Discover the astonishing story of the world’s greatest lost treasures in this enthralling narrative by a writer with "the anecdotal flourishes of Oliver Sacks and the populist accessibility of Malcolm Gladwell." (Entertainment Weekly)
Spanning a million years of history, the mysteries in these pages include fabled relics, legendary cities, mythical species, and undeciphered languages that have bedeviled seekers for centuries.
Perhaps the single most common theme across all of history is loss. The loss of lands, loss of sacred objects, loss of languages, of rights, of life—the past groans with disappearances of all kinds. This enthralling narrative collects the most spellbinding tales of these experiences and weaves them into a thoughtful meditation on what it all means across the sweep of human history and the scope of human lives, including:
The long-lost city of Troy
The hidden tomb of Genghis Khan
The destruction of the fabled library of Alexandria
The near-destruction of the Mona Lisa and other art
The decipherment of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs
The extinction—and potential resurrection—of dodos, mammoths, and other iconic species
Provocative, surprising, and above all entertaining, this globe-trotting narrative acknowledges the sheer scale of humanity’s losses, celebrates the treasures we have managed to retain, and reveals why they continue to captivate us centuries later.
Sam Kean is the New York Times best-selling author of eight books,including Dinner With King Tut, The Icepick Surgeon, The Bastard Brigade, and The Disappearing Spoon. His writing has appeared in National Geographic, the New Yorker, the New York Times, and The Best American Science and Nature Writing. His work has also been featured on NPR’s Radiolab, Science Friday, All Things Considered, and Fresh Air, and his podcast, The Disappearing Spoon, debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes charts for science podcasts. He lives in Washington D.C.
View titles by Sam Kean
Discover the astonishing story of the world’s greatest lost treasures in this enthralling narrative by a writer with "the anecdotal flourishes of Oliver Sacks and the populist accessibility of Malcolm Gladwell." (Entertainment Weekly)
Spanning a million years of history, the mysteries in these pages include fabled relics, legendary cities, mythical species, and undeciphered languages that have bedeviled seekers for centuries.
Perhaps the single most common theme across all of history is loss. The loss of lands, loss of sacred objects, loss of languages, of rights, of life—the past groans with disappearances of all kinds. This enthralling narrative collects the most spellbinding tales of these experiences and weaves them into a thoughtful meditation on what it all means across the sweep of human history and the scope of human lives, including:
The long-lost city of Troy
The hidden tomb of Genghis Khan
The destruction of the fabled library of Alexandria
The near-destruction of the Mona Lisa and other art
The decipherment of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs
The extinction—and potential resurrection—of dodos, mammoths, and other iconic species
Provocative, surprising, and above all entertaining, this globe-trotting narrative acknowledges the sheer scale of humanity’s losses, celebrates the treasures we have managed to retain, and reveals why they continue to captivate us centuries later.
Creators
Sam Kean is the New York Times best-selling author of eight books,including Dinner With King Tut, The Icepick Surgeon, The Bastard Brigade, and The Disappearing Spoon. His writing has appeared in National Geographic, the New Yorker, the New York Times, and The Best American Science and Nature Writing. His work has also been featured on NPR’s Radiolab, Science Friday, All Things Considered, and Fresh Air, and his podcast, The Disappearing Spoon, debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes charts for science podcasts. He lives in Washington D.C.
View titles by Sam Kean
