I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Based on the author’s popular podcast, this book is a collection of strange oddities. As each is only a couple of pages long, it is easy to pick up when the reader has a few spare minutes. The stories are arranged by topic. Some of the situations are very well known, such as the Inverted Jenny stamp, while others are more obscure. I really enjoyed reading these brief clips.

I was drawn to this because of the book description. This is a collection of interesting short (a few pages) stories. This was a good book to read a few or several stories at a time. There was a wide variety of stories grouped with other similar type stories. I enjoyed this book and recommend it.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Cabinet of Curiosities by Aaron Mahnke

I've had a lot of doctor appointments lately and this book is great for those times when I'm waiting but don't want to dive into a novel. Each chapter is short, to the point, and interesting to me. Some touch on history or historical figures and fill in gaps that I didn't know about events and people. Other stories introduce me to happenings that I knew nothing about. A lot of them had me searching the internet for more of the story because much of what I learned here had me wanting to know even more. It's a great book for trivia nerds like me, my poor husband will never hear the end of all the "fun facts" I have at my disposal now...ha ha

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC

This collection is for you if you like did-you-know facts you can share with anyone. Mahnke curates snippets of stories you might find far too strange to be true. The tales have a campfire storytelling vibe that many readers will appreciate. This would make a great gift for any curious reader.

This was an easy to read book. I thought the first half of the book was more interesting. As the book goes on I found myself loosing some interest in it. Some of the chapters seemed to drag a little too. I couldn’t help but think this book might be a good study book for Jeopardy

This was a great history book! As someone who loves to learn new facts and interesting stories this hit the mark. Some of the stories I had heard of before because they had been fairly popular, but some I had never heard before. I will definitely be buying the hardcopy.

Any lover of history, short stories, and random collected bits of knowledge will adore this book! Although I very much enjoyed it in printed format, I can only imagine that the audiobook would take it to the next level!

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Cabinet of Curiosities: A Historical Tour of the Unbelievable, the Unsettling, and the Bizarre by Aaron Mahnke is a series of short articles taken from Mr. Mahnke popular podcast. Mr. Mahnke launched his podcasting career in 2015 with Lore podcast, and has been at it ever since.

I’ve read similar books before, collections of bite size true stories for those of us who love trivia, history, or just general knowledge. These type of literary buffets can be read in any order, even though Mr. Mahnke does put them in general categories such as True Crime, War, Literature, Inventions, and more.

Cabinet of Curiosities by Aaron Mahnke is just a bunch of very short, mostly interesting tidbits. You can read them in any order, skip pages or even sections without missing a beat even if it’s in the same section.

When I checked out the sources which were used to write this book, I found them to be lacking. Most of it relied on Wikipedia other easily searched on-line material. That’s fine for a free podcast, or even a bookish blog with a Fun Facts Friday feature, but if you’re asking someone to pay hard earned money for a product, I think a bit more effort is needed. Other “bizarre” stories are out of context, as they were not seen as bizarre during that time, and many times embellishing an already amazing story was going overboard.

As a dad, however, I appreciated the cheesy jokes at the end of each story.

On a positive note, this book does not pretend to be anything more than what it is. The stories are simply written, often relatable, short and get straight to the point. I do wish that that more context or history would have been provided.

This is a fun book to introduce people to different subjects. However, it plays too loosely with history, presenting it without context or disputed evidence.

The book is a collection of tales of curiosity. Mildly interesting, a reasonably interesting if read in bits and pieces, but not as a straight through in 2 or 3 sittings.
I received an ARC copy from NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

This book would make a great bathroom reader. There is a plethora of curious stories grouped into different catagories, much like the room(s) of curiosities he mentions. The stories are short enough to read as you have time on a bus or commute, or of course the bathroom.

I have to confess that I love books like this, with short little tidbits about all sorts of things, that you can consume a little at a time or in big batches. Cabinet of Curiosities was just that, a book full of interesting short stories from all sorts of categories. I learned so much reading this and enjoyed myself the whole time.

I had a great time reading this book and highly recommend it.

5/5 stars.

*** I would like to thank NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Aaron Mahnke for the opportunity to read and review Cabinet of Curiosities.

This was a really fun book. I actually think this would be the perfect bathroom book to learn a little fun fact or two. I do think there were a few stories that took a bit of a jump just to fit the punny closing line, but interesting nonetheless. I loved the way Mahnke sectioned the book. It was fun to see stories about people, animals, events, etc across the world and time. I would recommend this book for any and all curious minds.

Cabinet of Curiosities is a delightful collection of the weird and wonderful. Fans of the podcast may find themselves hearing Aaron Mahnke's voice and signature storytelling style in their heads while reading through this book, while those unfamiliar are in for a real treat. When reading each page, it truly feels as though the author is discovering these curiosities right alongside you. The short tales grouped in related sections mean you can pick this book up any time and flip to any page for a few minutes of entertaining and interesting information. That is, if you don't devour the whole thing in one sitting, like I did. The stories in this book range from inspiring to icky, sensational to spooky, and there's something for everyone. It would make a great read to share with friends and family.

I didn't count exactly how many separate stories there are in Aaron Mahnke's 'Cabinet of Curiosities' but there are a lot. Like, a lot. So it's not an easy book to summarize and review.

But I can say this - if you're like me and history fascinates you, if you're like me and a little nugget of history can send you on a happy, escapist rabbit hole of research for hours, if you're like me and sometimes you need to read in short spurts instead of big commitments, and if you're like me and there's truly nothing better than saying "oh, wow! I didn't know that!" ... 'Cabinet of Curiosities' is the non-fiction book you need to read.

I don't have a favorite section or story from the book. I liked it all. And there was so much, I am 100% going to be coming back to it again soon!

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I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest and original review. All thoughts are my own.

Cabinet of Curiosities by Aaron Mahnke is a treasure trove of weird and whacky people, places and things recorded over the past few centuries. Divided into topical chapters, these strange but true short stories are written with wit, humour, word plays and surprise twists.

"Wonder rooms" became trendy hundreds of years ago, ideal distractions for bored and curious aristocrats who wanted to show off and study their acquisitions. Some of my favourite curiosities in this bookish cabinet include a cab accident which involved the same car, same driver and same passenger one year apart; Mike the Chicken; the six-mile fall survivor; the man who was in the right place at the right time to save two falling babies on two separate occasions; a woman who survived being frozen solid out in the snow; the incredible tale of the pilot who got sucked out of the plane windshield; famous author stories and the flaked cereal mistake.

My only wish would be less Wikipedia representation. Nevertheless, the stories and writing enthrall and are fun snippets to dip in and out of at will.

My sincere thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this absorbing book.

What an interesting collection of stories about oddities, clever animals, weird coincidences, little known facts about famous people, historical mysteries, and more. There are stories behind popular creations. I found out how the Oscars got their name, for example. I also read about a court case involving...rats. That's just a couple of the fascinating stories in this book.

Mahnke's writing style is entertaining. He has a particular way of telling a story that leaves the essential surprise until the very end. It is sometimes a sort of “gotcha” moment and frequently has an aspect of humor. For someone who grew up listening to Paul Harvey, this was a fun book to read, giving a feeling of nostalgia. I think there is a story for almost every interest.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

Read about the origins of Freddy Krueger and other well-known characters, a war lasting just 45 minutes, famous figures in history, the lifesaving ability of tootsie rolls, and much more.
I'm not familiar with the podcast this is derived from, but this book sure is interesting. It seems long book but it's a collection of very short stories that are quick to read and categorized. Several anecdotes I've heard before but plenty new ones as well. Because of the brevity, there were a couple spots where I'd like more detail or information, and will have to do some research into the rest.
A couple of my favorites include 'Something Borrowed'- an actor looking for the book based on the play he's about to do, and 'Wizard's Coat'- a movie prop with an unexpected past.
A book for lovers of trivia and fun facts, those who enjoyed things like 'The Rest of the Story' or 'Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction' should be entertained by this.

My thanks to Net Galley, St Martin s and the personal invitation I received to review this.

Very interesting little stories filled with fun facts and tales. I enjoyed. Could have been a little shorter.

This was definitely an interesting book and some of the stories were very fun. However, I felt the writing was very formulaic. It seems like it would lend itself very well to podcasting though, so maybe I'll check that out next.

Loved this book. If you’re a fan of Aaron’s podcast this grab this book. Also a great gift of lovers of his podcast as well.