Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

by E. L. Konigsburg

Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away...so she decided not to run FROM somewhere, but TO somewhere. And so, after some careful planning, she and her younger brother, Jamie, escaped -- right into a mystery that made headlines!

Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder

by Lawrence Weschler

Pronged ants, horned humans, a landscape carved on a fruit pit--some of the displays in David Wilson's Museum of Jurassic Technology are hoaxes. But which ones? As he guides readers through an intellectual hall of mirrors, Lawrence Weschler revisits the 16th-century "wonder cabinets" that were the first museums and compels readers to examine the imaginative origins of both art and science. Illustrations.

Maisy Goes to the Museum

by Lucy Cousins

From woolly mammoths to rocket ships, the marvels of a museum are more fun to explore when Maisy leads the way. On a rainy-day visit to the museum, Maisy and her friends explore everything from dinosaurs to a moon exhibit, from vintage vehicles to a giant dollhouse to the food exhibit. There’s always something new (or old) to see at a museum, and for little readers, it’s good to have a friend like Maisy along... (more)

Adam Dalgliesh: Book 12

The Murder Room: A Novel (Vintage)

by P. D. James

When Commander Dalgliesh is persuaded by an old friend to visit the Dupayne, a small private museum on the edge of Hampstead Heath, he can have no idea that he will return to it one week later under very different circumstances. One of the family trustees has been horribly murdered and Dalgliesh and his team are called in to investigate a death which, from the first, is fraught with complications. Even before the... (more)

Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World

Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World

by Sharon Waxman

A journey across four continents to the heart of the conflict over who should own the great works of ancient art Why are the Elgin Marbles in London and not on the Acropolis? Why do there seem to be as many mummies in France as there are in Egypt? Why are so many Etruscan masterworks in America? For the past two centuries, the West has been plundering the treasures of the ancient world to fill its great museums,... (more)

Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads

by Stephen T. Asma

The natural history museum is a place where the line between ""high"" and ""low"" culture effectively vanishes--where our awe of nature, our taste for the bizarre, and our thirst for knowledge all blend happily together. But as Stephen Asma shows in Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads, there is more going on in these great institutions than just smart fun. Asma takes us on a wide-ranging tour of natural history... (more)

Dinosaurs in the Attic: An Excursion into the American Museum of Natural History

Dinosaurs in the Attic: An Excursion into the American Museum of Natural History

by Douglas Preston

Dinosaurs in the Attic is a chronicle of the expeditions, discoveries, and scientists behind the greatest natural history collection every assembled. Written by former Natural History columnist Douglas Preston, who worked at the American Museum of Natural History for seven years, this is a celebration of the best-known and best-loved museum in the United States.

The Madonnas of Leningrad: A Novel

by Debra Dean

Bit by bit, the ravages of age are eroding Marina's grip on the everyday. An elderly Russian woman now living in America, she cannot hold on to fresh memories—the details of her grown children's lives, the approaching wedding of her grandchild—yet her distant past is miraculously preserved in her mind's eye. Vivid images of her youth in war-torn Leningrad arise unbidden, carrying her back to the terrible fall... (more)

The New History in an Old Museum: Creating the Past at Colonial Williamsburg

The New History in an Old Museum: Creating the Past at Colonial Williamsburg

by Richard Handler

The New History in an Old Museum is an exploration of "historical truth" as presented at Colonial Williamsburg. More than a detailed history of a museum and tourist attraction, it examines the packaging of American history, and consumerism and the manufacturing of cultural beliefs. Through extensive fieldwork—including numerous site visits, interviews with employees and visitors, and archival research—Richard... (more)

The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War

The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War

by Lynn H. Nicholas

The cast of characters includes Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering, Gertrude Stein and Marc Chagall--not to mention works by artists from da Vinci to Picasso. And the story told in this superbly researched and at times suspenseful book is that of the Third Reich's war on European culture and the Allies' desperate effort to preserve it. 90 illustrations and photos. 3 maps.

Exhibiting Contradiction: Essays on the Art Museum in the United States

Exhibiting Contradiction: Essays on the Art Museum in the United States

by Alan Wallach

A leading scholar of art, art history, and American studies considers the way art museums have depicted American society and the American past. In closely focused and often controversial essays, Alan Wallach explores the opposing ideologies that drove the development of the American art museum in the 19th century and the tensions and contradictions characteristic of recent museum history. 40 illustrations.

The Rarest of the Rare: Stories Behind the Treasures at the Harvard Museum of Natural History

The Rarest of the Rare: Stories Behind the Treasures at the Harvard Museum of Natural History

by Nancy Pick

Where do you find Nabokov's butterflies, George Washington's pheasants, and the only stuffed bird remaining from the Lewis and Clark expedition? The vast collections of animals, minerals, and plants at the Harvard Museum of Natural History are among the oldest in the country, dating back to the 1700s. In the words of Edward O. Wilson, the museum stands as both "cabinet of wonder and temple of science." Its rich... (more)

The Girl in the Castle Inside the Museum

The Girl in the Castle Inside the Museum

by Kate Bernheimer

Once there was a girl who lived in a castle. The castle was inside a museum. When children visited, they’d press against the glass globe in which the castle sat, to glimpse the tiny girl. But when they went home, the girl was lonely. Then one day, she had an idea! What if you hung a picture of yourself inside the castle inside the museum, inside this book? Then you’d able to keep the girl company. Reminiscent of... (more)

Agent Pendergast: Book 3

The Cabinet of Curiosities

by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

In an ancient tunnel underneath New York City a charnel house is discovered. Inside are thirty-six bodies all murdered and mutilated more than a century ago. While FBI agent Pendergast investigates the old crimes, identical killings start to terrorize the city. The nightmare has begun. Again.

Making the Mummies Dance

by Thomas Hoving

A former Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art reveals his bold and brash life at its pinnacle: the clandestine deals which secured blockbuster exhibitions for the museum and made him a legend. Photos.

Dead Guilty

by Beverly Connor

In Beverly Connor's absorbing series, the bones of the dead reveal the secrets of the living. In this latest investigation, forensic anthropologist Diane Fallon must lead a chilling excavation of a crime with harrowing implications: the murder of three people, hanged execution-style in an isolated patch of Georgia woods.

The Lost World of James Smithson: Science, Revolution, and the Birth of the Smithsonian

The Lost World of James Smithson: Science, Revolution, and the Birth of the Smithsonian

by Heather P. Ewing

In 1836 the United States government received a strange and unprecedented gift—a half-million dollar bequest to establish a foundation in Washington “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” The Smithsonian Institution, as it would be called, eventually grew into the largest museum and research complex in the world. Yet the man behind what became “America’s attic,” James Smithson, has remained a... (more)

One Grave Too Many

by Beverly Connor

With spot-on details, a smart new voice, and ingenious plot twists, Beverly Connor has been compared to the hottest crime writers on the scene. Now, she ratchets up the suspense with a brand new series featuring one of today's most cunning and complex sleuths: forensic anthropologist Diane Fallon. Her new job as director of the RiverTrail Museum of Natural History in Georgia takes Diane out of the game-until a... (more)

Curating Now: Imaginative Practice/Public Responsibility

Curating Now: Imaginative Practice/Public Responsibility

by Robert Storr

In a time which one critic characterized recently as "the era of the curator," it is not only relevant but absolutely necessary to thoroughly question the current state of curatorial practice, its professional values, and the assumptions implicit in them. "Curating Now" gathers together the thoughts of a diverse group of internationally recognized, influential curators, comments presented for the benefit and... (more)

The Golden Child

by Penelope Fitzgerald

Penelope Fitzgerald's first novel, THE GOLDEN CHILD, combines a deft comedy of manners with a classic mystery set in London's most refined institution -- the museum. When the glittering treasure of ancient Garamantia, the golden child, is delivered to the museum, a web of intrigue tightens around its personnel, especially the hapless museum officer Waring Smith. While prowling the halls one night, Waring is nearly... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: museums

by E. L. Konigsburg

by Lawrence Weschler

by Lucy Cousins

by P. D. James

by Sharon Waxman

by Stephen T. Asma

by Douglas Preston

by Debra Dean

by Richard Handler

by Lynn H. Nicholas

by Alan Wallach

by Nancy Pick

by Kate Bernheimer

by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

by Thomas Hoving

by Beverly Connor

by Heather P. Ewing

by Beverly Connor

by Robert Storr

by Penelope Fitzgerald