The book of wonders, Volume 1

Read The book of wonders, Volume 1 online, free: 230 chapters, public domain, on Papyras.

Start reading

Introduction
How Man Learned to Write
How Does a Blotter Take Up the Ink of a Blot?
Where Does Chalk Come From?
How Did Men Learn to Talk?
How Did Shaking the Head Come to Mean “No”?
How Did a Nod Come to Mean “Yes”?
Why Do We Count in Tens?
What Does Man Mean by Counting Himself?
Where Did All the Names of People Originate?
Why Can You Blow Out a Candle?
The Story in a Photograph
Why Do Some Eyes In a Picture Seem to Follow Us?
Where Does a Light Go When It Goes Out?
Why Does a Fire Go Out?
Why Does a Lamp Give a Better Light With the Chimney On?
Does Light Weigh Anything?
Why Does a Stick Seem to Bend When Put in Water?
What Makes the Stars Twinkle?
Why Does an Onion Make the Tears Come?
The First Missile
Who First Discovered the Power of Gunpowder?
The Parts of a Big Gun
What Is Motion?
Is Perpetual Motion Possible?
How Can an Explosion Break Windows That Are at a Distance?
Why Do Some Things Bend and Others Break?
Why Does a Ball Bounce?
What Makes a Ball Stop Bouncing?
What Makes a Cold Glass Crack if We Put Hot Water Into It?
What Causes the Gurgle When I Pour Water from a Bottle?
Where Does the Part of a Stocking Go That Was Where the Hole Comes?
Why Do Coats Have Buttons On the Sleeves?
Why Has a Long Coat Buttons on the Back?
The Story in the Telephone
Where Does Sound Come From?
Why Can We Make Sounds With Our Throats?
Why Does the Sound Stop When We Touch a Gong that Has Been Sounded?
How Can Sound Come Through a Thick Wall?
What Is Meant by Deadening a Floor or a Wall?
What Makes the Sounds Like Waves in a Sea Shell?
What Are the Sounds We Hear in a Shell?
The Story in a Suit of Clothes
Why Can’t We See in the Dark?
Why Can Cats and Some Other Animals See in the Dark?
Why Is It Difficult to Walk Straight with My Eyes Closed?
Why Can’t We Sleep with Our Eyes Open?
Why Do Our Eyes Sparkle When We Are Merry?
Why Do We Laugh When Glad?
Why Do I Laugh When Tickled?
Why Don’t I Laugh When I Tickle Myself?
What Happens When We Laugh?
Why Do We Cry When Hurt?
Where Do Tears Come From?
Where Do the Tears Go?
Story in a Barrel of Cement
Why Don’t We Make Roads Perfectly Level?
Why Are Some Roads Called Turnpikes?
What Is Dust?
What Becomes of the Dust?
Are Stones Alive?
What and Why Is Smoke?
Why Can’t We Burn Stones?
What Is Fog?
What Becomes of the Smoke?
Why Does an Apple Turn Brown When Cut?
Why Does a Piece of Wood Float in Water?
Why Does Iron Sink In Water?
Why Doesn’t an Iron Ship Sink?
Why Does a Poker Get Hot at Both Ends if Left in the Fire?
Would a Wooden Spoon Get Hot?
Why Does Iron Turn Red When Red Hot?
How Did the Sand Get on the Seashore?
What Makes a Soap Bubble?
What Makes the Bubble Explode?
The Story in a Yard of Silk
What Animal Can Leap the Greatest Distance?
Why Do We Call Voting Balloting?
Why Do We Call a Cab a Hansom?
Where Did the Name Calico Come From?
Who Made the First Postage Stamp?
How Many Languages Are There?
What Is the Deepest Mine In the World?
What Is Color?
Where Did the Term Dixie Originate?
How Big Is the Earth?
What Causes Hail?
Why Does a Human Being Have To Learn to Swim?
Why Do I Get Cold in a Warm Room?
Why Do They Call Them Wisdom Teeth?
What Makes Freckles Come?
The Flying Boat
Where Is the Wind When It Is Not Blowing?
Where Does the Wind Begin?
What Causes the Wind’s Whistle?
Why Does the Air Never Get Used Up?
Why Can’t We See Air?
Why Does Thunder Always Come After the Lightning?
How Big Is the Sun?
How Hot Is the Sun?
Why Is It Warm in Summer?
Why Is It Cold in Winter?
Why Have We Five Fingers on Each Hand and Five Toes on Each Foot?
Why Do We Have Finger Nails?
Why Are Our Fingers of Different Lengths?
Why Does It Hurt When I Cut My Finger?
Why Don’t My Hair Hurt When It Is Being Cut?
Of What Use Is My Hair?
Why Does My Hair Stand On End When I Am Frightened?
What Makes Some People Bald?
What Makes Some Things in the Same Room Colder than Others?
Why Does the Hair Grow After the Body Stops Growing?
Will People All Be Bald Sometime?
The Story in a Lump of Sugar
How Can We Smell Things?
How Do We Taste Things?
What Happens When We See?
Why Can We Hear?
What Is a Totem Pole For?
Where Does a Flower Get Its Perfume?
Why Do Flowers Have Perfumes?
How Do Flowers Produce Seeds?
Why Are Leaves Not All the Same Shape?
Why Are Some Radiators Longer Than Others?
What Makes Roses Red?
Why Do Plants and Trees Grow Up Instead of Down?
What Becomes of the Plants and Flowers in Winter?
How Can Some Plants Climb a Smooth Wall?
What Are the Thorns on Roses and Other Plants Good For?
Do Plants Breathe?
What Happens When Breathing Occurs?
How Do Plants Breathe?
Why Do Plants Need Sunlight?
Why Does Milk Turn Sour?
The Story in a Rug
The Making of Carpets
Why Do I Yawn?
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?
Have Plants Fathers and Mothers?
How Do Plants Reproduce Life?
Why Do Plants Have Seeds?
Why Does an Ear of Corn Have Silk?
How Does the Pollen Touch the Grain of Corn?
Do Father and Mother Plants Always Live Together?
Why Do Flowers Have Smells?
How Are Fishes Born?
How Birds Are Taught to Fly
What Makes the Hollow Place at One End of a Boiled Egg?
Is Man an Animal?
Why Cannot Babies Walk as Soon as Born?
What Are Ball Bearings?
Why a Gasoline Engine Goes
Why Does the Heart Beat When the Brain Is Asleep?
Why Do Our Hearts Beat Faster When We Are Running?
Why Do I Get Out of Breath When Running?
Why Does My Heart Beat Faster When I Am Scared?
Why Does Cold Make Our Hands Blue?
Why Do I Get Red in the Face?
Is Yawning Infectious?
What Makes Me Want to Stretch?
What Happens When I Stretch?
Why Can We Think of Only One Thing at a Time?
Why Do I Turn White When Scared?
What Makes Me Blush?
What Occurs When We Think?
Can Animals Think?
Why Do I Sneeze?
What Happens When I Swallow?
What Makes the Lump Come In My Throat When I Cry?
Why Do We Stop Growing?
Why Do We Grow Aged?
What Causes Wrinkles?
Does Thunder Sour Milk?
What Makes the Rings in the Water When I Throw a Stone Into It?
Why Are There Many Languages?
What Makes a Match Light When We Strike It?
What Makes the Kettle Whistle?
What Makes the Water From a Fountain Shoot Into the Air?
What Keeps a Balloon Up?
Why Did People of Long Ago Live Longer Than We Do Now?
Is There a Reason for Everything?
What Makes an Echo?
What is a Whispering Gallery?
Why Do We Get a Bump Instead of a Dent When We Knock Our Heads?
The Deep Sea Diver
What Happens When Anything Explodes?
What Causes the Smoke When a Gun Goes Off?
What is Smokeless Powder Made Of?
What is Nitroglycerine?
What Makes Nitroglycerine and Guncotton Explode So Readily?
What Is Silver?
What Is Worry?
Why Do We Worry?
The Story in a Tunnel
Why Do My Teeth Chatter?
Where Did All the Water in the Oceans Come From?
Why Don’t the Water in the Ocean Sink In?
Where Does the Water in the Ocean Go at Low Tide?
Why Does the Ocean Look Blue at Times and at Other Times Green?
Why Does Water Run?
What Makes the Water Boil?
At What Point of Heat Does Water Boil?
What Do We Mean by Fahrenheit?
Why Can’t We Swim as Easily in Fresh Water as in Salt Water?
Why Do We Say Some Water Is Hard and Other Water Soft?
How Does Water Put a Fire Out?
Where Does the Rain Go?
Why Does Rain Make the Air Fresh?
Is a Train Harder to Stop Than to Start?
What Makes the Knots In Boards?
How Many Stars Are There?
The Story in a Can of Paint
Why Does a Dog Turn Round and Round Before He Lies Down?
How Is Light Produced?
What Makes Rays of Light?
Why Does a Nail Get Hot When I Hammer It?
How Do We Obtain Heat?
Why Does a Glow-Worm Glow?
Why Do They Call It Pin Money?
Why Do People Shake Hands With the Right Hand?
How Did the Custom of Clinking Glasses When Drinking Originate?
Why Cannot Fishes Live In the Air?
What Makes a Fish Move in Swimming?
Why Are Birds’ Eggs of Different Colors?
Why Does a Hen Cackle After Laying an Egg?
Why Will Water Run Off a Duck’s Back?

More books on Papyras

The book of wonders, Volume 1

Contents