在这些自然博物馆的中心都是一群策展人。作者自己本身担任了30年的自然科学博物馆策展人，到现在还是很难跟外人解释他的工作到底是在做什么。于是，这本书就诞生了——这本充满活力、最新科学的书。读者可以看到策展人到底需要经历多少准备、研究、策划等等才能够带来一些世界上最顶级、最新的自然科学展览。这些展览不但需要能够教育大人小孩，同时也需要能够吸引大众的眼球，以及拥有社会价值。作者利用很多他自己的故事——他大部分时间是在美国芝加哥的Field Museum担任策展人——来结构这本书。他在书中讨论了研究以及收集资料的价值、跟公众有互动的重要性、生态上以及道德上的考虑如何一直在变化，以及科技发展的影响。
这本书适合任何喜爱自然科学、喜欢拜访自然科学博物馆的读者们！
关于作者：
Lance Grande拥有三十多年的古生物学野外作业经验，是美国怀俄明州西南部地区的专家。他同时是芝加哥Field Museum of Natural History的策展人，主要研究鱼类、古生物学、地质学以及进化生物学。他是一位写过超过一百本书以及科学文章的得奖作家。他同时是芝加哥大学的演讲师以及伊利诺斯州大学的附属教授。他是芝加哥科学与科技委员会的董事会员。
好评：
Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner Fish
"In Curators, one of our leading paleontologists, Lance Grande, takes us behind the scenes of a great museum. Their precious collections and hidden corridors hold tales of adventure, debate, and global exploration all in the search for knowledge. Curators reveals the national treasures that are our natural history museums and tells the stories of how they hold secrets of our past, but also keys to the future."
Niles Eldredge, emeritus curator, American Museum of Natural History
"Think of natural history museums, and spectacular displays of monstrous dinosaurs, gorgeous minerals and archeological finds pop into our minds. But few people realize what goes on behind the scenes: Who collects those specimens? Who gets them ready to be put on display? Who interprets what the specimens mean? Without the scientists on staff of the larger natural museums, none of this would be possible. In Curators, Lance Grande, a veteran paleontologist at the Field Museum in Chicago, vividly brings the lives, times and hard work of the scientists of his and other natural museums out into the open. It is must reading for all of us who love these wonderful caverns dedicated to understanding the history of life and of the earth itself."
Kirk Johnson, director, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
"Lance Grande has lived his life as a natural museum curator, a profession that emerged in the nineteenth century. His memoir shines a bright light on this profession, its roots, and its place in the twenty-first century. Through the lens of his own experience as an expert on fossil fish, Grande has crafted a narrative that grows, along with his career, to encompass the breadth of Chicago's fabled Field Museum and to argue for the relevance of natural history in our time. Blasting through dusty stereotypes, he passionately shows just how interesting it can be to live the surprisingly splendid life of a curator."
