I enjoyed reading the book. It was filled with anecdotes about people, events, animals, and moments in history, yet provided a particularly insightful revelation...like croissants weren't invented in France, the inventor of Pringles had an interesting request for his burial, and what could have originated the story of the yeti, among many others. I revisited history, learned, and was entertained.

<b> <i> Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing the advanced copy of this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. </b> </i>

<u> Publication Date: November 12, 2024 </u>

Based upon the popular podcast by Aaron Mahnke, Cabinet of Curiosities is finally arriving in print! Sadly, I have little experience in the podcast world, so I had never heard of this series before.

➠This is an amazing collection of bite-size stories (each one an average of 3-4 pages in length) varying in topics from bizarre coincidences, literature, history, death, war, mysteries, and the supernatural.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been oddly fascinated and drawn to the bizarre, the otherworldly, the macabre. I’m really just a huge undercover nerd who loves to soak up knowledge on these topics. I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing all this collection had to offer and gained so much from the stories. I thrived on the thoughts it provoked and was genuinely entertained the whole time! That being said, I think it’s probably best to enjoy this collection a little bit at a time. Savor it! I spread it out over a few months enjoying a story here and there on lunch breaks and at bedtime!

Honorable Mentions:
▪︎ Agatha Christie’s background story
▪︎ Violet Jessop and the luck of the Irish
▪︎ The entire literature section (of course)
▪︎ Prophetic dreams and conspiracies
▪︎ Ghosts, cursed cars…and so much more!

Highly recommend checking this out if you are a lover of oddities and searching for a one-of-a-kind adventure!

Cabinet of Curiosities

Strange stories from history in bit sized pieces. Loved that it’s easy to read in chunks or get your fill by reading more. A wide variety of well presented information. It was a little gimmicky but I think that works in the favor of the masses.

This is a fun, easy to read history book. I enjoyed the snapshots of little eras in time - truly "curiosities." I was hoping for a little more creepiness as I like that aspect of Aaron Mahnke's work but it didn't prevent me from enjoying it.

This is a charming group of short stories and historical vignettes, many devoted to lesser-known parts of history. I have seen many of these tales before.
Originating as podcasts, these little presentations are suitable for many purposes, whether it be storytelling at an event or amusing a bored person.

Interesting facts and some bizarre tales as well. Unfortunately it goes for the popular history route, lacking the research and scholarship to back up some of the wild claims.

The stories are dubious and/or under-researched. The writing is heavily cliche-laden. And I can’t tell who the audience is meant to be; there’s no indication it’s for children but the style is gimmicky.

So fun!!! This book is such a fun book to read, you will be intrigued the entire way through. The photographs used throughout are perfect and well done. This book would be a great gift for those of us who like the strange and weird as well.

I love Aaron Mahnke and his podcasts so this was a must request! It was written so well and I loved it so much I read it to my husband! Definitely worth the read!

This wasn’t for me. I can see it being interesting to others and being valuable but I was kind of bored.

About half way through I ordered this one!

Bite sized, odd, curious, long forgotten and TRUE stories that any history buff would enjoy. As soon as I finished one, I would tell my husband about it. (which is why we agreed we needed this one our home library). Covering a lot topics and time frames, the amount of research and debunking that would go into a project like this is mind blowing.

I am anxious to have a copy in hand so that we can chase a couple of these historical places down in person.

This was a really interesting collection! Stories that are just this side of uncanny and disturbing to behold. I love the oddities explored in this.

If you are a trivia buff, this book is required reading. Author Aaron Mahnke has pulled together interesting bits of information in a wide variety of categories.

While I was familiar with some of the stories, there was plenty of new information here. But rather than simply presenting the information, Mahnke encapsulated each bit of information in a lively and engaging story.

I highly recommend this book for everyone who enjoys fascinating stories and collection new information.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I enjoyed this book and think you will to.

Aaron Mahnke is a great story teller. He is at his best 8m these short (mostly 3 pages) stories that cover. Wide variety of topics, time periods, and locations. There’s some I knew about already, but others were surprising. I like that they are bit sized and quickly read. Ally these stories make me wonder at the details of history and how they really as do come down to luck and timing. It’s really crazy to ponder. Nicely done, once again, Mr Mahnke.

This was a fast and informative read that would make a fantastic coffee table book. It has a ton of wild facts and dark humor to keep anyone entertained for quite some time.
I noticed that Wikipedia is cited a ton in the sources, so take that for what you will. Either way, it’s an easily digestible read that kept my attention. I think I might even try listening to the podcast of origin!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Aaron Mahnke, and NetGalley for my advanced review copy. My opinions are my own.

Writing and Editing - 3
Personal Bias - 4
Final Score - 3.5

This was a different type of nonfiction that was as unique as the podcast itself I suppose. While I’ve never listened to the podcast I feel the way the author tells his tidbits of random information would be similar.

This was an interesting book to pick up randomly from time to time when I had a few minutes. It’s not something I would’ve continued to read for hours on end but there were some pretty interesting tales in here and some that didn’t peek my interest as much but they were all rather short to read nevertheless.

What I really appreciated about this book was that it was broken up into categories from American History facts to stories of Creatures, Literature, Inventions, even Origin Stories plus some. This book is packed full of random short tales and as the title suggests, it is indeed “a historical tour of the unbelievable, the unsettling, and the bizarre.”

3.5 stars

Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. No review was required in return for an advance reading copy and no review was promised.

I just finished Cabinet of Curiosities: A History Tour of the Unbelievable, the Unsettling, and the Bizarre by Aaron Mahnke.

This is a book based on a “long-running hit podcast by Aaron Mahnke” called Aaron Mahnke’s Cabinet of Curiosities. It’s about tales from history. Prior to reading this book, I had never heard of that podcast. Since I am a big fan of both history and podcasts, I realized that not only did I have the opportunity to review the book, but could also add another podcast to my collection.

Unfortunately, I will have to pass on growing my podcast collection. There were too many stories in this book that just weren’t interesting. So, I will have to give it a C. Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, a C equates to 2 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).

This review has been posted at NetGalley, Goodreads and my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews.

I originally finished reading this on July 4, 2024.

This book is the definition of the old saying 'truth is stranger than fiction.' Based on the long-running hit podcast, CABINET OF CURIOSITIES is a collection of bizarre tales, almost unbelievable coincidences, weird characters, and odd anecdotes about famous historic people. It's organized into sections and each tale is just a few pages long, very nice for just picking up and randomly reading one.

There are tales of heroic animals, people beset by strange repeated accidents, feats of memory or trickery. I enjoyed learning the true history behind the invention of the croissant, strange misfortunes of Hemingway, Edgar Alan Poe's struggles, scientific advances far pre-dating their supposed invention in the western world, and so many unsolved mysteries.

This book is written simply and would make a great gift for either a young person or the dad/grandpa in your life, also fun for reading out loud.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this ARC!

Lots and lots of fun and coincidental facts. I love a book like this, it's the perfect coffee table book to gift or have around. I love to learn about people and strange things that happened to them, this book is a bonus because it has more than just people. It is divided into sections, and the animal one is amazing. Sections: American History, Coincidences (very cool), Creatures, Death Defying, Events, Literature, Inventions, Mysteries, Origin Stories, People, Places, More than Human, True Crime, War. I will put this one on my wishlist for holidays and anniversaries. Publishers November, right on time for Christmas. Thank you publisher for the e-arc.