Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology

Beautiful and absurd!

The first section of this book was published as an essay in the Atlantic, and I found it more readable than the last section of the book. It was great to learn more about David Wilson, the creator of the Museum of Jurassic Technology. The author endeavors to make sense of a museum full of oddities, and the man behind its creation. I've been to the museum, and it's quite a head-scratching experience. It demands more time and attention than I'm usually willing to give in a museum setting. The book, likewise, made me reconsider the mission of museums and the many ways in which humans have tried to make sense of the world since the beginning of time.

This odd little book celebrates the odd little Museum of Jurassic Technology (MJT) in Los Angeles. Really, the book celebrates wonder itself.I have not been to the MJT, but this book has certainly put it on the itinerary of my next trip to LA. Presenting itself as a natural history museum, the MJT features meticulously detailed exhibits that may or may not pertain to "real" phenomena. The pronged ant of the title, for example, may be unknown to science under the name Megolaponera Foetens but, as Wechsler discovers, its odd life history is perfectly plausible: a large ant, and the only one that produces a cry audible to humans, normally forages on the forest floor; however, after ingesting the spore of a fungus, it climbs upward and then waits to die as the fungus consumes its body from the inside, finally generating a spike about an inch long from the place where the ant's head was, which distributes spores downward, to be breathed by other Megolaponera Foetens.The book (and, presumably, the MJT) makes you think about the purpose of museums, and whether the relative "truth" of things that astonish you matters.In other words, since reality routinely trumps imagination, why quibble?

My friend and I visited the MJT and became obsessed. The book's a little dense but there's lots of great info and interesting tidbits in there. It definitely fills in some gaps if you're as confused as we were, and I'm glad I got this book to follow up on my visit to the strangest museum ever.

I went to the Museum of Jurassic Technology a few months ago, and immediately fell in love. I didn't understand much, but was fascinated by every exhibit. When I found out there was a book about it, I had to have it. Weschler does a great job tracing the history of the museum, similar museums, and trying to uncover the mysteries behind the MJT's curator. The book can be a little longwinded at times, and I'm not a fan of the footnote system (they should have been footnoted on the actual page, rather than making the reader flip to the end of the book and find the page number). Still, the book is entertaining and informative. It ruins a bit of the magic of the museum by providing answers/background to some of the exhibits, but I hope this will only amplify my curiosity on my next visit.

I read this book after visiting the beautiful and strange Museum of Jurassic Technology. I was first discomfited to find that the Museum's wonders could be -- how could they be? -- frauds and hoaxes. I was at first crushed and a little annoyed at Mr Weschler's seeming cynicism-- unlike me, he had apparently rushed immediately out to fact-check the exhibits' provenance, and gleefully points out how most visitors had been hoodwinked. However, Mr Weschler moves from simple cynicism to a greater appreciation of the Museum's gnomic aims, and the reader moves with him from everyday disbelief and sour disgruntlement to a rapturous awe. A magnificent book, and a worthy addition to study of the Lower Jurassic.

I was led to this book through a StumbleUpon the Museum of Jurassic Technology. Besides an in depth look at the museum - no details, there's too much fun to spoil - the author also looks at the phenomenon of collecting, especially during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.The author is a compelling writer with a great sense of absurdity. It was easy to see why the book, although slim, was nominated for literary prizes.Readers who enjoy Nick Bantock  The Museum at Purgatory (Byzantium Book) , Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence  and Barbara Hodgeson  The Tattooed Map: A Novel , The Sensualist: An Illustrated Novel , will revel in this non-fiction sidebar to collecting and museums

Weschler's book takes its reader through the Museum of Jurassic Technology and inspires curiosity, wonder, confusion and disbelief. This presentation of David Wilson's museum mirrors the real experience of visiting the MJT and presents questions about the role of museums in today's (and yesterday's) society. It confronts the MJT's blurring the line between fact and fiction while celebrating Wilson's brilliant social, philisophical, and museological challenge. You'll learn things you never knew and have fun reading this wonder-filled book!

Those of you who have read any of my other reviews or looked at my old listmania! will have seen that I love random eclecticism, whereby the interconnectivity of virtually anything can be documented by those with an open mind. If you have know of the work of Greil Marcus, then you should appreciate this too - on the proviso that you know that this isn't a music book. Rather it tackles the subject of wonder in museums & the personalities of the people who had or have set them up. This all sounds very weighty, but Lawrence Weschler is such a great writer that it is a joy to read, you learn an awful lot, but, best of all, your sense of the strange & amazing is revived on every page.

A superb book, as I knew it would be; and a superb delivery.

Fascinating book at the intersection of fact and fiction. Extremely well written.

Bien

Schnelle versand. Buch im top zustand. Dankeschön!-Fast shipping and the book was in perfect condition. Thank you! Will buy again.