A nice survey of life at the British Museum of natural history. The author gossips a bit, explores the various kind of research that has gone on and still goes on in museums, and makes an impassioned plea for the importance of taxonomy and old fashioned experts. ( )

Quoting the author about the book: "...to explain what museum science is about, and to try to understand how the taxonomic sciences have evolved since the early days... It does not pretend to be a comprehensive account -- it's not even representative. It is just my own collection..."

And what a collection it is. Fortey makes an impassioned and entertaining defense of systematics and taxonomy in natural history, peppered with stories and remembrances of scientists living and long since passed. ( )

Very boring book and not really a coherent, intriguing look at the behind the scenes of the museum. I was really, really disappointed. ( )

I had to read this for a museum class in a college course I'm taking but I'm thrilled with the insider info it gave me into natural history museums. I've always loved museums and knowing a bit about how they got to where they are was informative. There was a few times when he told stories about people he had worked with in his career that I didn't enjoy how he described them by the way they looked and it was usually in negative terms. ( )

I loved this book, but holy crap I can't believe it's taken me this long to read it. I don't think it's ever taken me this long to finish a book.

If you love museums, if you love natural history, if you've ever thought the idea of getting lost in the back rooms of a museum sounded like something you'd put on your bucket list, I think you'll enjoy this book. Mr. Fortey manages with very few words to make the reader feel like they've toured the back rooms of the Natural History Museum (London) and met some of the more colourful characters to have graced it's halls in the last several decades.

I'm definitely going to re-read this one at some point in the near future: I feel like I probably didn't do the book full justice by trying to read it while I'm on holiday and helping out my friend while her hand heals. The writing is dense and there's a lot to take in (in a good way) and I'd have gotten even more out of it had I been able to fully focus. But I did enjoy it thoroughly and would gladly recommend it. ( )