14 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 226 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 226 pagesAbout this book
What turns the frightening forces of nature into stories you want to follow?
In The Strange Tales of Doctor Ulebuhle, Bruno Hans Bürgel gathers tales about volcanoes, storms, plague and precious stones. The playful Doctor Ulebuhle serves as a guide to curious things, while stories carry the science. Wonder comes first, inviting you closer to subjects that might otherwise seem difficult or remote.
Bürgel explores both the forces that frighten people and the natural wonders that awaken their curiosity. Diamonds take their place alongside volcanoes and storms as subjects worth exploring. Throughout these tales, curiosity matters more than technical detail: the aim is to make the earth and its wonders understandable to ordinary readers.
What you’ll discover
- Science carried by stories Follow natural wonders through tales that give facts a warm, approachable setting.
- Nature at its fiercest Explore volcanoes, storms and plague as subjects of both human fear and scientific curiosity.
- Wonders worth exploring Discover why the natural world offers so much to a curious mind.
- A playful companion Let Doctor Ulebuhle guide your attention toward the curious things of the natural world.
- Room for your curiosity Approach science through wonder, without needing to think of yourself as a scientist.
Who will love it
This book is for anyone who enjoys a storyteller with a grumpy heart, curious facts about volcanoes, stars, weather and the sea, and the cozy feeling of tea and cake beside a stove.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Cake opens the door to science
- A raindrop has many lives
- Fear shrinks under careful observation
- Useful work matters more than sparkle
- Cleverness cannot take the heart's place
- Courage needs knowledge and good instruments
- The sky shapes life below
- Knowledge brings power and responsibility
- Understanding gives familiar things new wonder
Who’s who
- Doctor UlebuhleA tall, gruff old scholar in Goslar with a little braid and a telescope tower, who teaches neighborhood children through tales.
- Old ChristineUlebuhle's elderly housekeeper in a big black bonnet, who brings the tea and raisin cake every Sunday evening.
- Ghost-HeinrichA timid coachman to Doctor Horn who sees ghosts everywhere and wants only to keep his master's errands safe.
- John DollandA weather-beaten diver who goes down thirty fathoms to a wrecked ship to bring up papers and a drowned mother's belongings.
- Master CorneliusA Basel clockmaker whose hunger for fame drives him to build an iron man while his family goes without.
- Doctor GravesgraveUlebuhle's boyhood friend, a physician who travels to India to find how plague and cholera spread and how to stop them.
- The ProfessorAn absent-minded stargazer who longs to visit a far planet and travels there with his loyal servant.
- ChristianThe professor's grumbling old servant, who keeps track of his master's umbrella and glasses and longs for his pipe.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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The Strange Tales of Doctor Ulebuhle in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Strange Tales of Doctor Ulebuhle
A grumpy old doctor in Goslar trades cake, tea and tales of volcanoes, diamonds, storms and plague for quiet.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“Nothing in the world is ever lost, because that would be a fine old mess.”
In short
What if a cranky old scholar bought the peace of his street with raisin cake? That is how Doctor Ulebuhle gets his listeners in the old German town of Goslar.
The Strange Tales of Doctor Ulebuhle at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 45 min3 h 45 min fast, 5 h 40 min slow
- Length
- 67,800 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A farmer's plow finds a buried city
A farmer plows a spring field in the shadow of Vesuvius. His blade strikes something hard, and he lifts out a bronze pitcher, then a heavy candelabrum with lion's feet. Old masonry lies at the bottom of his hole.
A government official sees the treasures and returns with learned men. They dig until evening and find walls, columns and a human skeleton. The farmer has found Herculaneum and Pompeii, buried by the mountain.
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A grumpy old doctor in Goslar trades cake, tea and tales of volcanoes, diamonds, storms and plague for quiet.
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Details
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 55 min
- Level
- Medium level
- Paperback
- 226 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Hardcover
- 226 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print paperback
- 374 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print hardcover
- 374 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Delivery and returns
- Printed when you order. Usually here in 12 to 14 days.Arrives Wed 2 Dec to Tue 8 Decto United States, printed for you at cost
For Christmas, order by Thu 12 Nov
Cite this edition
Bürgel, Bruno Hans. The Strange Tales of Doctor Ulebuhle. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-strange-tales-of-doctor-ulebuhle.
Bürgel, B. H. (2026). The strange tales of Doctor Ulebuhle. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-strange-tales-of-doctor-ulebuhle
Bürgel, Bruno Hans. The Strange Tales of Doctor Ulebuhle. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-strange-tales-of-doctor-ulebuhle.
@book{burgel2026strange,
author = {Bürgel, Bruno Hans},
title = {The Strange Tales of Doctor Ulebuhle},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-strange-tales-of-doctor-ulebuhle}
}
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What is The Strange Tales of Doctor Ulebuhle about?
It is a set of short tales told by an old scholar in Goslar to the neighborhood children. Each story hides a science lesson about volcanoes, water, storms, stars, diamonds or disease inside a funny or exciting adventure.
Who is Doctor Ulebuhle?
He is a tall, thin old scholar with a little braid and horn-rimmed glasses, who lives in a crooked house with a telescope tower. The children gave him his name, since he looks like an owl, or Ule.
Is Doctor Ulebuhle a real person?
He is a character in a book by Bruno Hans Bürgel, presented as a learned storyteller remembered from childhood. The Preface says the stories were written to teach science in the form of fairy tales, and the tales themselves contain real facts.
The author
Bruno Hans Bürgel
1875–1948 · German astronomer and science writer
Bruno Hans Bürgel (1875–1948) was a German astronomer and writer. He was born in Berlin and died in Babelsberg, now part of Potsdam. He wrote books explaining astronomy to general readers. His works include Aus fernen Welten (1910) and the autobiography Vom Arbeiter zum Astronomen (1919).
“Nothing in the world is ever lost, because that would be a fine old mess.”
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