According to this book's introduction, its brief is to describe eighty of the world's "most unusual" museums. That particular criterion was picked, it points out, because "there are already several excellent books available about "weird" museums". And therein really lies my problem with the book. Having purposefully highlighted the fact that this book is about unusual rather than weird museums, and furthermore that if one wants to read about weird museums then there are some great books out there that would let one do exactly that, the book then proceeds to discuss eighty museums that are variously weird or interesting but none that I could honestly point to and say "This museum is highly unusual, but not weird."

Examples include a museum dedicated to the Titanic. Is that really unusual? I went to OMSI about eight years ago and they had a large exhibit dedicated to the doomed liner. I didn't think "Gosh! How unusual!" Although it was a little creepy that they gave you a ticket upon entering that bore the name of a Titanic passenger, and at the end you found out if you'd drowned. I survived, my girlfriend at the time slipped into the cold abyss; metaphors abounded.

Another example is the Salem Witch Museum in Massachusetts. The witch trials in Salem are about all it's famous for, is it unusual that a museum there should be dedicated to it? Not really. Is the museum itself unusual in some way? Since it's the only museum in the book I've actually been to I feel obliged to point out that no, it's not particularly unusual. The only "unusual" museum I've ever been to is probably the Kafka museum in Prague, which is positively Kafka-esque. I think a big problem with the book is that the author patently hasn't been to the vast majority of the museums described. The descriptions of each of the "real" museums reads just like an advert or a leaflet from the museum itself, rather than being borne of experience. There are some exclusively-online museums as well, which have of course been visited, but their presence often seemed more like filler than substance.

When reading Bill Bryson's descriptions of wandering through obscure museums in the Australian outback in [b:Down Under|42876|Down Under|Bill Bryson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1284187468s/42876.jpg|2611786] I caught the museum bug and rushed out to my local museum. Alas, it turned out the museum had recently closed for refurbishment and wouldn't reopen for over four years. But still, the enthusiasm with which each museum was described really had an effect on me. This book, unfortunately, didn't. ( )

According to this book's introduction, its brief is to describe eighty of the world's "most unusual" museums. That particular criterion was picked, it points out, because "there are already several excellent books available about "weird" museums". And therein really lies my problem with the book. Having purposefully highlighted the fact that this book is about unusual rather than weird museums, and furthermore that if one wants to read about weird museums then there are some great books out there that would let one do exactly that, the book then proceeds to discuss eighty museums that are variously weird or interesting but none that I could honestly point to and say "This museum is highly unusual, but not weird."

Examples include a museum dedicated to the Titanic. Is that really unusual? I went to OMSI about eight years ago and they had a large exhibit dedicated to the doomed liner. I didn't think "Gosh! How unusual!" Although it was a little creepy that they gave you a ticket upon entering that bore the name of a Titanic passenger, and at the end you found out if you'd drowned. I survived, my girlfriend at the time slipped into the cold abyss; metaphors abounded.

Another example is the Salem Witch Museum in Massachusetts. The witch trials in Salem are about all it's famous for, is it unusual that a museum there should be dedicated to it? Not really. Is the museum itself unusual in some way? Since it's the only museum in the book I've actually been to I feel obliged to point out that no, it's not particularly unusual. The only "unusual" museum I've ever been to is probably the Kafka museum in Prague, which is positively Kafka-esque. I think a big problem with the book is that the author patently hasn't been to the vast majority of the museums described. The descriptions of each of the "real" museums reads just like an advert or a leaflet from the museum itself, rather than being borne of experience. There are some exclusively-online museums as well, which have of course been visited, but their presence often seemed more like filler than substance.

When reading Bill Bryson's descriptions of wandering through obscure museums in the Australian outback in [b:Down Under|42876|Down Under|Bill Bryson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1284187468s/42876.jpg|2611786] I caught the museum bug and rushed out to my local museum. Alas, it turned out the museum had recently closed for refurbishment and wouldn't reopen for over four years. But still, the enthusiasm with which each museum was described really had an effect on me. This book, unfortunately, didn't. ( )

I wanted to visit just about every museum mentioned in this book! Unfortunately they're all pretty far from home. I will have to console myself with the museum websites -- indeed, some of the museums mentioned, such as the Museum of Menstruation, are exclusively online. The author covered a wide variety of museums in the United States and Europe, and her descriptions made me feel like I was there. ( )

Hilarious. I must visit the Horseradish Museum in Nuremberg next time I'm there.