ikahime's review against another edition
2.0
Dear lord, I couldn't make it past the 3rd chapter. I felt as though I was reading an old Victorian account of skullduggery instead of a modern memoir published in 2008. I looked for some videos of Fortey, to give him another chance, but his tale of a magical trilobite was a snoozer at best. At times I could easily imagine the tweed-jacketed author clapping me on the back with a "jolly good ripper, eh sport?" while tugging on his pipeful of Erinmore Mixture and resting his arm on a burgeoning mantle of trilobite fossils while I desperately searched for the exit.
lexmidd's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't actually read all of the book, but it's the kind of book that you don't need to read straight through. It's all about Richard Foley's years of work at the Natural History Museum in London. There are some fascinating stories about Foley's coworkers and the building itself. It made me very very nostalgic for my study abroad days. Oh, London, how I love you.
margeryk101's review
4.0
This was another surprise read courtesy of Nethertown Book club, and I thoroughly enjoyed its academic if slightly rambling tone.
up604777's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
cmbohn's review against another edition
4.0
Themes: natural history, conservation, research, weird science
Setting: The Natural History Museum in London, England
Ever read books where they talk about going up to the British Museum for the day? Well, the British Museum is now the Natural History Museum (and a few other spin-offs) and Fortey takes the reader behind the scenes for an insider's view on what really goes on in such a huge museum.
Fortey started his career as a biologist back when the museum was a slightly stuffier and more serious place, and only retired a few years ago, by which time the museum had become more of an attraction and began updating exhibits to attract paying guests. But the focus remains on the science. However, his book isn't really just about the history of the museum, its contributions to English scientific understanding and so on, but rather his own experiences, acquaintances, his explorations of all the hidden little corners of the vast building, and the gossip about the many folks who work there.
And what juicy gossip there is! You wouldn't think that there would be much room for racy anecdotes among the dry and serious types who work at the museum, but wow, you would be so wrong. This and the Shakespeare book both convince me that gossip was much more interesting before it started revolving around which celebrity was sleeping with whom, which had an eating disorder, and who is feuding with whom.
For his format, he starts with the collections of the museum, from mammals and plants and insects (lots of great stories there) to minerals and then the nuts and bolts of how such a place is run and what it takes to keep it going. The book is full of quirky personalities, which makes it so much more fun to read. He does stick his own opinions in there about evolution and religion, about the need to preserve every single species no matter how obscure, about the damage human beings are doing to the planet, about his political views, but he keeps those parts fairly brief and gets on with the more interesting stories of people he has met and colorful characters from the museum's past. I really enjoyed one. Recommended.
Setting: The Natural History Museum in London, England
Ever read books where they talk about going up to the British Museum for the day? Well, the British Museum is now the Natural History Museum (and a few other spin-offs) and Fortey takes the reader behind the scenes for an insider's view on what really goes on in such a huge museum.
Fortey started his career as a biologist back when the museum was a slightly stuffier and more serious place, and only retired a few years ago, by which time the museum had become more of an attraction and began updating exhibits to attract paying guests. But the focus remains on the science. However, his book isn't really just about the history of the museum, its contributions to English scientific understanding and so on, but rather his own experiences, acquaintances, his explorations of all the hidden little corners of the vast building, and the gossip about the many folks who work there.
And what juicy gossip there is! You wouldn't think that there would be much room for racy anecdotes among the dry and serious types who work at the museum, but wow, you would be so wrong. This and the Shakespeare book both convince me that gossip was much more interesting before it started revolving around which celebrity was sleeping with whom, which had an eating disorder, and who is feuding with whom.
For his format, he starts with the collections of the museum, from mammals and plants and insects (lots of great stories there) to minerals and then the nuts and bolts of how such a place is run and what it takes to keep it going. The book is full of quirky personalities, which makes it so much more fun to read. He does stick his own opinions in there about evolution and religion, about the need to preserve every single species no matter how obscure, about the damage human beings are doing to the planet, about his political views, but he keeps those parts fairly brief and gets on with the more interesting stories of people he has met and colorful characters from the museum's past. I really enjoyed one. Recommended.
lost_luna's review against another edition
2.0
A couple of chapters were interesting but the majority I found really tedious. He talked more about what the people looked like, when I would rather have read about the work that was done behind the scenes or about any of the items stored within the museum. This unfortunately wasn't what I thought I was going to get when I picked it up so it's left me rather disappointed.
crowyhead's review against another edition
3.0
This is part memoir, part history of the British Natural History Museum, part paean to the glories of science, and part gossipy tell-all. The parts don't always mesh quite as well as I would like, but I still greatly enjoyed this book. I've really enjoyed a Fortey's works of natural history, and I think this book is at its best when he is gleefully geeking out about how taxonomy or exclaiming over a strange find in a cabinet in a dusty corner of the Museum. Less enjoyable are his stories of the politics and personal foibles that his colleagues were involved in. I liked hearing about the colorful characters who worked for the museum in years past, but I started to get a bit uncomfortable when Fortey would start talking about the infidelities of people he'd worked with. It's all very joshing and very British, but it felt a bit awkward and I wished he'd maybe left some things of that nature out. Other than that, though, this is a really enjoyable book.
kingkong's review against another edition
3.0
It turns out that working at a museum is just as boring as I imagined