Cranioklepty - BookWyrm

No cover — Colin Dickey: Cranioklepty (2009, Unbridled Books)

English language

Published Dec. 15, 2009 by Unbridled Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-932961-86-7
OCLC Number:: 320493091

(1 review)

Beginning dramatically with the opening of Haydn s grave two days after his death in October 1820, Cranioklepty takes us on an extraordinary history of a peculiar kind of obsession. The desire to own the skulls of the famous, for study, for sale, for public (and private) display, seems to be instinctual and irresistible in some people. The rise of Phrenology at the beginning of the 19th century only fed that fascination with the belief that genius leaves its mark on the very shape of the head. The after-death stories of Franz Joseph Haydn, Ludwig Beethoven, Swedenborg, Sir Thomas Browne and many others have never before been told in such detail and vividness. Fully illustrated with some surprising images, this is a fascinating and authoritative history of ideas carried along on the guilty pleasures of an anthology of real-after-life gothic tales.

1 edition

Annette C. Boehm reviewed Cranioklepty by Colin Dickey

Review of 'Cranioklepty' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I picked this up on a whim, -- the cover art is intriguing, as is the title -- and I was not disappointed. This is a very accessible, fun-to-read nonfiction book that takes you through the history of phrenology without becoming boring. Along the way, you'll run into Haydn, Beethoven, Walt Whitman, George Eliot, Mark Twain, Napoleon Bonaparte, and another handful of interesting and somewhat familiar historical figures. I really enjoyed this. As usual, I have a more in-depth review of the book on my blog, so if you want to know more before you invest in it, take a look here: outsideofacat.wordpress.com/2014/02/02/cranioklepty/

Subjects

Skull
Grave robbing -- History
Grave Robbing -- history
Famous Persons
History, 19th Century
History, 20th Century
Phrenology -- history
Skull