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.

If you like the podcast, you'll like the book. Aaron Mahnke is a master storyteller, and these bite-sized tales a perfect for a coffee table or for an afternoon of reading.

I LOVED this book!!! I honestly didn't know what to expect upon reading because I've never listened to the podcast prior, but reading this definitely has now made me want to check it out too 🤩✨ As an avid fan of random factoids, unique stories, and the history behind all sorts of events, knick-knacks, and et cetera, I found that the CABINET OF CURIOSITIES satisfied that craving within me in the best way possible. Definitely a wonderful "coffee table"-esque book, and one I would def recommend out to others as a fun read!

An absolute delight for those of us who love to know a little about a lot! Told in short, quippy stories, the Cabinet of Curiosities is exactly what I wanted it to be. I felt like I was learning the whole time while also being wildly entertained. I read this tandem with the audiobook.

The audiobook narrated by the author is a gem in itself. Produced similar to a podcast, each section is ended with a little something extra that makes the reading experience of this book even more connected.

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and author Aaron Mahnke for the eARC, ALC, and fully completed physical copy all in exchange for my honest review. I will cherish these for many, many years to come.

4.5 stars

This was such an interesting journey through easily digestible short stories - tidbits really; each one is only a page or two - that Aaron Mahnke has already been sharing through his podcast of the same name. This book is a collection of some of his favourite weird, wacky, and/or wonderful tales. The layout is well-done, with stories grouped by theme. I was familiar with a handful of these stories already due to my love of all things historically bizarre and macabre but it was so fun to read everything together and discover new (to me) facts that honestly sometimes seem more like fiction.

Thanks to NetGalley, author Aaron Mahnke, and St. Martin's Press for giving me access to an eARC to read and review. All opinions are my own and are provided here voluntarily.

If you're familiar with Aaron Manke's podcast of the same name as the title of this book, you already will know its premise.

The book is full of little bite-sized chunks of history sorted into various categories. It's amusing and informative, but you might like listening to the podcast better. It depends on if you're more of an audio or a visual person.

I did enjoy reading it, and definitely heard Aaron's voice narrating every story, but I think I'm one of those who prefer the podcast just a bit more. Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Netgalley and Aaron Mahnke for letting me be part of the review team. I received a free advanced reader copy, and this is my voluntary review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love a good fun fact, bizarre tale, or origin story of an everyday saying. This book was such a fun compilation of all those things. I was fortunate enough to have both the audiobook and ebook and I ended up listening to it.

I had never tuned into his podcast prior to reading this book, but I certainly have now; his storytelling style is second to none. Each tale withholds the aha moment in such a fun way, I found myself trying to piece together who or what happened before each big reveal.

The audiobook was great to listen to because there were breakout sections of interviews with the author on how he goes about researching and architecting the things that he thinks will be enjoyable for the listener. This listener appreciated that very much!

This title reminds me of the Paul Harvey broadcast series, “The Rest of the Story.” Most vignettes here aren’t more than four pages long. The author presents the history or main character then ends with an unexpected fact or connection. Sometimes the information is widely known, other times the reader will be surprised. It’s a book to be read in small doses, otherwise its format becomes a bit repetitive and not as welcomed. It is a title that is a perfect gift for a relative/friend who enjoys factoids, unusual tidbits about history or personalities, and has a sense of the ironic. The author appears to have done his homework and readers can seek further information about what is presented here.

Aaron Mahnke is such an amazing storyteller. I really loved this book! I cannot wait to hear the audiobook version!