Matte R. (fixedschwinn) reviewed Mutter Museum: Of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia on + 10 more book reviews
I had considered buying this book, because I couldn't seem to find it anywhere to take a look at it... but read some pretty terrible reviews of it. Then I was able to get it on an interlibrary loan. For the most part, I think the book does a good job of showcasing some of the pieces at the Mutter Museum (at least for someone who hasn't been there yet.) However, some of the attempts at artistry are just annoying. I didn't need to see the photographer's? dog with it's face in a pelvis or it's foot on a jar. Nor did I need to see some hairy chest dude wearing a piece of flesh on his face. Some of the pictures are just straight up reproductions of old photos, others are artfully composed displays of museum artifacts, and then there are ones that are an attempt at artful composition but which obscure the subject matter either through blurring it or cropping. The book is mostly pictures (focused on diseased and deformed humans) with just short descriptions. There's more detailed information about the museum and it's collections at the front and back of the book. Overall I'd say this book is definitely worth looking at and probably worth purchasing
Meghan P. (CompulsiveBookBuyer) reviewed Mutter Museum: Of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia on + 42 more book reviews
I wrote this review for Amazon:
Some photographs are very interesting, but space was wasted on several exhibits being shown more than once - sometimes more than twice; most of these repetitions aren't really worthy of more than one photograph.
In order to fully appreciate the scanty captions (every picture has a caption but not much of one), more than cursory knowledge of medical terminology is required; otherwise, a medical dictionary would be helpful.
At the risk of showing my ignorance, I thought that the Mutter Museum was almost strictly abnormal medical exhibits. I didn't realize that there were so many graphic examples of human anatomy - hence, the three stars instead of two; this book gives a nicely rounded "tour" of the museum.
If possible, I would strongly suggest checking this book out from a library before buying it without flipping through it.
Some photographs are very interesting, but space was wasted on several exhibits being shown more than once - sometimes more than twice; most of these repetitions aren't really worthy of more than one photograph.
In order to fully appreciate the scanty captions (every picture has a caption but not much of one), more than cursory knowledge of medical terminology is required; otherwise, a medical dictionary would be helpful.
At the risk of showing my ignorance, I thought that the Mutter Museum was almost strictly abnormal medical exhibits. I didn't realize that there were so many graphic examples of human anatomy - hence, the three stars instead of two; this book gives a nicely rounded "tour" of the museum.
If possible, I would strongly suggest checking this book out from a library before buying it without flipping through it.
