Genre: nonfiction

Cabinet of Curiosities is set up to share short stories of really random and connected facts across history. There are absolutely fascinating tidbits of information. The audiobook is narrated by the author, Aaron Mahnke, who has a podcast with similar topics, so there is a conversational feel to listening. Unfortunately for me, this was a DNF, and very much an "it's not you, it's me" situation. The short stories are too short for me and were not able to hold my interest while listening. This is one I'd consider returning to a different time of the year when my brain is less scattered overall.

This is genuinely one of the most interesting audiobooks i've listened to this year (and that's saying A LOT!) Mahnke is great at narrating these little clips of odd history. I still think of Mike the Chicken days later. What's best of all is a coworker overhead the audio and told me she listened to it too! I'm sure the paper copy would be a great coffee table book, but the audio is one you can listen to again and again! I just wish it was longer.

I don’t know if you know that I am a fan of the strange and unusual… and what better way feed my obsession and a fun book bite-size unique, and fascinating tidbits!

Having not known of the podcast author Aaron Mahnke’s Cabinet of Curiosities (book title & podcast name), this book was all new to me!

I loved how Aaron crafts his narratives in the form of a little mystery and them all with the big reveal or surprise ending that you weren’t expecting! Once I figured out the formula, I found myself not only enjoying the unfolding of the tales, I was looking forward and trying to guess what would be revealed as the final cherry on top of the story! Each story is a page or 2 long- perfect to pick up and jump into at any point.

This book has a great variety of fascinating and curious titbits from history, to science, strange phenomenon and so on! Written in the style of a podcast, I found the audiobook to be excellent. Aaron Mahnke narrates his own book and he easily demonstrates his comfort knack for storytelling. This book made me want to listen to the podcast! In addition to Mahnke’s storytelling, the audio is full of lively music and sound effects that adds to the experience. And did I mention that the audiobook contains bonus end of chapter discussions with fellow podcaster and the author of Anatomy, Dana Schwartz after each chapter! These were fun and informative to listen to!

So if you’re looking for something bizarre or an out of this world fact/story to share at your next mixer (or just something fun and unique to read)- Aaron Mahnke’s Cabinet of Curiosities is just what you need!

I like the narrator, which makes sense because he has as podcast and these are from that. My issue is that in general history has completely forgotten women and indigenous people, and this book's stories tend to focus on rich white men, which makes sense because those are the stories that are out there and easy to find. I just already knew a lot of the stories already and I felt like it was not representing "real history." I would love a book like this with more stories about non white men.

First off, many thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this book as an audio ARC! I greatly appreciate it!
This was a fun little adventure! It reads more like a collection of flash cards than an actual book, but I had a great time just the same!
My only complaint is that, as someone who's into this sorta thing, I'd heard the vast majority of these little tidbits already. That's a me problem, not a problem with the book, but still.
Four stars out of five for Cabinet of Curiosities!

If you like Aaron Mahnke's podcasts, you'll love this. A diverse collection of bizarrely fascinating stories from history narrated by Mahnke himself.

This was a super easy-listening audiobook. The production effects made it very similar to listening to a podcast, which makes sense as the narrator and author is a podcast host. The stories are brief and told in a way that often holds a surprise twist. I could do without the dad joke puns at the end, but even those are eye-rollingly charming.

A sort of Paul Harvey's "And that's the rest of the story" look at a large variety of issues. So interesting and you should take your time listening or reading a few each day! Or just completely devour it as I did. Some stories I am still thinking about, some I had heard before, but I am still amazed at this huge collection of stories!

This would be a fun Christmas gift!

My thanks to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this e-book and Macmillian Audio for an advanced copy of this audiobook. Great narration!

3-3.5 ⭐️

Very short stories about chance, the bizarre, and interesting. If you need to start and stop and read, this format works really well. In audio, each story lasts a few minutes at most. The stories are varied and are generally interesting. Personally, I found myself wanting more details. I would have preferred less stories with more information provided. I have not listened to the authors podcast before so all of the material was new to me. I thought the audiobook was good. I didn’t have major issues. I didn’t find much value in the author discussions at each section break.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Aaron Mahnke for this audiobook ARC.

This book compiles fascinating historical tales from the author’s podcast, exploring bizarre events, remarkable people, and unexpected connections—from the origins of the croissant to a dog’s wartime exploits. Always fascinating and often funny, the book is a pleasure to read. I enjoyed the audiobook narration.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I'm DNFing this one several stories in. I love the idea of collecting a bunch of bits of curious history but the first couple chapters of the book are giving red flags at the moment (perhaps I will forge forward at some point and see if there are acknowledgements of my issues, but I'm not in the headspace for that right now).

My issues included:

the seeming takeaway of the story about European settlers in the US who wanted to forge on further into the country and settle more of it being "don't give up* with a brief acknowledgement of them fighting against Native Americans with no additional context or condemnation...

the opening discourse about the British Museum, which included mention of an artifact from Mexico with no acknowledgement of that artifact's history, whether it was (likely) stolen or how it was otherwise obtained...

Because I DNFed, I don't know if these issues are addressed later in the book, but I've read too much history that doesn't include context and I'm over it.