The first attempt to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama was a wreck. A French company spent eight years and $287 million trying to construct the waterway only to abandon the project in 1889.

“The best introduction to the lifelong pleasure and rewards of looking at pictures since Gombrich. An instant classic.” Stephen Fry If you (like most viewers) of Jan van Eyck’s “Arnolfini Portrait” ...