Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder
Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology is a book by Lawrence Weschler primarily about the Museum of Jurassic Technology and, more broadly, the history and role of museums.
 First edition | |
| Author | Lawrence Weschler |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Pantheon Books |
Publication date | 1995 |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
| Pages | 192 pp[1] |
| ISBN | 978-0-679-76489-2 |
Contents
The book is divided into two sections, called Inhaling the Spore and Cerebral Growth. Inhaling the Spore focuses on the Museum of Jurassic Technology itself. The author relates his experiences with the museum and its creator, the titular David Hildebrand Wilson.
In Cerebral Growth Weschler goes into greater depth about Wonder Cabinets. "Cerebral growth" is also a pun, as one of the objects of the museum is a human horn.
Reception
Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction and the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction.[2][3] In 2019, Dan Kois and Laura Miller of Slate ranked it one of the 50 best nonfiction works of the past quarter-century.[4]
References
- "Nonfiction Book Review: Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
- Pulitzer Prize Finalists (1996)
- Lavey, John. "Nonfiction: Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder". BookPage.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2010. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- Miller, Dan Kois, Laura (2019-11-18). "The 50 Best Nonfiction Books of the Past 25 Years". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2020-12-03.