professor of Economics taught Economics as well as Statistics and published numerous textbooks on both subjects His most recent writings include SURFING Russia and Central PDF/EPUB ä A MAGICAL INTERNET a series of books that show how people learned things years ago before our internet existed MY NAME WAS FIVE a memoir of World War II and CAUTION SNAKE OIL which shows how statistical thinking can help us expose misinformation about our healthThe SURFING A MAGICAL INTERNET series takes us back to a time some years ago when the newly formed Liebig s Extract of Meat Company decided to advertise its product by rewarding loyal customers with gifts of colorful and beautiful picture cards Each card was a work of art no wonder the images and their associated commentary captivated and mesmerized people Before long thousands of these cards were circulating They told fascinating stories about every conceivable aspect of life on earth and as a group similar to what the real internet might do in our time came to embody the sum total of human knowledge Collectors traveled the globe met people from any country on earth and learned about their customs They visited lost civilizations too or viewed the world s natural wonders of the day They studied plants or animals or the evolution of commerce and transport They discovered the secrets of agriculture forestry and fishing or found out how new inventions were transforming industry They familiarized themselves with music and literature great art and architecture with famous men and women of all ages and most importantly for children no doubt with giants and dwarfs elves and gnomes riddles and fairy tales In hindsight strange as it may sound the company s most important contribution was not to the kitchens of the world but to the education of millions of people of all ages who could not go to school or afford books The author s grandmother was one of these people and many years later when he was a child she googled her large collection of Liebig cards to satisfy his urge to find out everything about the big wide worldBook EXTRAORDINARY BIRDS is the first volume of the series that resurrects grandmother s magical Internet We meet the most beautiful the fastest the largest and the most powerful birds in the world we come across magnificent bird s nests unlike any we have ever known we encounter birds that once carried the mail in peace and in war we discover the role of birds in history we marvel at amazing patterns of migrating birds in the sky we learn of birds that can t fly at all and of birds inspiring poetry We even go up in the sky and get a bird s eye view of the earth at a time long before airplanes and satellites existed And that s not all There are surprises on every page and there is fun for children of all ages Kindle edition since April Book BRAINTEASERS is a collection of all sorts of mental challenges that delighted children during my grandmother s youth Over pictures confront readers with riddles they can try to solve illustrate proverbs they must identify or depict scenes in which something is missing that they are urged to find There are new conundrums on every page even the book cover contains a mental challenge can you see it Kindle edition since May Book UNUSUAL PLANTS presents over pictures along with fascinating stories about all sorts of unusual plants that excited people during my grandmother s youth and are bound to do the same for us We meet medicinal plants that may or may not heal people and others that would definitely poison them We learn of plants that are the source of beautiful paints and dyes and of others that have long been celebrated in works of art We study spice plants and carnivorous plants and find out how some plants came to be sacred plants We visit night blooming plants and nightshade plants and marvel at the world s most remarkable trees We meet up with exotic food plants and encounter others still that manage to prosper in the driest of deserts or on the highest of mountains And we come across intriguing stories about reeds and cane plants and all sorts of useful industrial plants that have supported a great variety of human endeavors for millennia There are amazing stories associated with all of these Kindle edition since August Book REMARKABLE ANIMALS presents almost pictures along with fascinating stories about all sorts of fascinating animals We meet magnificent creatures from antediluvian times and travel through different geological eras most of these animals roamed the earth long before humans did We visit beautiful animals inhabiting the sea colorful anemones corals jellyfish and all sorts of luminescent beings that light up the undersea world but are rarely seen Back on firmer ground we discover animals celebrated in works of art and others once considered sacred and even worshiped by people We come across individual animals that have been immortalized by stories historians tell We study strange mammals without teeth and beasts of burden that have supported human endeavors for millennia We marvel at insects that are masters of camouflage and at colorful butterflies of the day or the night We face poisonous snakes and animals living on the world s highest mountains And we read intriguing stories about animals that lived among ancient gods who turned them into glimmering objects in the sky Kindle edition since March Book WONDERS OF THE WORLD presents nearly pictures and associated stories Right away we meet the seven wonders of the ancient world of which sadly only the great pyramids of Egypt survive But we can still visit the wonders of our own world natural and man made We stand in awe before powerful volcanoes and geysers amazing rock formations and strange bridges that nature has built We marvel at the beauty of giant caves and magnificent waterfalls follow the paths of explorers through narrow waterways between the world s oceans enjoy the grandeur of fjords and the breathtaking splendor of mountain passes We learn how people built seemingly impossible tunnels through the Alps view colossal statues from ancient and modern times inspect the ruins of lost cities and civilizations Are nature s works longer lasting We examine the uestion by looking at lights in our sky the sun and the moon comets rainbows mirages andKindle edition since August Book THE WORLD S GREATEST INVENTIONS presents pictures and associated stories They trace the history of civilization from the Stone Age right up to the early s when the last one of these pictures was published We watch how people learned to make fire to harness flammable gases and finally make electricity We see how they managed to light up the night using lamps at home and in the streets and lighthouses at the coast We recognize the importance of fire in manufacturing of the plow in agriculture of weights and measures clocks money writing reading printing paper making and musical instruments We follow the history of medicine from outright uackery to later scientific approaches of communications from bells and fire signals to the telegraph We meet the steam engine along with steamships and railway locomotives which it spawned We marvel at the fascinating story of the automobile a windmill car drove in and of people taking to the air the first balloon flight came in the first heavier than air plane which used modern three axis controls flew in Kindle edition since December Book EXPLORING NORTHERN EUROPE presents pictures and associated stories They show what a person would have seen when traveling through Northern Europe a century orago When joining that traveler to visit places like Finland Sweden Denmark Norway and Iceland some of which were not even independent countries at the time the reader enters something like a time machine which makes for an especially intriguing trip Unlike the real thing it is much less scary too In fact in the process readers can safely travel to an evendistant past and have fun by learning about a time when Norse gods ruled the world Kindle edition since March MY NAME WAS FIVE is a powerful tale of war and its aftermath that draws upon the author s experiences during World War II as well as later ones when he logged thousands of flight hours as a commercial pilot As early readers put it the book is unflinching stark and painfully compelling a psychological tour de force a haunting chronicle of war and its aftermath and a riveting child s eye account of growing up in Germany under the Nazis and then the Russians laced with extraordinary photos and posters from those times it combines memory with testimony Paperback since Kindle edition since CAUTION SNAKE OIL was inspired by the author s concern with the proper design and execution of observational studies and controlled experiments both prone to many potential errors and abuses and his eagerness to show how careful scientists can use these statistical procedures to find the truth about health related claims and how the rest of us properly euipped with a few statistical tools can gain crucial insights from the daily flood of medical news while escaping mere hype and outright lies The book has been hailed as one of the most impressive and eye opening books about your health you will ever read and as finally a book that empowers its readers to navigate safely the minefield of conflicting and confusing medical claims As other readers put it put this one high on your list enter the world of evidence based medicine learn which stories to believe which to take with a grain of salt and which to discard without a second thought and an authoritative and fascinating book beautifully written in a style to which we can all relate a must read for anyone seeking credible health information in print or online Paperback since Kindle edition since .