Bought at Goodwill some time ago. From Publisher's Weekly via Amazon:

As in previous books such as Shapinsky's Karma, Boggs's Bills and Other True-Life Tales, Weschler, a staff writer for the New Yorker, explores with detail and delight some knotty questions of culture and trickery. The first half of the book is an expanded version of an article he wrote for Harper's and ruminates about the little-known Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles, querying its elfin, straight-faced founder/proprietor, David Wilson, and tracking the detailed yet mainly bogus tales behind Wilson's elaborate sham artifacts. Such adventures lead Weschler to muse on the nature of museums and of wonder, and, in the book's second half, to recount the further investigations spurred by readers' letters. The impulse to inventory oddities, he observes, dates back to Europeans' wonderment at the New World. Wilson, he concludes, has tapped "into the premodern wellsprings of the postmodern temper." Slight, but memorable. Illustrations.

ETA 8-21-12: Reserved for mathgirl40 in the Wish List Tag game.

Not exactly what I expected but not a bad book. The first portion, I believe, was a magazine article Weschler had written specifically about the Museum of Jurassic Technology. The second part of the book expands on the concept of cabinets of curiosities, their history, etc. And a big chunk of the back of the book is extended notes by the author as well as a bibliography, etc. So it was a quick read.

This book contained a lot of interesting information, although at times it felt more like I was reading someone's scholarly paper or thesis; it got a bit dry and didactic at times, and I had to run to the dictionary more than once to look up unfamiliar words. I also sometimes felt as if I weren't in on the joke; part of the gimmick of Wilson's museum is that the visitor never knows if what he is reading/seeing is fact or fiction. Is it truly a historical or biological phenomenon, or is it something Wilson created or twisted? And maybe I'm a little dense, but I think I needed some of the answers spelled out more clearly for me. There were times when the author would mention a fact that related to an exhibit described earlier but he would not specifically say, "Aha! So this part of The Museum of Jurassic Technology exhibits is correct," or "Aha! Wilson was pulling our legs." Perhaps I need to reread the book to make all the connections.

The subject of cabinets of curiosities, or Wunderkammern, interests me. I'd like to find a more accessible, entertaining book with discussion of these collections.

Will send along to mathgirl40 later this week - after payday ;)

Mailed to mathgirl40 as part of the Wish List Tag game. Enjoy!

Thanks, glade1, for sending this book! I'm a big fan of museums of all kinds so this sounds like a perfect read.

This is a rather unusual book (made up of two lengthy essays, based on a Harper's article by Weschler) about a particularly unusual institution, The Museum of Jurassic Technology. It describes a number of mind-boggling items from the museum, such as intricate almond-stone carvings, pronged ants and displays of mice on toast (ick). Weschler also relates some history about Cabinets of Wonder and talks about how they had inspired the museums that we know today. Weschler's writing is fun and enthusiastic, showing how his initial skepticism eventually turned into, appropriately enough, a sense of wonder.

I enjoyed this book very much and should really not have kept it on my shelf for such a long time! Thanks again to glade1 for sending it my way, and I'll try to find another reader for it before too long.

I went between "not my cup of tea" to "wow" and back again several times with this book. Overall, I appreciated the message of wonder and the historical place of "cabinets of wonder".

This book is back in my hands. I will try to find another reader for it.

I passed this to a friend at a local book-club meeting.