Extraordinary Birds

About 150 years ago, the newly formed Liebig’s Extract of Meat Company decided to advertise its product by rewarding loyal customers with gifts of colorful and ever so beautiful picture cards. Each card was a little work of art; no wonder the images and their associated commentary captivated and mesmerized people. Before long, thousands of these cards were circulating. They told fascinating stories about every conceivable aspect of life on earth and, as a group, similar to what the Internet might do in our time, came to embody the sum total of human knowledge. Collectors could travel the globe, meet people from any country on earth, and learn about their customs. They could visit lost civilizations, too, or view the natural and man-made wonders of the globe. They could study plants or animals or the evolution of commerce and transport. They could discover the secrets of agriculture, forestry, and fishing or find out how new inventions were transforming industry. They could familiarize themselves with music and literature, great art and architecture, with famous men and women of all ages, and, most importantly for children no doubt, with giants and dwarfs, elves and gnomes, riddles and fairy tales! In hindsight, strange as it may sound, the company’s most important contribution was not to the kitchens of the world, but to the education of millions of people of all ages who could not go to school or afford books! The author’s grandmother was one of these people and, many years later, when he was a child, she used her large collection of Liebig cards, as one would the modern-day Internet, to satisfy his urge to find out everything about the big wide world. This book is the first of a series that resurrects grandmother’s magical Internet and seeks to pass on the joy that her wonderful lessons brought. Book 1 of the SURFING A MAGICAL INTERNET series is all about birds: We meet the most beautiful, the fastest, the largest, and the most powerful birds in the world; we come across magnificent bird’s nests unlike any we have ever known; we encounter birds that once carried the mail in peace and in war; we discover the role of birds in history; we marvel at the amazing patterns of migrating birds in the sky; we learn of birds that can’t fly at all and of birds inspiring poetry. We even go up in the sky and get a bird’s eye view of the earth at a time long before airplanes and satellites existed. And that’s not all. There are surprises on every page and there is fun for children of all ages.