Cabinet of Curiosities is like a weird uncle at a family reunion - sometimes fascinating, sometimes hilarious, and sometimes just plain weird. The chapters are short and sweet, making it easy to read a little, laugh a little, and then walk away. But let's be real, some of the stories start to feel like your uncle's repeated jokes - funny at first, but then just repetitive. Maybe they could've cut a few and made the book a little shorter. Still, it's a great gift for someone who likes to read in bite-sized chunks. It's fun, quirky, and suitable for all ages. Cabinet of Curiosities is like a weird uncle at a family reunion - sometimes fascinating, sometimes hilarious, and sometimes just plain weird. The chapters are short and sweet, making it easy to read a little, laugh a little, and then walk away. But let's be real, some of the stories start to feel like your uncle's repeated jokes - funny at first, but then just repetitive. Maybe they could've cut a few and made the book a little shorter. Still, it's a great gift for someone who likes to read in bite-sized chunks. It's fun, quirky, and suitable for all ages. This book just was not for me.

Going through this book was a bit like going through a museum if all the exhibits were jumbled up. Some entries were more curious and intriguing than others, but it was never boring. At times it felt like speculation was presented as fact, but overall it was a fun and lighthearted exploration of the stranger side of history.

Aaron Mahnke is the king of urban legends and this book is proof of this. Incredibly informative and a fun read, I really enjoyed learning about all of these bizarre places.

This is a collection of historical stores and anecdotes about weird things throughout history. The title is accurate as this truly is a cabinet of curiosities through stories. However, at times if felt like we were just scratching the surface of these stories.

Synopsis:
The podcast, Aaron Mahnke’s Cabinet of Curiosities, has delighted millions of listeners for years with tales of the wonderful, astounding, and downright bizarre people, places, and things throughout history. Now, in Cabinet of Curiosities the book, learn the fascinating story of the invention of the croissant in a country that was not France, and relive the adventures of a dog that stowed away and went to war, only to help capture a German spy. Along the way, readers will pass through the American state of Franklin, watch Abraham Lincoln’s son be rescued by his assassin’s brother, and learn how too many crash landings inspired one pilot to leave the airline industry and trek for the stars.


Thoughts:
I’ve never heard of Aaron Mahnke or his podcast before reading this book. It was an odd book, but if you like odd history then you’ll enjoy this book!

I've read a lot of trivia fact books, with short stories about historical events and such. Unfortunately, this one does not make the top of my list. It didn't flow well. I think the format, full of exclamatory language, e.g. "you've probably never heard about" and "it just goes to show," probably works better in podcast form, although I have not listened to the podcast. I didn't end up finishing this one, but it might go over better with other folks.

In this chaotic and fascinating collection of strange stories from history, podcast creator Aaron Mahnke compiles a staggering number of short stories together in this complex and fascinating new release. Crossing time, space, and history, this book brings a host of old and new favorite stories of Mahnke’s together to give readers an introduction into a history that is engaging, fascinating, and exciting. Passing through fascinating moments of time in this book gives readers some incredible chances to understand that history is not boring nor the rote memorization of facts and dates but a living, breathing story full of joy and human stupidity and, yes, tragedy and violence, but also success and invention and achievement. Mahnke is an excellent writer whose stories are brief, succinct, and packed with detail, and the tonal shifts between stories and sections works incredibly well throughout the book. With so many stories, readers really do get a bit of everything, and this makes this book a great introduction to history for readers because it can act as a jumping-off point and introduce readers to new points in history to explore elsewhere. A fun and detailed read, this is unlike most history books, and readers will like that.

Quite a curious reading! Not quite what I was expecting, but quite a powerful reading. I love the idea of focusing on short snippets and curious stories. Though I dint think this is a read to sit down and read in one or two sittings, it is quite fun to read here and there when you have a few minutes to spare!

I love historical facts that just give you brain tingles. This book is exactly that! I'm not sure I knew any of these facts and if I did, it was a very minimal amount. I like how it was broke apart into different categories and the chapters were very short, which made it easy to just read a little bit whenever you want to. I have listened to the podcast, and it reads just like Aaron Mahnke in his podcast.

I hardly ever read non-fiction, but I adore weird, strange, and bizarre stories from history. There’s just something about living in a predictable world where so many things are easily explained, and then being able to dig deep into history and find some really strange and coincidental stories. Cabinet of Curiosities was a lot of fun for me as I enjoyed stories I haven’t heard before, where strange and unusual things happened, and some are still unexplained. But the stories are short, and I often felt they seemed more like a transcript from a podcast, one that this book was actually born out of, than a book.

Cabinet of Curiosities presents a number of stories that are divided into categories, including American History, Coincidences, Mysteries, and Origin Stories. Each story falls under one of these categories, though there isn’t anything else linking them. They’re short, just a few Kindle pages, and there’s generally very little drama to them. Sometimes the stories are presented with limited information so a twist could be revealed at the end, but these become a bit predictable. Nevertheless, each story certainly documents something strange, but they’re a bit dry.

I did enjoy many of these stories, though I was already familiar with a number of them. I suppose there are only so many bizarre stories out there. I really enjoyed the ones that were truly weird, and especially loved the coincidental stories. While I abhor coincidences in fiction as they often come off as contrived, actual coincidences in history absolutely thrill me, so those were probably my favorites. Others were essentially short pieces of someone’s biography, offering a little story from their lives that’s a bit unusual. Some of them were more informative and amusing than others, but, as much as I liked learning about some authors in the Literature section, I didn’t actually enjoy those stories as much.

As much as I enjoy strange stories in history, history is not my favorite subject. It can be dry and cumbersome to read, and many of these stories were exactly that. No matter how interesting the subject matter was, reading a dry, brief story after another dry, brief story eventually taxed and tired out my brain, so this ended up being a slow read despite the brevity of each story. I’m not sure if it’s just that my brain isn’t fond of history or if the stories were just not engaging, but I found it difficult to read more than a handful before just feeling cognitively exhausted. Fortunately, some were actually interesting and engaging, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was reading this to me while I was reading it to myself. It helped to think in a male voice, possibly because I’ve really enjoyed the Mysteries at the Museum TV show and couldn’t stop imagining the show’s host telling me the stories.

Cabinet of Curiosities was an interesting read. I did enjoy parts of it, but also found myself not exactly enthralled by certain sections so those felt like they went by a lot slower. Many of the stories were new to me, and I really enjoyed those, but the ones I was already familiar with felt like they should have been fun with their little twists and I found myself disappointed that I couldn’t enjoy those reveals. I do see this perhaps becoming a springboard for my writing brain, or a useful and interesting resource to have on hand when a bizarre story from history becomes, for whatever reason, necessary. Otherwise I found it to be dry and sometimes tedious to read despite some of the more interesting subjects.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange this honest review.. This is an interesting collection of bits and pieces of historical stories about strange coincidences told in short 3-4 pages. The shortness and random nature of the stories made them easy to read by picking it up and putting it down rather than a long read. While I did enjoy several of the stories the style of ending each one with the same type of twist and relying on using unfamiliar names for famous people got a little “old” after a while. I also would have liked to see the stories in more of a chronological order rather than so random and skipping around timeframes. I think these stories are more fit for the author’s podcast than in written form and so cannot really recommend it. Seeing Wikipedia as a common source for most of the stories was also a bit disappointing.

This was a fun book! I loved the little pieces of information and fun facts about so truly bizarre things! I also enjoyed that it was easy to put down and pick back up with its short sections. I did wish we could have gone into more detail for some of the entries, this style is great for podcasts but left me with something missing for a book. Overall an entertaining read!

Thanks to St Martins Press and Netgalley for this advanced copy!

This was a fun read, with short chapters and engaging stories of different curious and historical moments and coincidences. Some were entirely new to me and I could see this being a great gift for someone who likes their stories and trivia.

What a wild, fun book! I loved both the stories and the format, with bite sized stories that get to the point and leave out the "boring" parts that can drag. Every night I'd say "just one more!"...but would inevitably just keep on going. This was such a fun book that I gifted it to a lot of friends for Christmas. Loved it!

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Become the most interesting person in the world ....

This is just fun and fascinating. It is filled with short true stories of oddities. I read this before a party and had several little stories to pull from when things got boring.

Great compilation.

Cabinet of Curiosities by Aaron Mahnke is a fascinating collection of strange, eerie, and mysterious tales that captivate the reader’s imagination. Drawing from real-life events and historical oddities, Mahnke weaves together stories of the unexplained, the macabre, and the peculiar. Each story is rich in detail and atmosphere, perfect for fans of the supernatural and the unusual. Mahnke’s storytelling is engaging and well-researched, blending intrigue with a sense of wonder. Cabinet of Curiosities offers a delightful and eerie exploration of the strange corners of history, making it a must-read for fans of mystery and the bizarre.

The title comes from an exhibit at a British museum that displays oddities. But Mahnke takes it a good bit farther. This is a compilation of all kinds of weird, odd things that really don't make a lot of sense. For those of a certain age, it feels like a book of Ripley's Believe It or Not. But they are kind of fun.

Each item is really only a couple of pages long, so you can read this book in spurts. It doesn't take itself too seriously and it just sort of made me smile as I read the odd and goofy things that are out there in our world.

While I wouldn't call this any kind of great literature, I would call it a pleasant diversion. Definitely not a waste of time.

I haven’t listened to the podcast, so I approached this book with no expectations or awareness of who the writer was.

I enjoyed the tidbits in general. I like small, interesting tidbits that you might share as a “did you know” quick fact or might spark further research. I liked the assortment of information and the span of topics. I liked the quick, digestible approach to information and the humor imbedded in even some more grisly stories.

However, this isn’t a book I’d probably use as a “did you know” because I wasn’t sure how much I could trust the information. Wikipedia was the primary source for a lot of the book, which… is an interesting choice. Even school children know not to use Wikipedia for a main source without doing more research. Some of the information felt more like urban legends than verified information, and I didn’t feel like having to research every page to see if the information was verifiable or not. Some items also seemed like a little bit of a stretch, almost more like butterfly effect conclusions rather than verifiable, historically agreed on reasons why something happened in history.

Overall it was a fun book, but I wouldn’t quote any of the information in it or consider it trustworthy even if it was interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was an interesting read with a wide variety of incredibly short stories. It would be good to pick up when you have 15-20 minutes to read.

I do wish the stories had been a little bit longer. They were so short that you barely had a taste for each one before moving onto the next. It was difficult to retain anything with how quickly we moved on from each story.

Aaron Mahnke is such a great writer. I really enjoyed this book. It was full of great stories, and I can't wait for others to read.