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

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

Richard Fortey, . . Knopf, $27.50 (335pp) ISBN 978-0-307-26362-9

Award-winning natural-history writer Fortey (Trilobite! ) provides a thoroughly delightful behind-the-scenes look at one of the world's greatest natural history museums. Having spent his entire career as a paleontologist at London's Natural History Museum, Fortey is well positioned to explore all aspects of the institution. With unbridled passion and childlike glee, he wanders about the museum discovering samples collected during the voyages of Captain Cook, specimens studied by Charles Darwin and meteorites that originated on Mars. He also introduces many of the largely unknown specialists responsible for the museum's renown. But Fortey's strength is his ability to explain the importance to society of their arcane research. Indeed, he argues, this research “has never been more important at a time when humans are increasingly degrading the environment: “The great museums may harbour the conscience for the natural world, not merely provide its catalog.” Fortey offers a beautiful paean to the collections and articulately makes the case that museums are much more than mere spectacles to entertain and educate the public. 16 pages of color illus., 86 illus. in text. (Aug. 21)