Curious Devices and Mighty Machines
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Curious Devices and Mighty Machines: Exploring Science Museums

Curious Devices and Mighty Machines: Exploring Science Museums


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About the Book

Science museums have paradoxes at their core. They must be accessible and fun while representing increasingly complex science. They must be both historic and contemporary. Their exhibits attract millions, but most of their objects remain in deep storage, seldom seen. This book delves into these conflicts, revealing the secret lives of science curators; where science objects come from and who uses them; and, ultimately, what science museums are for. With an insider’s eye, Samuel J.M.M. Alberti exposes the idiosyncratic past and intriguing current practice of these institutions, and sets out a map for their future.

About the Author :
Samuel J. M. M. Alberti FRSE is the director of collections at National Museums Scotland and an honorary professor at the University of Stirling. His books include Morbid Curiosities: Medical Museums in Nineteenth-Century Britain.

Review :
Alberti’s musings on the delicate calculus of curation are down-to-earth and fascinating. “The canny science curator”, he admits, concerned with storage, cost and longevity, focuses on collecting “material that is old enough to be obsolete but not so old as to be collectable”. Alberti has visited many science museums and science centres around the world. He compares their origins, collections and engagement strategies, revealing their great diversity. His book is well illustrated and is well worth reading if you are interested in the part that museums can play in the science education of both children and adults. Alberti is excellent on the sometimes eccentric origin of science museums and their creators and on the Indiana Jones-like joys of museum stores. A fabulous and enlightening adventure through the halls and storerooms of museums – a spirited celebration of human fascination and curiosity. Sam Alberti covers the whole territory of science museums from their history to the politics of displaying science and technology. It is high time for a new monograph on this topic, and this impressive volume will quickly become the standard work on the subject. To read Curious Devices and Mighty Machines is to visit not just one museum but many from around the world with a wonderfully insightful and engaged curator. Sam Alberti is a marvellous companion to the life, wonders, challenges and quirks of science museums. Some of the most complex and fascinating objects known to humankind exist in science museums and their vast storage facilities. Alberti has studied these objects and spaces in depth, especially the diverse people that inhabit and use them, offering an engaging reflection on science and society from this unique vantage point. If I were to recommend only one book about recent trends in museums of science and technology, it would be this one. Curious Devices offers self-reflexive answers to a crucial question: how have leading museums around the globe developed innovative ways of making sense of their collections – in and beyond the museum walls?


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Product Details
  • ISBN-13: 9781789146394
  • Publisher: Reaktion Books
  • Publisher Imprint: Reaktion Books
  • Height: 234 mm
  • No of Pages: 272
  • Width: 156 mm
  • ISBN-10: 1789146399
  • Publisher Date: 15 Aug 2022
  • Binding: Hardback
  • Language: English
  • Sub Title: Exploring Science Museums


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