School Work Alert, Casual reader beware: Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder Reading and accompanying field trip

Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder, by Lawrence Weschler, takes a very unorthodox look at museums. The museum the author focuses on, "The Museum of Jurassic Technology", is a hodge podge of exhibits who's only common trait is the ability to inspire wonder among the museum's patrons. The book's focus on the exhibits' ability to invoke curiosity and wonder among the museum's patrons is an uncommon approach to museums in general, but it did cause me to re-evaluate why something is in a museum in the first place. I always thought of a museum as a collection of interesting visuals of important things in a particular subject field, so the idea of a museum with exhibits selected solely for their wonder producing abilities seemed a little far-fetched. But then we went to the National Museum of Health and Medicine on the Walter Reed medical center campus, and I found out these museums do actually exist. I saw skeletons of humans with all forms of rare deformities and abnormalities as well as a variety of other medical maladies. While the exhibits all pertained to the area of health or medicine, it's apparent that they were chosen for display for their head and in some cases stomach turning abilities. If you're tired of the same old mundane exhibits at today's conventional museums, I suggest you check out the National Museum of Health and Medicine. If nothing else you'll pass by the run-down outpatient building that led to the Secretary of the Army getting the boot.