Is It Any Wonder?

contentions ^ | 7.11.2007 | Michael J. Lewis

[Contentions]

The new Seven Wonders of the World, which were announced last week with great fanfare in Lisbon, are a droll affair. Two are from pre-Columbian America (the citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru and the temples of Chichén Itzá, Mexico), two from Asia (the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China), and one from the Middle East (the rock tombs of Petra, Jordan). The modern world comes up rather short (the mountaintop statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro), as does European civilization in general (represented only by the Coliseum in Rome). Is this list something to take seriously? Does its comprehensive global sweep give it an authority that the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—mostly huddled around the Mediterranean—lacked?

[Weeedley]

Conspicuous by its absence is the Great Wall that defines the border with mehico

[Weeedley]

Conspicuous by its absence is the Great Wall that defines the border with mehico

[Just another Joe]

I heard about this list the other morning.
I couldn't believe the Great Pyramid of Giza or the Sphinx didn't make the list.

[outdriving]

The Interstate Highway system comes to mind as an unparalleled engineering achievement.

[SAJ]

If the transistor and the binary circuit did not make the list...and they didn’t...the list is a bloody joke to start.