About Still Life: Adventures in Taxidermy:

Over the past five years, Melissa Milgrom has come to understand just what compels people to want to preserve dead animals: an absurd—almost fanatical—love of animals and the beauty of organic forms. Still Life is a completely engrossing look at this intriguing art form that thrives despite its fringe reputation. In the end, it's the taxidermists' love of nature, and their unending quest to understand it on its own terms, which ultimately unites the book's characters, more than even the science or art of their craft. Transformed from a curious onlooker to an empathetic participant, Milgrom takes us deep into the world of taxidermy and reveals its uncanny appeal. Straddling science and art, high culture and kitsch—like taxidermy itself—Still Life celebrates the beauty in the uncanny.

About the author:

Melissa Milgrom has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Travel & Leisure, among other publications; she has also produced segments for public radio. Milgrom holds a master's degree in American Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in New York City. Please visit www.melissamilgrom.com.