Reviews for Dinosaurs in the Attic: An Excursion into the American Museum of Natural History - Douglas P...

The average rating for Dinosaurs in the Attic: An Excursion into the American Museum of Natural History - Douglas P... based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-07-28 00:00:00 Maria Hill Now this was satisfying from nearly beginning to end. It's a look at New York City's natural history museum, split into two parts. The first is a more straightforward history of the institution, both how it came about as well as how the philosophy of managing an enormous natural history collection developed over the years. The second half is a look at some of the specific pieces in the collection, selected to illustrate various aspects of the mission of the museum. And, let me stress, it had A LOT of Ripley's Believe It Or Not type trivia facts. Isn't that what really sparks the interest of a six year old kid in a museum in the first place? And did you know there are broken plaster casts of dinosaurs buried in Central Park? Coincidentally, this book was written in the mid 80s, which was about the time I first became very familiar with the AMNH, and shortly before the explosion of brightly colored and loud interactive displays at museums. I know I'm a curmudgeon, but I cannot express how much I hate that trend in museums. Oftentimes, the display is broken to begin with, and even if it's not, I'm put off by how manky all the buttons and screens are after having been touched by countless grabby people, many of whom would seem to have recently eaten greasy food. In addition to being generally informative, I loved this book because it created such a vivid picture of the natural history museums I remember. Museums where you were supposed to be quiet and contemplative and smell like floor polish. If you need me, I'll be yelling at kids to get off my lawn. Grade: A+ Recommended: To armchair naturalists, fans of natural history museums, and people who enjoy reminiscing about New York City cultural touchstones. 2008/11

Review # 2 was written on 2011-09-14 00:00:00 Frans van Eil I have a whole new appreciation for the museum now. First of all, they is so much more there than I ever realized. There are 2 million butterflies, the skeletons of 100 elephants, 60,000 fish in jars of alcohol, a grasshopper found on the observation deck of the Empire State building, 4,000 Asian shadow puppets, 8 million anthropological artifacts, and the list goes on and on. A tiny fraction of all that's housed in the museum is out on display, which is shocking considering how much is on display. Not only is there an overwhelming amount of items at the museum, but I had no idea just how much work and devotion went into the collections. The dirt on the ground of any one of the many stuffed animal displays is the *actual* dirt from where than animal was collected. The entire scene is an exact replication, down to the way the tree branch is bent and the way the smoke from the volcano is billowing in the background. I had also always assumed that the museum just gather up collections from other people. I didn't realize just how much of the collection was gathered by the museum itself. The first half of the book is filled with tales of adventure from museum sponsored expeditions. In short, this is a fun read with lots of random tidbits. If you've been too, or plan to visit the American Natural History Museum, it's well worth a read.