Publication Date: 2 February 2021

The Blurb

Explore history, culture, geology, and the environment through treasures ancient and modern! Discover 100+ of the world’s most extraordinary man-made and natural treasures, objects and places.

Giant gemstones, precious artworks, architectural wonders, intriguing ruins, moon rocks, and more! Treasures both natural and man-made make an appearance in a tour which stretches across thousands of years and all around the globe. Discover sunken wrecks loaded with pirate gold, the abandoned tombs of the world’s most powerful rulers, and even meteorites – treasures from outer space!

A central foldout map reveals the locations of all the treasures featured in the book, while award-winning author David Long also addresses contemporary topics such as our threatened natural wonders and the ownership of cultural treasures.

The Review

David and Muti have curated a cornocopia of wonders from across our world, both man-made and natural, spanning humanity’s time on the planet.

Whether it’s riches beyond wildest dreams or treasures of a far more personal nature, the many different forms of treasure are all in here. From the worlds largest diamond to the worlds biggest cave system, ancient languages to the printing press, there are many awe-inspiring discoveries awaiting on each carefully put together double page spread.

Muti’s captivating illustrations bring David’s text to life, with most treasures having a fact-filled paragraph. Some treasures, such as the Terracotta army are treated to a full spread worthy of their heritage. The fold-out middle spread is a gloriois world map detailing where in the world each of the wonders can be found. My personal favourite is the treasure of Oak Island… or maybe the the oldest ever printed book… or possibly… I can’t decide!

Covering heritage and ownership of artefacts, and environmental impacts on some of the geographical finds, this is a truley stuning book that is as engaging as it is inspiring. A brilliant second book to a series with more to follow. A must for non-fiction fans.

The Guest Post

The Idea Behind AMAZING TREASURES by David Long

More than anything I love the idea of sneaking some education into young brains while disguising it as entertainment. That’s what all my books are really for. If children learn something good or interesting or useful or even funny while enjoying themselves then I know the book is doing its job properly and that I’m doing mine as an author.

To this end I chose roughly a hundred and something treasures to include in the book, all things which thrill me or fascinate me or just amaze me – and all of which have something to say about our history, which is my personal passion.

I thought it was important not to define the word ‘treasure’ too tightly. It means different things to different people and I wanted to create a book in which literally every child would find something he or she finds interesting and wants to know more about.

For example, treasures certainly don’t have to be valuable in a financial sense. Instead they need to be beautiful or really weird or rare or historically important or something like that. Of course I have included lots of pirate and Viking treasures, the things everyone thinks of as treasure – because, well, who doesn’t love the idea of digging up a box of rubies and diamonds when you’re meant to be building a sandcastle?

But the Amazon rainforest’s in there too, because all life depends on it one way or another, and the first ever printed book, and the biggest diamond, and the castle that’s been lived in for longer than any other. Readers will also find a secret stash of millions of frozen seeds, eggs that are worth literally millions of dollars each and a single coin that is too heavy even to lift. Most readers might find one or two things in the book they already know a bit about, but I’m just as confident that most of the things in it will be new to them. New things to learn about, new things to talk to parents about, and – eventually – new things to go and see just as soon as we get back to normal.

AMAZING TREASURES: 100+ Objects and Places That Will Boggle Your Mind by David Long, illustrated by MUTI out now in hardback (£14.99, What on Earth Books)

Huge thanks to David for such an insightful guest post, and to What On Earth Books for inviting me to take part in the blog tour. Do make sure you check out all of the other stops.