“But, for now, I retreated back down the little hidden staircase into the familiar world of the basement of the Natural History Museum, and to the embrace of the trilobites.”

“The good news was that "biology" turned out to be the magic password for working at the Museum of Natural History, just the way "art history" would at the Met or "trust fund" at the MoMA.”

“Uncle Mort pounded on the ceiling of the basement."I sense affection!" he yelled. "Knock it off, you two!"Scowling at the camera, Lex retreated to the other end of the couch while Driggs pulled his shirt back down and gave her a disappointed look."Next time Crash us to a hotel room, okay?" he grumbled.”

“For over a century, an evolving microcosm of Anthropology’s turbulent history has hidden behind the staid façade of the American Museum of Natural History. From an insider’s perspective, the well-known ethnologist Stan Freed engagingly introduces us to an amazing cast of explorers, eccentrics, idealists, pranksters and forbidding intellectual - an unlikely mix that played a key role in establishing the science of Anthropology as we know it today.”

“As the natural coherence of the world vanishes, there's a guilt that grows great and angry in the basement of our beings.”

“The great museums may harbour the conscience for the natural world, not merely provide its catalogue.”