Dry Store Room No. 1 The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum

Richard Fortey ... describes this splendid new book as a museum of the mind. But it is, as well, a perfect behind-the-secnes guide to a legendary places. Within its pages, London's Natural History Museum, a home of treasures - plants from the voyage of Captain Cook, barnacles to which Charles Darwin devoted years of study, hidden accursed jewels - pulses with life and miraculous surprises. In an elegant and illuminating narrative, Fortey acquaints the reader with the extraordinary people, meticulous research and driving passions that helped to create the timeless experiences of wonder that fill the museum.