Friday, October 05, 2012

SPORED: The Book of Wonders


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From page 174, "When Man Began to Live," from The Book of Wonders (Toronto: Bureau of Industrial Education, 1916).

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I bought this encyclopedia of sorts at the Symposium on Manitoba Writing this past spring. 

The cover is purple and features an owl with gold foil eyes staring down at the earth.

Its subtitle is: Wonders of Nature and the Wonders Produced by Man. Its sub-subtitle is: Gives Plain and Simple Answers to the Thousands of Everyday Questions That Are Asked And Which All Should Be Able To, But Cannot Answer.

And in addition to answering an array of questions - p. 174 includes Where Do Living Things Come From?, What is Inorganic Matter? Where Did Life Begin on Earth? When Did Man Begin to Live? Why Must Life Be Reproduced? - it also includes mini-essays on topics such as The Story in a Railroad Engine and The Story in a Drink of Water.

Having put the Edison manuscript aside for the moment, I haven't been working from this book very much of late. But it's a fascinating text...and so, I decided to spore it.

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