COMING SOON! #NaturesMemory: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History #Museums is in Penguin paperback three weeks today, offering an insider’s guide to the unnatural ways museums display nature, [sometimes uncomfortable] stories of how collections were built, & how they help save the world.
Why don't you see penis bones in #museums?
I spoke to @iflscience.com about how museums have been deliberately modifying the anatomy of their specimens: they knowingly mislead visitors about what most male mammal skeletons look like, as I wrote in #NaturesMemory:
www.iflscience.com/the-majority...
A flier for the talk, with an image of the book cover for Nature's Memory, a photo of a museum storehouse containing massive whale skulls and skeletons, and the text for the talk: Nature’s Memory, Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums Thursday 29th Jan 645-8pm Main Seminar Room, David Attenborough Building Jack’s book Nature's Memory shares hidden stories behind the world’s iconic natural history museums, from enormous mounted whale skeletons to cabinets of impossibly tiny insects. In this talk, Jack will share stories from the three main themes of the book: How well do natural history museums really represent nature, how did they really come together, and how can they help save the world? At the top is the logo and title of the Cambridge Natural History Society
Folks near #Cambridge, on Thursday I'm chatting about my book #NaturesMemory: Behind the Scenes at the World's Natural History Museums, asking how well these #museums truly represent nature, how did they really come together, & how can they help save the world.
Come! www.cnhs.org.uk/diary-of-eve...
The cover of "Natures Memory: Behind the Scenes at the World's Natural History Museums" by Jack Ashby, depicting a bright green snail shell on a black background.
Out this year, #NaturesMemory is an insider's guide to the world's natural history #museums. It explores:
🪰what you see (& don't see) when visiting.
🪓honest histories of how collections were made.
🌍how they can help save the world.
It's the first book to combine these social and scientific stories
The cover of "Natures Memory: Behind the Scenes at the World's Natural History Museums" by Jack Ashby, depicting a bright green snail shell on a black background.
The cover of "Platypus Matters: The Extraordinary Story of Australian Mammals" by Jack Ashby, depicting a photo of a platypus diving in blue water.
The cover of "Animal Kingdom: A Natural History in 100 Objects" by Jack Ashby, showing a several specimens (a taxidermy bird of paradise; a pinned bumblebee; a viper skull; a chimp skeleton; a pinned butterfly; and a preserved sea horse) on a green background
The cover of the children's book "Wild" by Jack Ashby, illustrated by Sara Boccaccini-Meadows, depicting many drawings of animals in forest background
Books make the best gifts🎁. Might I suggest these for the curious, inquisitive folk in your life:
🏛️ #NaturesMemory: Behind the Scenes at the World's Natural History #Museums.
🦘 #PlatypusMatters: The Extraordinary Story of Australian Mammals.
💯 Animal Kingdom: A Natural History in 100 Objects.
🦇 Wild
Aw, there's a nice little shout-out for #NaturesMemory (and sex bias in natural history) in this @iflscience.com article about a rare sighting of a seven-arm #octopus, which can reach 75kg, 4 metres long, and has [ahem] eight arms. 🐙
www.iflscience.com/live-seven-a...
A taxidermy rottweiler posed with an open-mouthed snarl, teeth bared and eyes intense, with an aggressive pose. The wolf and hyena on the shelf next to it are posed much more neutrally
You don't see many #taxidermy dogs (there's a chapter on why "Ordinary Animals" are rare in #museums in #NaturesMemory). A rottweiler in Birmingham Museums has been posed to look more ferocious than the wolf & hyena next to it. Taxidermy poses often tell us about human social perceptions of animals
The world of natural history #museums is a surprisingly strange one. What goes on behind the scenes? Why do they mostly display the same things? Where did they get all their stuff? How do they help save the world? Have a watch of my talk about my book, #NaturesMemory here!👇
NICE! What a flipping lovely review of #NaturesMemory. And a lovely way to end the week!😊
"Inspired and inspiring... With Nature’s Memory, Ashby makes a vital contribution to the literature on the history of natural history #museums and collections, and critical museology and decolonizing practice."
CALLING ALL #CAMBRIDGE MUSEUM & NATURAL HISTORY NERDS!
This Thursday, the fabulous @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social opens late for "Behind the Scenes Uncovered" - alongside a bunch of cool activities, I'll be doing an "in-conversation" about my book #NaturesMemory.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sedgwick-m...
ON THURSDAY I'll be at @linneansociety.bsky.social to chat about whether natural history #museums really represent nature, how they talk about their own [sometimes troubling] histories, & how they help save the world: the 3 themes of my book #NaturesMemory. Come!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/natures-me...
A black and white studio photograph of Ali, wearing a dark suit, waistcoat and light bow-tie, from 1862.
A museum study skin of Wallace's standardwing bird-of-paradise. It is a thrush-size irridescent green bird specimen lying on its back, with two long white plumes alongside each wing. It is the "type specimen" (the specimen used to describe the species), at the University Museum of Zoology in Cambridge.
#OTD in 1858 a Malay teenager called Ali collected this bird-of-paradise for Alfred Russel Wallace & described its behavior. It led to the species' first scientific description. I wrote about how a far greater diversity of people deserve credit in the history of science in my new book #NaturesMemory
Natural history #museums are magical, but do they really represent nature, or the people that actually built them? And how they can help save the world?
Can't wait to be chatting about my book #NaturesMemory at @linneansociety.bsky.social on 13th Nov. Come along!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/natures-me...
The window display of the Grove Bookshop in Ilkley
A close-up of the display, with Nature’s Memory at the front
There's a special buzz when you spot your book in a #bookshop window! 🤩
I spy #NaturesMemory in @grovebookshop.bsky.social (ahead of my talk at @ilkleylitfest.bsky.social later)
Good people of #Yorkshire, I'm coming your way tomorrow to chat about the ways natural history #museums do and don't represent nature, some hard truths about how these collections came together, and the ways they help save the world. Come along to the @ilkleylitfest.bsky.social! #NaturesMemory
The cover of Nature's Memory by Jack Ashby on the left, with a list of upcoming talks on the right, reading: Yorkshire: Ilkley Literature Festival, 18 Oct London: Linnean Society: 13 Nov Cambridge: Sedgwick Museum: 20 Nov
NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM FANS (and skeptics), if you're around #Yorkshire this weekend, I'll be speaking at @ilkleylitfest.bsky.social about #NaturesMemory: Behind the Scenes at the World's Natural History #Museums.
Book here: ilkleyliteraturefestival-tickets.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/...
Jack Ashby and Zoe Kean talking at the event in the Hobart Bookshop
Jack Ashby and Zoe Kean having dinner. Jack is holding Zoe's book "Why are we like this". Zoe is holding Jack's book "Nature's Memory: Behind the Scenes at the World's Natural History Museums
On Friday I was "in-conversation" with the outstanding journalist, writer & science communicator @zoekeansci.bsky.social at the #Hobart Bookshop, chatting about #NaturesMemory.
Huge congrats to Zoe: her book Why Are We Like This was described as the century's top nonfiction book by The Science Show!
A bookshop shelf display, showing Nature's Memory, with its cover facing out
A bookshop shelf, including Platypus Matters
A bookshop shelf, including Nature's Memory
A bookshop shelf, including Wild: A Family Guide to the Animal Kingdom
I know it seems conceited to look for your own books in every bookstore you pass, but after all that goes into writing a book, there really is a sense of accomplishment when you spot them out in the world. Really thrilled to see #NaturesMemory, #PlatypusMatters & WILD all across #Tasmania & #Sydney.
Jack Ashby outside a sandstone building with the ABC logo on it
I spoke to ABC Radio #Hobart about #NaturesMemory & life behind the scenes at natural history #museums, inc. what gets left off display, trends in taxidermy #thylacines & links between colonial violence in #Tasmania & museum collecting. From 2.10 (24mins from the end):
www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...
TASMANIANS!
This time next week I'll be at The #Hobart Bookshop talking about #NaturesMemory: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums, in conversation with local author @zoekeansci.bsky.social.
It's free - come along. Book here:
www.trybooking.com/events/landi... #Tasmania
Jack Ashby stood in front of University of Sydney quadrangle - a nineteenth-century red-brick building
Australia did a pretty good job of recreating the Oxbridge vibe with the University of Sydney (but with extra sunshine). Looking forward to chatting about #NaturesMemory at the Chau Chak Wing Museum later, and for some meetings about potential #platypus collaborations! 😀
On the left is the cover of Jack Ashby's book, Nature's Memory, including a bright green snail shell on a black background. On the right, the text reads: Upcoming talks Sydney: Chau Chok Wing Museum, University of Sydney, 19 Sept Tasmania: The Hobart Bookshop, 3 Oct Yorkshire: Ilkley Literature Festival, 18 Oct London: Linnean Society: 13 Nov
Folks in #Sydney & #Tasmania, here's some events with surprising, funny, troubling and planet-saving stories from behind the scenes at the world's natural history #museums, from my book #NaturesMemory:
@sydney.edu.au: www.sydney.edu.au/museum/whats...
#Hobart: www.hobartbookshop.com.au/page/Events
An endcap display of books, with a "Highlights" sign. Nature's Memory: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums is on the right of the second shelf
Are there any other authors out there who find it impossible to walk past a bookshop without going in to check if they have your latest in stock? 😅
Anyway, there are now piles of signed copies of #NaturesMemory at Waterstones Trafalgar Square and the flagship Foyles on Charing Cross Road. 📖✍️
A page from Nature's Memory, including a picture of SUE the T rex at the Field Museum. The text reads: After Dippy, the other contestant for the title of ‘world’s most famous dinosaur fossil’ is SUE the Tyrannosaurus rex. Named after Sue Hendrickson, who discovered the specimen in 1990 in South Dakota, with over 90 per cent of the skeleton present, SUE is the most complete fossil yet found of one of Earth’s biggest-ever land-living carnivores. Preparators at the Field Museum in Chicago were able to skilfully mount the real skeleton in such a dynamic, imposing way that it is as lifelike as a skeleton can be, augmented by dramatic light projections to help you understand what you are seeing and engage with it more deeply. It is one of the most effective natural history exhibits I’ve ever seen. However, the preparators determined that SUE’s real skull was too heavy to be attached to the end of its neck. As a solution, they attached a lighter replica of SUE’s skull onto the mounted skeleton, and displayed the real fossil skull in a case alongside. This has the added benefit of allowing easy access to the skull for the very many research scientists who want to study it.
Happy re-birthday to @suethetrex.bsky.social - the most complete #Trex specimen ever found - uneartherd 35 years ago today. In my book #NaturesMemory: Behind the Scenes at the World's Natural History #Museums, I describe SUE as one of the most effective natural history exhibits I’ve ever seen ⛏️🦖🏆
Based on stories I came across when researching my book #NaturesMemory, @museumsassociation.org have published a piece I wrote on how natural history #museums can help save the planet, in more ways than one: www.museumsassociation.org/museums-jour...
HELLO AUSTRALIA! 🇦🇺 #NaturesMemory: Behind the Scenes at the World's Natural History #Museums is published in Oz today! There are loads of Australian stories in the book (particularly in the sections on the colonial legacies of natural history collecting), and here's a rundown of the whole book! 👇
"Compelling, arresting... Reality bites, as Ashby deftly shows in this engaging book, which persuasively casts a critical eye over the imperfections of #museums & how they aren't what we have often thought them to be": @stokel.bsky.social reviews #NaturesMemory:
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...
The lovely new book 📕 #NaturesMemory by @jackdashby.bsky.social is a great behind the scenes read about #Nature
Another review for #NaturesMemory, now in @newscientist.com.
It highlights the biases I mention in museums, but concludes:
"This book was written before the wilful destruction of scientific institutions in the US... It is for this reason that it ought to be read"
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...
I was interviewed for @nature.com by Davide about #NaturesMemory: We explore the importance of #museums for conservation today, why they can't pretend to be neutral or apolitical, and the sometimes troubling ways their collections were built.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
