Wonder English

Have you ever wondered: Why a day has 24 hours? Why is there a hole in the doughnut? Why do we light candles on a birthday cake? Like many people, you’ve probably asked some of these questions when you were younger or maybe recently. Well, you will be pleasantly surprised to discover the interesting and maybe slightly bizarre origins of the strange things we do.

What is this world? What kind of place is it? The round kind. The spinning kind. The moist kind. The inhabited kind. The kind with flamingos (real and artificial). The kind where water in the sky turns into beautifully symmetrical crystal flakes sculpted by artists unable to stop themselves (in both design and quantity). The kind of place with tiny, powerfully jawed mites assigned to the carpets to eat my dead skin as it flakes off....

The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon is an exciting story of detection involving legends, expert decipherment of ancient texts, and a vivid description of a little-known civilization. Recognized in ancient times as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the legendary Hanging Garden of Babylon and its location still remains a mystery steeped in shadow and puzzling myths. In this remarkable volume Stephanie Dalley, a world expert on ancient Babylonian language, gathers for the first time all the material on this enigmatic World Wonder.

Kadijah Carrie—aka KC—is obsessed with roller skating. When its revival goes viral on the internet, she shows her parents and friends all the cool videos and tricks she can find. Then Kadijah discovers the world of roller speed skating, and she is determined to take part in a local speed skating tournament. But there's a tiny problem . . . Kadijah doesn't know how to skate. Will the help of her friends and a stint at a fast-food drive-in get Kadijah up to speed for the race, or will she wipe out?

Religion once formed the rhythms and structures of society: marking time with calendars, carving out space for contemplation, creating connection, reinforcing legacy and morality. Now, for many, religion no longer runs the show. So where shall we find our magic? How do we celebrate milestones? Which texts can focus our attention but still offer space for inquiry, communion, and the chance to dwell for a dazzling instant in what can’t be said?

The Bible is a narrative - the story of God's creation, humankind's fall, and God's plan of redemption. And it is filled with countless smaller stories that teach us about people, history, and the nature of God. It's no surprise that God would choose to reveal himself to us in story - after all, he hardwired us for story. Despite this, we so often attempt to share our faith with others not through story but through systems, arguments, and talking points - methods that appeal only to our mind and neglect our imagination and our emotions.

From the best-selling author of Seven Deadly Wonders and Contest comes a thrilling racing adventure. In the world of the near future, the most popular sport is hover car racing. Superfast and dangerous, its heroes are the racers: part fighter pilot, part race-car driver, all superstar. But to get to the Pro Circuit, you must first pass through the International Race School, a brutal cauldron of wild races on even wilder courses, where only the best of the best will survive.

An extraordinary memoir about finding wonder in everyday life, from magician Nate Staniforth. Nate Staniforth has spent most of his life and all of his professional career trying to understand wonder - what it is, where to find it and how to share it with others. He became a magician because he learned at a young age that magic tricks don't have to be frivolous. Magic doesn't have to be about sequins and smoke machines - rather, it can create a moment of genuine astonishment.

Jack McKinley and his friends defeated the Colossus of Rhodes, unearthed the treasures of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and recovered two of the seven lost Loculi - only to find they'd been betrayed. With Babylon in ruins, Marco on the Massa side, and ancient secrets coming unraveled, the Select don't know who to trust or where to turn. Their G7W powers are growing at a furious pace, their worlds have been turned upside down, and the Massa are hot on their heels. But Jack, Aly, and Cass have no choice but to fight on.

Ted Kooser describes with exquisite detail and humor the place he calls home in the rolling hills of southeastern Nebraska, an area known as the Bohemian Alps. Nothing is too big or too small for his attention, including memories of his grandmother's cooking. And Kooser reminds us that the closing of local schools, thoughtless county weed control, and irresponsible housing development destroy more than just the view.

A playwright possessed by her muses, an actress desperate to succeed, and a doctor haunted by a lost love. Three people cross time and space to meet through the playwright's bizarre creative process.

What if heaven wasn't just meant to be experienced after we die? What if heaven can be enjoyed here on earth—right now? Through story and conversations with Jesus, best-selling author Andrew Farley reveals how much you can take in the beauty of heaven no matter what your circumstances. With insight firmly rooted in the reality of pain and suffering in his own life, Andrew assures you that heaven is not merely some pie-in-the-sky dream for the future - it is now.

USA Today hails Steven Saylor as a “modern master of historical fiction.” Rich in intrigue and period detail, his novels set in ancient Rome have garnered acclaim the world over. A prequel to his epic Roma Sub Rosa series, The Seven Wonders follows series star Gordianus the Finder as an 18-year-old traveling the Mediterranean to witness the wonders of that fabled age. At each stop, the young investigator finds a beguiling mystery that pushes his powers of deduction to the limit.

Choose Wonder over Worry is your official invitation to face your fears, navigate your discomfort, and rewrite the "worry myths” in your mind that keep you from being your best and truest self. Journey with inspirational speaker and artist Amber Rae as she connects you with your voice of worry and wonder, teaches you to listen to your emotions rather than silence them, and encourages you to seize your dreams.

Learn something about everything with 13 mind-blowing facts plus a little myth-buster about every topic under (and including) the sun! Everyday objects from cars and skeletons to pianos and chocolate take young listeners on an incredible factual adventure.

Birds, Jim Robbins posits, are our most vital connection to nature. They compel us to look to the skies, both literally and metaphorically, draw us out into nature to seek their beauty, and let us experience vicariously what it is like to be weightless. Birds have helped us in so many of our human endeavors: learning to fly, providing clothing and food, and helping us better understand the human brain and body.

Stevie Wonder's achievements as a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer are extraordinary. During a career that has spanned almost fifty years, he has earned more than 30 Top 10 hits, 26 Grammy Awards, and a place in both the Rock and Roll and Songwriter Halls of Fame - and he's not finished yet. On the verge of turning 60, he is still composing, still touring, and still attracting dedicated fans around the world.

Have you ever struggled to concentrate because there are SO many questions buzzing around your brain? Here are answers to seventy-one of the most bamboozling questions and curious queries that you can think of. How many stars are in the night sky? Why don't animals wear clothes? Do plants have feelings? This book will define, debunk, and demystify the trickiest of questions and open your eyes to amazing facts you have never even thought of!

River Songs is rich with bracing, authentic, generous stories-writing that revels in language and spirit. Avoiding most of fly fishing's cliches—the romantic elegies, the Moby-Dick-like conquests, the play-by-play detailing a "victory" over a fish—Steve Duda instead offers pieces that breathe lived experience, reveal vulnerabilities, and convey a broad perspective of what it means to have "a long run with a tight crew."

If you read a standard history of magic, you learn that it begins in ancient Egypt with the resurrection of a goose in front of the Pharaoh. You discover how magicians were tortured and killed during the age of witchcraft. You are told how conjuring tricks were used to quell rebellious colonial natives. The history of magic is full of such stories, which turn out not to be true. Behind the smoke and mirrors, however, lies the real story of magic.