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Fear was my gateway to becoming interested in stories. My nanny growing up, a Scottish expat named Jackie with a fox pelt of red hair and a manic... Continue »

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Dry Storeroom No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum

by Richard Fortey

ISBN13: 9780307275523
ISBN10: 0307275523
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

A remarkable behind-the-scenes look at the extraordinary people, meticulous research, and driving passions that make Londons Natural History Museum one of the worlds greatest institutions.

In an elegant and illuminating narrative, Richard Fortey takes his readers to a place where only a few privileged scientists, curators, and research specialists have been—the hallowed halls that hold the permanent collection of the Natural History Museum. Replete with fossils, jewels, rare plants, and exotic species, Forteys walk through offers an intimate view of many of the premiere scientific accomplishments of the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. Like looking into the mind of mankind and all the fascinating discoveries, ideas, and accomplishments that reside there, Forteys tour is utterly entertaining from first to last.

About the Author

Richard Fortey was a senior palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in London. His previous books include the critically acclaimed Life: An Unauthorized Biography, short-listed for the Rhône Poulenc Prize in 1998; Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution, short-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2001; and The Hidden Landscape, which won the Natural World Book of the Year in 1993. He was Collier Professor for the Public Understanding of Science in 2002 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society.

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: crowyhead, July 28, 2011 (view all comments by crowyhead)
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.
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Product Details

ISBN:: 9780307275523
Author:: Fortey, Richard
Publisher:: Vintage Books USA
Subject:: History
Subject:: Museums, Tours, Points of Interest
Subject:: Earth Sciences - Geology
Subject:: Geology
Subject:: History of Science-General
Edition Description:: Trade paper
Series:: Vintage
Publication Date:: 20090931
Binding:: TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:: General/trade
Language:: English
Illustrations:: 82 ILL IN TEXT/16 PP COLOR
Pages:: 352
Dimensions:: 7.90x5.10x.80 in. .79 lbs.

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Related Subjects

Science and Mathematics » Biology » Reference
Science and Mathematics » History of Science » General
Science and Mathematics » Nature Studies » General
Travel » Museums, Tours, and Points of Interest

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