Look around, as Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev wrote, and you will immediately see a bunch of ordinary things that surround you every single day - from early morning until late evening. How many people know that the first fountain pen was invented by the ancient Egyptians? Even an ordinary fork was born just yesterday - no more than five hundred years ago. And a mirror, and a clock, and window glass, and soap - all these things are amazingly young. Readers are offered a collection of motley short stories pulled at random from a virtual encyclopedia called “Things of the Peoples of the World: Their Birth, Life and Death.” By the way, this book has at least one indisputable advantage: it can be read from anywhere - through, disjointedly and at random.