The Natural History Museum

It promised a lot and actually covered a lot of different explorers (a number of whom I hadn't known). And the illustrations were generally good. But maybe the writers had been tasked with the job of delivering an article by a certain deadline and their hearts were not in it. . At least that 's what is seemed like. For example, there is an article on Alexander von Humbolt which is fine as far as it goes but it says nothing about his interest in measuring the earth's magnetic fields nor on his incredible journey into Siberia. And, to me, this means either the writer was lazy, or given insufficient space, because it was, presumably not because of a lack of knowledge about Humbolt.
And that's the fundamental problem with this sort of book. It's a series of short illustrated essays and, I guess, it's pretty hard to condense the life and contributions of luminaries such as Joseph Hooker, Humbolt, or Joseph Banks into a few pages. It's good as far as it goes....the pictures certainly help and I guess the Natural History Museum (the Publisher) has plenty of material to draw upon. I give it three stars.… (mehr)

Almost a year this book took me to read. I just checked my start date, and if I’d known I was so close, I’d probably have put off finishing it just for the nice, round number. Then again, probably not: the passive guilt of this book sitting on my ‘reading’ pile was wearing me down.

None of that is meant to be a condemnation of the book, so much as a result of the nature of the book itself. Nature’s Explorers is a collection of essays written by a selection of contributors who all either work for the Museum of Natural History, or are closely associated with it. Each essay covers one of history’s great natural explorers and their contribution to science and the arts.

All of the expected players are included: Darwin, Humboldt, Hook, Gould, Audubon, Banks, etc. but there are quite a few lesser known naturalists and explorers too. Two women get essays, including Margaret Elizabeth Fountaine, the late-1800’s lepidopterist who inspired Deanna Raybourne’s character, Veronica Speedwell, in her latest historical mystery series.

As always in a collection of essays written by a variety of people, some are better than others. All are detailed snapshots of the subject’s life and accomplishments, encapsulated in 3-5 pages and surrounded by gorgeous, richly coloured illustrations and reproductions of their work.

A gorgeous book worth owning, but not one to be rushed through.… (mehr)