Mono Vs Stereo Sound

Stereo is recorded on two independent audio channels, while mono is only recorded on one audio channel. I find it interesting that we can capture depth and direction using only two different audio channels. With so much depth to be found in the real world, one would think that it would take more than just one extra audio channel. I found the part that talked about all of the stereo recording techniques because I did not know that there was that much technical work that went into it.