num_pages: 144
description: The Spy Museum the Vacuum Cleaner Museum the National Mustard Museumnot to mention the Art Institute the Museum of Modern Art and the Getty museums have never been more robust curating just about everything there is and assuming a new prominence in public life. The Return of Curiosity explores museums in the modern age offering a fresh perspective on some of our most important cultural institutions and the vital function they serve as stewards of human and natural history. Reflecting on art galleries science and history institutions and collections all around the world Nicholas Thomas argues that in times marked by incredible insecurity and turbulence museums help us sustain and enrich society. Moreover they stimulate us to think in new ways about our world compelling our curiosity and showing us the importance of understanding one another. Thomas looks at museums not simply as storehouses of old things but as the products of meaningful relationships between curators the public history and culture. These relationships he shows dont always go smoothly but they do always offer new insights into the many ways we valueand try to preservethe world we live in. The result is a refreshing and hopeful look at museums as a cultural force one that by gathering together paintings tropical birds antiques or even our own bodies offers an illuminating reflection of who we are. 
language: English
title: The Return of Curiosity: What Museums are Good For in the 21st Century
publisher: Reaktion Books