Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of “Cabinet of Curiosities” by Aaron Mahnke. I’m a big fan of Aaron’s “LORE” podcast/universe and was excited to read this collection of short tales about the world’s greatest curiosities. It did not disappoint!! I loved the short form style; it was easy to spend a few moments with or sit down for a longer reading session. I liked how tales were divided into categories and how stories were told from all over the world. A very interesting read!!

Much like the podcast for which it's named, Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities is a series of bite-sized stories that tell of oddities, coincidences, and macabre outcomes. The stories are organized into several different topics, with each topic containing a handful of interesting stories. Lots of fun trivia, and it's easy to read in bits and pieces as each story is so short. It's been a while since I've listened to the podcast, so I'm not sure how much overlap there is, but new readers will certainly find this an interesting read.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

Aaron Mahnke, the mastermind behind the popular podcast “Lore,” brings his storytelling prowess to the written word in Cabinet of Curiosities: A Historical Tour of the Unbelievable, the Unsettling, and the Bizarre. This book is a treasure trove of peculiar tales that span the spectrum of human history, each more fascinating than the last.

This book is divided into thematic sections, each exploring different facets of the strange and the mysterious. From eerie creatures and unsolved mysteries to bizarre historical events and true crime stories, Mahnke’s narrative is engaging and meticulously researched. The structure allows readers to dip in and out of the book, making it perfect for those who enjoy short, captivating reads.

Mahnke’s writing is as compelling as his podcast narration. He has a knack for weaving historical facts with a touch of the supernatural, creating an atmosphere that is informative and spine-tingling. His ability to maintain a balance between the eerie and the educational is commendable, making the book accessible to a wide audience.

Cabinet of Curiosities certainly is surprising. Just when you think you’ve read the most bizarre story, Mahnke presents another tale that is even more astonishing. The book’s unpredictability keeps readers hooked, eager to discover what oddity lies on the next page.

Mahnke’s guides readers through the labyrinth of history’s oddities with a tone that is respectful and curious. This approach educates and entertains, making the reading experience enjoyable and enlightening.

Cabinet of Curiosities is a must-read for fans of the strange and unusual. Mahnke’s ability to uncover and narrate the world’s oddities makes this book a delightful journey into the unknown. Whether you’re a history buff, a fan of the supernatural, or simply someone who enjoys a good story, this book has something for everyone.

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I absolutely ADORE Aaron Mahnke! I have been a huge fan of his podcast Lore for many moons now. Because of this, I am also very well versed in his other works. When I found out he was making a book version of Cabinet of Curiosities, I knew I had to jump at this IMMEDIATELY!

And I was not disappointed! The book is sectioned like one would see in an actual museum looking at different artifacts. Each story is a few pages long, grouped with "like" stories. One of the things I enjoyed most about this book is the fact that each story was so short. I caught myself reading them while waiting for an email back, as the microwaved finished cooking a meal, or during commercials/ads for other material I was enjoying.

The book itself is incredibly written. Aaron Mahnke has a wonderful way of adding humor and wit to even the darkest of stories. I thoroughly enjoyed each story he chose, and it really made me feel like I was sneaking into his own private collection of artifacts! It probably helped that I could hear each of these stories in HIS voice, because I am such of fan of his podcasts!

If you are looking for something that has multiple tiny stories within one well-curated collections, this is your book! It would be a great addition to someone's coffee table or place where a guest could read one quickly while waiting for the host. I cannot recommend this book enough and in fact have already told quite a few people about it! One thing I know for sure, if Aaron Mahke is attached to a project, it is always BRILLIANT!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Nov. 12, 2024
Aaron Mahnke’s book, “Cabinet of Curiosities: A Historical Tour of the Unbelievable, the Unsettling and the Bizarre” is, for all intents and purposes, a non-fiction story. It is a collection of unique stories that actually did happen to average people around the world, who quickly became not so average. “Cabinet” is based on Mahnke’s podcast, and is a quick and easy-to-devour novel.
The stories in “Cabinet” are only a few pages long, each, and they are divided into sections such as “People”, “War”, “Places” and “Things”, where relevant stories are grouped by category. “Cabinet” features tales of the upside-down postage stamp that almost seemed to predict the future, the dog who fought in a war and was actually captured by the opposing side and tales of ghostly apparitions appearing to people just in time to save someone they love. Some of the stories I had heard before but most were brand new to me and, although some were historical, there were some tales that were more modern, but all of them had one thing in common- they were utterly bizarre and almost always unexplainable.
I am not familiar with Mahnke’s podcast (or his previous books related to his previous podcasts) and the only “Cabinet of Curiosities” I have heard of before is the Guillermo del Toro Netflix show (this book is in no way related and the two are very, very different) but the subject matter of this story called to me. I am a fan of all things weird, unexpected, paranormal or spooky, so this was going to be a book that I did not want to miss out on.
As mentioned, the tiny tales in this collection make this book easy-to-read and their grouping by category helps the story develop a cohesive flow. Mahnke writes just as I imagine he would talk, with a lot of humor, and I enjoyed hearing about all the odds and ends that influenced the world.
Books with podcasts at their centre (or based on podcasts, or podcasters) is developing into its own genre so quickly, it’s hard to know where to start. But if you are a fan of Mahnke, or want a clever read with light humor and eccentric subject matter, “Cabinet of Curiosities” is as good a place as any.

Quick, fun read.
Unique and I enjoyed the varying stories.
I wasn’t sure I was going to complete as I watched some of the show on Netflix, but overall a good read.

I received an electronic ARC from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley.
An interesting read best broken into small segments of reading time. Mahnke has taken stories from the podcast and recorded them in one volume. Some are better written than others but all of them have an unusual twist. The author broke the book into chapters that included retellings wrapped around certain themes. Well worth reading for those who are interested in learning about the odd happenings throughout history. The documentation at the end is also worth the time to read.

I’ve loved this podcast since it started so to have in print stories that have some history and some creepy is great!

As a fan of the podcast, I really wanted to check this book out. If you've never listened to the podcast, then this is a great book full of short but very interesting stories that you can read all at once or take a little at a time to make it last. If you are a fan of the podcast then you probably don't need to read the book at all as the stories included, or at least a lot of them, are ones you've already heard before. It wasn't bad to revisit them, do don't avoid it if you've already listened to the podcast but I wouldn't come expecting something new. (I'll note that my memory isn't great so it could be that there are new stories mixed in but I recognized too many of them.) I also expect this will be fixed for the final product but in my advance version, the story 'Wild Coincidences' was a blank page... there was no story.

Full disclosure - I have not finished this and I will not finish it in print format. I think this is going to be amazing in audiobook format. The bite size stories are interesting and I love the topic, the oddities that are detailed. I've come to learn, from reading this, that the format of mini-tales doesn't work for me. I struggle to maintain interest. However, having listened to the audiobook versions of Mahnke's World of Lore series, I am positive I will enjoy this book in that format and will buy it when the book publishes. I just hope that Mahnke is the narrator, since I am already reading this in his voice.

My only critique is the asides are often distracting. It's not so bad when they are humorous, but some of them are just in bad taste, and that pulls me out of the book. While humor is subjective, sometimes it is best to just not make commentary at all.

Cabinet of Curiosities: A Collection of History’s Most Incredible Stories (2024)
By Aaron Mahnke (with Harry Marks)
St. Martin’s Press, 336 pages,
(Available November 12, 2024)
★★★

Perhaps you think museums specialize in dominant collections: art, archaeology, aerospace, costumes, furniture, historical homes, science, transportation…. Actually, a singular focus is relatively recent in Western culture. Those with long memories might recall that the Peabody Essex Museum’s India Hall (Salem, MA) used to be filled with tall cases filled with items choked in willy nilly. These once-ubiquitous displays were cabinets of curiosities, unusual objects (for their day) collected by travelers that inspired the abbreviation curio. If objects, why not ideas, “virtual” objects to stuff into mental cabinets.

Aaron Mahnke is a successful podcaster and writer whose about-to-be-released book, Cabinet of Curiosities, is an agglomeration of historical events, coincidences, gutsy feats, inventions, tales, and unorthodox people loosely stitched together as “historical.” If you’re scholarly-language averse, don’t worry; Mahnke’s book is about as far from hardcore academia as you can get. Many of his stories rest upon (sometimes obvious) teasers or end in puns. How one reacts to these is strictly a matter of taste.

Mahnke blurs the line between events of historical significance and trivia. A few of his short entries–most are just a few pages–are either disputed or apocryphal. Examples of these include the cause of Rudolph Valentino’s death, a 124-year-old Civil War veteran, the Crawfordville (IN) monster, ghost stories, and the assumed fate of a member of the Franklin Expedition. (That one got a new twist this month!) Others certainly fall into the trivia category often labelled “fun facts.” These include the fate of L. Frank Baum’s jacket, why composers fear writing a 13th symphony, a woman who braved Niagara Falls in a barrel, people with prodigious memories, and jokes that became realities. Some are not-so-much-fun facts. Do we really care that the overweight Goran Krupp failed to climb Mt. Everest in 1966, or that Gene Rodenberry, the creator of Star Trek, had a troubled history with flying?

Full Disclosure: I am a professional historian, so the next critique should be filtered through that lens but tempered by the fact that I’m not a snob. (I celebrate anything that sparks an interest in history.) Numerous Mahnke “revelations” are pretty well known. These include the astronomical coincidence of Mark Twain’s birth and death, how Theodore Roosevelt survived an assassination attempt, the story of the Learned Pig, the last Japanese World War II soldier, Henry Brown’s unique escape from enslavement, the link between Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and galvanism, how seances are faked, the background of da Vinci’s flying machine, and Louis B. Mayer’s sly-but-failed plan to rid Hollywood of labor unions.

To give credit where it’s due, Cabinet of Curiosities is exactly as it purports to be. It is as if random occurences from human history got stuffed into an attic full of unmarked boxes. Anyone who has ever gone to a flea market knows the frisson of picking through a container of the humdrum and happening upon something marvelous. Mahnke divides his book into a dozen easily digestible sections. I would recommend that you do not try to read it in big gulps. The problem with physical cabinets of curiosities was that so many objects in one place tended to overwhelm viewers; wonderment began to meld into mental mush. The same can be true of this book, so read a few tales, think about them, and put the book aside. If something seems a bit “fishy,” it’s never been easier to check for other interpretations. Rinse and repeat.

I’m not sure if Mahnke had this audience in mind, but teachers can mine gold from this book. I often used folklore in my own classes to enliven weary students. Were all of those stories true? If they weren't, they should have been!

Rob Weir

Thanks to Macmillan and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book.

In the style of a Paul Harvey Radio program, the author takes the reader through some of the most unusual things, events, people in history.

I really enjoyed that each of the stories was just about 4 pages long. it wasn't overly taxing and I did learn about some things, Napolean getting attacked by rabbits, strange cities, and strange folks.

This is a perfect bathroom reader.

You will learn a bit more then you would just taking a history class.

Overall, a well researched book.

However, some of the stories were too short and ended very abruptly leaving me to wonder why it ended so quickly.

Bite-sized bits of strange history. Several of these sent me down the rabbit hole seeking more info. Recommended.

Curiously fun, pun intended. As it turned out, I read this one in bits and pieces between chores, errands, and other books. That may be the ideal way to read it. As I discovered when I pushed on reading longer, the quickness of the chapters and variety of topics made it difficult to switch gears at time. I was able to take in what I was reading much better in smaller doses than large. In other words, this is one you can pick up any time, flip to any section, read awhile, and come back to later without missing a beat. The chapters are quite short although I noted lengthier ones near the end. Not being familiar with the author's podcast, I'm not sure if these were actual scripts used in the show or slimmed down for reading. They all were easy reading and usually ended with a pun, quip, or some sort of word play. I'll note here that there is a list of the sources given at the end.

As for the stories themselves, I was actually familiar with some, such as the Edwin Booth tale, but most were unfamiliar to me. One of my favorites was early on about the attempted assassination of Theodore Roosevelt. Quite a bit more detail than I recalled reading in the past, so a boon to this history major and fan of TR. Lots of familiar names will pop up but, be aware, you may not know that name until the end, such as the tales of Agatha Christie, Shakespeare, or, say, the weird connection of the coat in Wizard of Oz. I didn't take time to calculate but would say that many of the stories are actually about little known or even unknown people like the jockey who died astride as his horse won a steeplechase or the poor pilot sucked out of an airplane after the windshield went bye-bye. Amazingly, he survived thanks to quick, strong friends. There are also any number of war related tales, some about humans, some featuring animals (yes, several doggie tales within). Eerie mysteries are always fun and there are quite a few, as well as stories featuring strange coincidences, and, well, many, many more topics. It's a fun, quirky collection of tales where, if you're not taken by one, you can just move on a page or two and be into another tale.

Bottom line, if you're looking for an intriguing diversion that doesn't necessarily demand huge chunks of your time all at once, this book may be for you. It was largely an easy read. I'm thinking I may need to find his podcast and give it a listen. Entertaining and, yes, strange, or even bewildering. Some may have you shaking your head while muttering "No way!" but you'll find something to grab your interest here, I'm thinking, if you are the curious type. Thanks #StMartin'sPress for giving me early access to this diverting read. Now I need to go check out some composers 9th symphonies. Grin.

An interesting compilation of some exotic and remarkable occurrences and some remarkable coincidences. The first third of the book was exciting and entertaining, the second third was not necessary and could have been cut to make a tighter book.

As the title implies, this is a compendium of strange and very diverse facts. The author starts the book by recounting how he took his inspiration from one of his favorite places, a cabinet of curiosities at the British Museum. This is also the basis for his podcast, which explains the clear and conversational language that he uses. Every chapter tells a story, some from History (with a capital H) and others involving less famous people. He also maintains the suspense till the end, closing most chapters with an unexpected twist. As happens with these type of books, it is a mixed bag. Some of the stories were new and fascinating to me. Others were versions of facts I’ve heard before. As expected, there were some chapters that I just didn’t care about because the subjects are not the type of content I seek out (true crime, or military history, for instance). So your enjoyment of this book will depend on the variety of subjects that you’re interested in, but there will always be something for everyone.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/ St. Martin's Press.

This is a sizeable collection of interesting, bizarre, and unusual stories (with some feeling more like anecdotes). The book's organization makes sense: stories are grouped based on themes or commonalities. All are very short. On the one hand, this creates lots of natural stopping points to take breaks. On the other hand, this makes the book feel very choppy and disjointed. I also felt that for some stories, they ended too abruptly: the big reveal was made, and that would be the end of it when I could have used more context details and fleshing out of the bigger picture. Overall, this book reads like a podcast script, which I found to be annoying and distracting, particularly the overuses (especially in the earlier stories) of " you see" and ellipses.

Unfortunately, I was solidly underwhelmed with this book. I liked the concept of the idea (and who doesn’t love an odd, quirky story, especially if you also learn something new!) but in execution, it just didn’t work for me. The stories were very short (arguably too short), so I’d read 1-5 at a time and then feel bored and set it down. Finally, I made a push to finish. I saw someone say that this would be a good bathroom reader, which I’ve never heard before, but I wholeheartedly agree. To pick up and read a quick tidbit, fine. To read the story cover to cover, less enjoyable.

Some were interesting and made me question how true they really were. It felt like the sources were mostly Wikipedia and the internet… that made it lose some validity imho

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC of Cabinet of Curiosities in exchange for an honest review.

Cabinet of Curiosities is a treasure trove of macabre, fascinating, and in most cases, not well known short stories. These little snippets of history are divided into various genres including but not limited to: coincidences, literature, mysteries, origin stories true crime, and several more. Each tale is short (around 3-4 pages) and concise. For those who are easily pulled into the mysteries of the bizarre, I would expect this book would read very quickly.

I can certainly say that there were sections that I enjoyed more than others and most of the stories were ones I had not heard before discovering Cabinet of Curiosities. However, I think that I would have enjoyed this more as an audiobook or podcast. This format just did not hold my attention and I found myself only reading a handful of stories at a time before I got a bit bored. Because of that, I do feel like this would be perfect for audiobook format. I could see myself easily getting wrapped up in these stories on a long drive. It’s my understanding the author already has a highly successful podcast prior to the release of this book, so I will be checking that out in the meantime.

If weird, unusual, and unexpected are up your alley, give this one a try (maybe on audiobook) and certainly hop over to check out Aaron Mahnke’s podcast titled Aaron Mahnke’s Cabinet of Curiosities.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy of this collection of essays dealing with those moments in life that make one wonder who it could have happened, was it coincidence, fate, or luck, moments that make life what it is.

Recently I awoke with the knowledge that the paint I was looking for wasn't where it was supposed to be, but on a different shelf with seasonal things, a shelf that I look at maybe twice a year. I don't know why I remembered, but I knew it was there. Going into the basement I grabbed a flashlight and while on the floor so oil leaking from the tank in my garage. There wasn't a lot of oil, but any oil is bad. I called company, they came and were able to patch the hole. I was told I was lucky that I found it so early, as it really could have been a mess. 2 years after my father died, I was in a job that seemed to have longer workdays than enjoyable moments. I was traveling home, on back roads at a rate of speed that could be called excessive. As clear as a bell I heard my father say, "Slow it down," with a nickname he only used for me when I was doing something stupid. I did so, and a few minutes later was able to avoid a der in the road. On I would not have avoided earlier. Coincidence. Divine intervention. Or just my mind working on a problem, solving it, and finding a leak, combined with even a dumb male knowing that going fast on serpentine rural Connecticut roads is really dumb. I don't know. I will never know. However they make for good stories. Aaron Mahnke would agree. On his podcast Mahnke shares stories about people that seem too good to be real, but real in a way that makes life the wonder that it is, or can be. Cabinet of Curiosities: A Historical Tour of the Unbelievable, the Unsettling, and the Bizarre by Mahnke with Harry Marks, is a collection of stories, essays about people living life, facing death, and doing things that confound and push one's believability, yet at the same time, reminds us that we know only so much about this planet we dwell on.

The book starts with an introduction to the idea of curiosities, and how one can start on one subject say inventions, and go off into places where one might not expect. The book is group in this kind of way, mysteries, inventions, animals. The essays are short maybe a few pages, but tell a narrative about people, places, things, and things that can't be explained. The story of a man who was born a dwarf, but died a giant. A violinist who was also a sharpshooter, though he lacked something or two. Bones beneath the house of Ben Franklin, windmills where they shouldn't be. Writing that defies translation. The essays share one thing in common, all are written quite well and leave the reader with a feeling that the world might not be the bad place it is, even in stories that really shouldn't

Aaron Mahnke is a very good writer. There is a lot of empathy to these tales, even when there should not be. One feels quite a bit of sadness and sometimes loss not only for the person but for what could have been. Life isn't all about money, influenceing others, AI. Sometimes life is about being lead by a strange figure, a figure that might have been dead, to save a sick mother. There are many little things that makes one go, no way. and yet, way not. Nothing wrong with thinking like that. To me it adds that spice, that feeling that the world is better than the bad news one sees all the time on social media.

I really enjoyed this book quite a lot. The writing had much to do with it, but it was the choice of stories, the presentation that really sold me. I listen to a lot of podcasts, but have to admit, I knew nothing about this one. That will have to change. Though I must admit I would love to read more by Aaron Mahnke.