On Wed, 8 May 2002 01:39:28 EDT, David E. Haberstich <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>Maybe I'm temporarily humor-impaired or just tired, but I have to admit I
>don't find some of Judith Henry's supposedly hilarious one-liners
>particularly funny.

Well, it must be my warped sense of humor then. I showed the book to a
couple of other museum professionals and they thought it was funny, too,
but maybe that's not an indication of anything, since I have not conducted
a formal evaluation.

You are right in that many of those statements are essentially sad (as many
jokes or anecdotes often are), when you analyze them from the point of
confusion museums sometimes plunge their visitors into. Call it dark humor
if you will. Many of those comments, if not all, shed some light on
visitors' perceptions and could be important for evaluation purposes.

Nevertheless, I still find the book funny, and even clever and prophetic if
you wish. In fact, I do not know if I entirely trust the idea that all the
comments were actually overheard; they could have been heavily edited or
entirely made up, but with what literary grace and truth!

I also find it funny that a visitor should exclaim with so much
passion: "Wow! Look who donated this one!" instead of, say, "Wow! Look at
this vibrant shade of grey!" Can I quote Judith Henry again? “You have to
appreciate it for what it is and not for the dollar sign”* Which is
immediately factored in after recognizing the donor’s name.

To my knowledge, the book is on sale at the Getty's bookshop and at the
American Craft Museum in New York. It is also available at amazon.com and
at the Strand bookstore in NYC. It’s probably best to get your hands on it
to appreciate it. Here you can find some visuals similar to the ones
employed in the book
<a href="http://www.soloimpression.com/Pub/LargeFormat/Henrytext1.htm">
</a>

<a href="http://www.soloimpression.com/Pub/LargeFormat/Henrytext2.htm">
</a>

<a href="http://www.soloimpression.com/Pub/LargeFormat/Henrytext3.htm">
</a>

You can find a few editorial reviews here.

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789305054/qid%
3D1020888972/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F0%5F1/104-9507652-2287118"> </a>

<a href="http://www.artagogo.com/reviews/overheard/overheard.htm" </a>

Amazon’s customers' reviews range from 1 star to 5. I would certainly give
it a 5. In fact, I would be bold enough to recommend it to everybody on the
list – it makes a terrific gift item, especially within museum community.

Please note that I am not affiliated with any of the mentioned bookstores,
publishers, or Judith Henry herself.


* http://www.soloimpression.com/Pub/LargeFormat/Henrytext3.htm

Marina Daiman
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/marina_daiman"> </a>

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