Reflections on the past, present and future state of nature in the human world(Rating: 5)
London's Natural History Museum, a place of many treasures, offers many surprises - and natural scientist Richard Fortey provides tour of the museum unlocking not only its contents, but a lively history of the discipline itself. Chapters follow explorers, scientists, collection methods and categorization challenges, offering a fine blend of biography, natural science and museum collecting history, and reflections on the past, present and future state of nature in the human world.

The Museum, the Scientists and their Specimens(Rating: 5)
About a month ago, (September 2008) I had a chance to hear Richard Fortey himself lecturing about this book. The lecture, very fittingly, was happening in a natural history museum. As his lecture unfolded, I found myself with many of the most interesting characters that have ever contributed to natural history, both famous and obscure. I also learned about what goes on behind the scenes of the museum, and of some of the many interesting and strange specimens which are not on display, such as an "accursed amethyst" and the famous rock from Mars which is said by some to contain fossils. After the lecture was over, I went home and started reading the book, and found the written account of these things and people to be just as engaging as it was to hear Richard Fortey speaking. It is like recieving your own guided tour through the Natural History Museum of London, and even through the history of natural history. Richard Fortey shows that scientists can be very eccentric and unusual characters, in spite of their stereotype of being very dry and boring. All in all, this is an excellent book which chronicles the history of the museum, the people who make it go, and the specimens which are stored inside it. I recommend this book to anyone who has wondered what goes on inside the hearts of museums, and also to people who are interested in natural history. You will finish this book knowing much about the "behind the scenes" of museums.

Night at the museum with a personal tour guide(Rating: 4)
Behind-the-scenes look at London's Natural History Museum is an interesting peak at the "coalface"--Fortey's term for the daily work occurring beyond and below the public galleries--of museum science. Fortey describes the main work of the Museum, and its sister institutions in other countries, as systematic taxonomy--the attempt to exhaustively categorize and collect reference examples of each species of plant, animal, and mineral.

In an era of hard-to-obtain research grants and declining public funding, Fortey defends this work as valuable for several reasons:

--the need to find and identify species before they are destroyed by climate change, environmental destruction, or over-harvesting.

--potential beneficial uses of unknown species for the biosphere, for example expanded use of natural predators as environmentally-safe pesticides.

--helping future scientific endeavors by placing each species in its proper place in the taxonomy.

--and ultimately, the pure aesthetic satisfaction of knowing everything we can know about the world in which we live and upon which we are dependent.

Fortey spends time walking the reader virtually through the hidden corridors of each section of the Museum and using the discussion of the physical surroundings to talk in layman's terms about the science and the history of the science. Black-and-white photos in the pages with the text and color plates in the center of the book illustrate the surroundings and the collection as Fortey describes them.

But most interesting are the people who work behind the scenes. The current and past scientists, curators, clerks, Keepers, Directors, and Trustees are a diverse, intelligent, and intensely fascinating lot. After describing some of the more legendary polymaths who seemed as if they would scarcely have time to indulge in their many interests, Fortey asks in wonderment: "Are we lesser people today, or do we expect less of ourselves?"

Of course the Museum also has its share of misfits, misanthropes, recluses, shysters, and just plain crazy people deep in the hallways behind the public galleries, and Fortey seems to take special glee in describing them, many of whom he knew personally from his 30-plus years in the corridors. He writes with an understated, decidedly British wit and language. I'm guessing I missed some of his best jokes as they glanced off my tin American ear, but unless you get the opportunity to tour the hallways (which he compares to the phantasmagorical and never-ending castle in the The Gormenghast Novels) with Fortey in person, this book will be your personal tour guide.

Museums and Their Back Rooms(Rating: 4)
If you like visiting museums and you've ever wondered what goes on behind the displays and doors marked 'Employees Only', this is the book for you! It gives the reader a fascinating insight into how museums collect, exhibit, and store items, many of which never hit the public eye. The book is well worth reading. The insight into England's 'Natural History Museum' has a lot of stories of how it works, how it got its collections, how it maintains and exhibits them, who works there and why, how science has evolved over the years - all kinds of very interesting, miscellaneous things.

Uneven - Some good parts but it overstays its welcome(Rating: 3)
This is a book I really wanted to like - I've always enjoyed museums and science and an inside look at one of the world's great museums sounded promising. Richard Fortey spent his entire adult life working at the British Natural History Museum and he has acquired a vast amount of anecdotes, history and experiences.

The book is a mix of museum history, science and sketches of the people who work or worked at the museum. Some parts are excellent while others are boring or repetitive. Halfway through the book I grew bored with portrait after portrait of a museum employee who had spent their life studying some family of obscure critters. In addition, he seems to go on and on trying to justify the importance of his work and reminiscing about how things were better in the good old days; when he was young the museum employees were left to their own devices, when he was young nobody could be fired no matter how obnoxious or unproductive they were, when he was young they didn't have to seek funding for projects, when he was young they didn't have to make the museum entertaining to visitors. The book might have worked better as a series of essays (in the mold of Stephen Jay Gould) rather than a 300 page paean to the good old days.

All in all, it reminded me of being cornered at a family reunion by an aged relative who goes on an on about all the details of his or her life.