Have you been to the Taj Mahal?
I blundered and started working on the wrong episode. I can't cover the Red Fort without having first talked about the Taj Mahal because tha...
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Wonders of the World
Wonders of the World: the podcast that visits the great places on Earth to tell the story of our people, our civilization, and our planet.
Episodes
20 of 175 episodes
109 - The High Passes of Ladakh and the Himalaya
The Himalaya are the highest and greatest mountain range on earth, and their importance to Asian culture and history cannot be overstated. 1...
108 - The Safavid Family and the Naqsh-e Jahan Square
The Naqsh-e Jahan Square is a remarkable example of urban planning, the centerpiece of the grand imperial capital of Esfahan, Iran. The capi...
107 - Gustavus Adolphus and the Aurora Borealis
Perhaps the most ethereal and beautiful astronomical sight available to regular old humans, the auroras borealis and australis, the Northern...
Come See Me at Intelligent Speech Online!
February 8th! Got to https://intelligentspeechonline.com/ for tickets! And use the promo code WONDERS to get 10% off! It'll be great!
106 - The Valley of the Middle Rhine and the 30 Years War
The Rhine River flows through the heartland of western Germany, through a gorge passing an average of one castle per mile. Reisling vineyard...
105 - Český Krumlov and the Defenestration of Prague
Nestled on a bend of the Vltava River, the beautiful town of Český Krumlov is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe. It's also...
104 - The Old New Synagogue of Prague and the Golem
They say a giant man of clay sits in the attic, waiting for centuries for his instructions. The story of the Golem in Prague is one of the c...
103 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa and Galileo Galilei
You've seen it on a million pizza boxes, in a thousand Italian restaurants, and in photos of your Dad pretending to hold it up. It's the Lea...
102 - The Harmandir Sahib of Amritsar and the Beginning of Sikhism
The youngest of the world's seven largest religions is Sikhism, founded in Punjab in the 16th century. Nanak, a guru, or teacher, from outsi...
101 - The Uffizi Gallery of Florence and Cosimo I de' Medici
One of the world's great museums of Renaissance art: the Uffizi. Meaning "the offices," the Uffizi were quite literally built as an office b...
Bonus - The Total Solar Eclipse of 2024
A quick bonus episode about how eclipses connect with human history
099 - The Meenakshi Amman Temple of Madurai and the Fall of Vijayanagar
Towering above the city of Madurai, the gopurams or gateways of the Meenakshi Amman Temple are medieval skyscrapers, awash in color, writhin...
100 - The Wieliczka Salt Mine and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
In the late 1500s Poland and Lithuania joined to create the Commonwealth, a remarkable, if flawed, experiment in constitutional monarchy tha...
098 - The Süleymaniye Mosque of Istanbul and Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent? Suleiman the Lawgiver? Suleiman the Bisexual Poet? No matter how you label him, Suleiman was a fascinating sultan...
097 - Machu Picchu and the Rise and Fall of the Inca
The world-famous "lost city of the Inca". It wasn't a city, and it wasn't lost, but yes, it was made by the Inca. The incredibly scenic form...
Mental Health Hiatus
It's all too much for me to take - the Beatles, 1969
096 - The Humble Administrator's Garden of Suzhou
He was from the richest city in Ming China, or one of the richest, and after his checkered political career, he came home and planted a gard...
095 - The Migration of the Monarch Butterflies and the Conquest of Mexico
Monarch butterflies are tiny, ephemeral creatures, whose audacious color patterns makes them beloved across a continent, yet few realize how...
Update and Intelligent Speech
A brief update about the show!