What We're Reading: Tracy

Still Life: Adventures in Taxidermy, by Melissa Milgrom.

Taxidermy tends to make most people think nervously of Norman Bates, the psychotic hobbyist of Alfred Hitchcock's famous film. But the art form has regained much of its historical respectability and popularity of late, as described in Melissa Milgrom's new book.

Milgrom traces taxidermy's history from its faddish Victorian popularity (Mr. Potter's Museum of Curiosities) through its primary role in the creation of America's great natural history museums, which lent it scientific credibility, to its decline in recent times, when it was viewed as the backwoods pastime of "redneck" deer hunters.

In the past few years, taxidermy has become trendy again, thanks in large part to the avant-garde art of Damien Hirst, and antique specimens have become highly sought by celebrity collectors, high-end specialty shops, and select restaurants.

Milgrom's journey into this strange world takes her from the isolated workshop of a Canadian craftsman to the high-tech taxidermy lab of the Smithsonian Institution, with fascinating stops at the studio of Damien Hirst's preparator and the auction of a world-renowned Victorian collection of taxidermy and animal freaks, housed in the famous Jamaica Inn.

Overall, it's an interesting and often humorous exploration of a little-known field, and should appeal to the curious reader of sciences, art, and history. (And it's unillustrated, so no worries there for the squeamish.)