I read it through because I got it out from the library, but it is probably best experienced as a reference book to dip into whenever you feel like something a little out of the ordinary. It is unlikely that every single item will appeal to everyone, but anyone who could go through the entire book and find nothing to interest them would be very unusual indeed. From a natural phenomenon like New Zealand's glowworm cave to manmade features like carhenge, escapes of all sort lurk between the pages ( )

Atlas Obscura — это большой онлайн-проект, посвященный необычным местам Земли. Необычно интересным, необычно красивым, необычно странным. Тысячи пользователей со всего мира присылали на сайт свои находки. Теперь все это богатство идей для путешествий стало доступно в виде книги-путеводителя. В отличие от объектов Всемирного наследия ЮНЕСКО за этими редко ухаживают: так, ураган в Москве завалил одну из пирамид Александра Голода, а пламенные туркменские «Врата ада» приказал затушить лично глава государства. Вообще в РФ авторы обнаружили восемь достопримечательностей, а всего в книге описаны сотни мест и даже процессов (например, ручная разборка танкеров бенгальцами).

Вкус, конечно, у составителей специфический: такому количеству найденного макабра можно только подивиться, равно как и творениям одиночек-безумцев. Если в Европе они креативят еще в разумных рамках, то в других частях света уже ничто не мешает им развернуться. Атлас стоит прочитать и тем, кто много путешествует. Тогда вы не пропустите полет над структурой Ришат — «Глазом Сахары», а еще обнаружите немало вариантов для совершенно эксклюзивных селфи.

An interesting book that I browsed, rather than read. It seems more like an encyclopedia than an atlas, listing and describing various locations with enough photos included to tantalize the curious traveler. It's organized by continent/country/city with some small maps to keep the reader oriented. The trick is that these are obscure attractions. So by definition, the reader/traveler will need to travel a little afield to get to many of the more interesting places.

I'm a browser by nature, which makes this an ideal book for me to spend days perusing. But I dared not spend days in it, only dipping my toes to get a feel. Perhaps I'll return and drink more deeply. For now, I'll just recommend it to the curious and to my future self. ( )

The world is truly full of interesting things... some man-made, some natural; some delightful, some macabre; some beautiful, some ugly. This book has it all. It's organized by continent and region.

This might be the perfect book to sit on your coffee table and page through every once in a while. I read/skimmed it in a short time since I had it from the library, and I think it would be even more interesting in short, spread out doses (when confronted with 450 pages of even the most interesting things, the mind tends to get a bit overloaded!).

Who knows where the world's largest Tesla coil is? The longest burning electric light bulb (first installed in 1901!)? Jacques Cousteau's favorite underwater sinkhole? An apparatus designed to let leeches predict the weather? Why does the southern pole of inaccessibility have a bust of Lenin? Etc., etc., etc.! Inquiring minds want to know, and this book explains. ( )

Christmas shopping each year for my brother-in-law and his wife is next to impossible. As corporate lawyers in New York City (now in Miami), they want for just about nothing, so getting them a present that speaks to the interests and sensibilities is the only way to go. And it’s hard. Easier now than it was before they had children back in 2016 when this beauty arrived in the store and for once, in the 6 years I’d been buying them presents, I knew exactly what to get them. I made the book one of my staff picks for holiday gift giving and, as my boss gets each of the staff a book of their choice for Christmas each year, I asked for a copy of my own.

As regular world travels (I have great and excessive envy of their passports), my brother-in-law and his wife delighted in picking out the places they’d been and where they’d want to go. They spent hours on Christmas Day pouring over the pages and it was passed around the family for hours after that. When visiting them at their apartment, it was the only book they had out on the table, the edges now worn and clearly turned repeatedly with care.

Now, as I plan my trip to the UK to visit my sister in June, I’ve post-it noted the places I want to go, and also marked them on the Atlas Obscura website because the book is too precious (and heavy) to travel with. I’ve altered my travel plans with her to suit visiting some of the places included in this book (as well as Lonely Planet’s Global Coffee Tour) and in my researching and paging through, I was pleasantly surprised to find it included some places I had already traveled too! ( )