Juan C. Villar The Seventh Wonder Reviews

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Good Points: Funny and informative, with GPS coordinates for those using handheld GPS.

Bad Points: Pictures in black and white.

General comments: The Seventh Wonder by Juan C. Villar is very unusual and very fascinating. The book is a Connecticut Yankee's account of his trip in 2001 (before 9/11) to see the ruins of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. He takes off from New York and travels, (in case you don't know where they are located) through Greece, Turkey, and Egypt. The book works on three levels. First, it's a travelog, written very much like a novel, and both funny and fascinating. Second, it's an historical text, having asides describing each wonder's history in a way that is entirely different than normally written on the subject, also often hilarious and fascinating. Thirdly, it's a travel guide with detailed information to instruct you on how to do this trip yourself, including GPS coordinates for the Wonders, other historically significant sites, hotels, etc. The author did all this in three weeks, albeit at breakneck speed, but there seems no reason anyone wouldn't be able to reproduce his journey in four or five. Drawbacks: Pictures in the book are black and white and I would have liked to have seen more.