Cabinet of Curiosities is a fascinating and well curated collection of weird/odd/macabre history tidbits presented by Aaron Mahnke. Released 12th Nov 2024 by Macmillan on their St. Martin's Press imprint, it's 336 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
Although a bit chaotic in organization (intentional, on the part of the curator, as it happens), this book is absolutely *packed* with the sort of interesting (sometimes *odd*) party trivia which will boost readers' performance at pub trivia nights as well as potentially enhance their allure at cocktail parties.
The entries run the gamut from American history to war to true crime. Each entry is a few pages at most and contains lots of minutiae and background info. Some will be familiar to most readers, much of it will likely be new. This is emphatically not an in-depth book. There are few annotations, and the author presents information sourced heavily from Wikipedia (which is *fine* but generally can't be regarded as rigorous). Still, it's a fun ride.
The sound-effects enhanced unabridged audiobook runs 12 hours 58 minutes and is read by the author (and guest). He reads engagingly and well and has a chatty mid-America folksy accent. Sound and production quality are very high throughout the read, and the soundtrack does a lot to enhance the experience.
Four stars. It would make an excellent choice for public or school library acquisition, home use, or gifting purposes.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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