Dreaming of Dinosaurs...

For some, hearing Field Museum of Natural History immediately evokes pained memories of boring school trips and long bus rides. For others, it reminds them of good times, peaceful rainy days spent inside gazing at beautiful jewels or incredible dioramas. We stand with the latter group, and so we were excited to find that the Field Museum has a free, podcast-based Audio Tour.

Audio tours can be trying experiences. Not only do they usually cost a lot of money (on top of the cash already shelled out for special exhibits) but half the time they don’t work. Either we can’t figure out the buttons or only one ear of the headphones is operational. This audio tour, however, is downloaded directly to your iPod. Rather than covering a special exhibit or gallery, it covers some highlights from the Field’s permanent collection. The Shoe Wall, Tsavo Lions, Sue, the Maori House and many other popular exhibits are covered, as well as some you might not have heard of. The podcast is well produced, with sound effects, music and interviews with visitors and curators.

It’s narrated by Peter Sagal, host of NPR’s Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me – who is the object of one of our secret NPR-crushes. Even if you can’t get to the museum anytime soon, download it and listen – just don’t let your boss catch you closing your eyes and dreaming.

The podcast can be hard to find, buried in the Field Museum Website. Here's a direct link. It’s also available in Spanish.