Vitaly Babenko’s book includes essays written at different times for the magazine “Around the World”. The reader will feel the aromas of mysterious islands, witness floods and volcanic eruptions, follow in the footsteps of Conan Doyle's heroes and even travel back in time. And at the same time, he learns where leap years come from, how to navigate the sea using shells, when ozone holes “appeared,” who has tentacles with nostrils under their eyes, whether a person can take off and fly, how many ends of the world there have been, and much, much more. .Vitaly Babenko is a writer, journalist, editor, translator, teacher. In 1988 he founded the first independent publishing house in the USSR. Currently he heads the Department of Journalism at the Institute of Journalism and Literary Creativity.