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I'm Drew Breunig and I obsess about technology, media, language, and culture. I live in New York, studied anthropology, and work in advertising technology.

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Last week I finally made it out to the California Academy of Sciences. The museum is a fantastic collection of disparate specimens, the perfect museum for a city that revolves around the internet, hyperlinks and blogs. There’s no context beyond the litany of content. The Academy’s website perfectly illustrates the disparate direction of their collection: One of the most notable changes to the Academy is simply the growth in its animal and plant population. The new Academy is now home to nearly 40,000 animals, more than six times the number at the old Academy. Leafy Sea Dragons, Anaconda, Giant Octopuses, Amazonian Piranhas, Borneo fruit bats, Leaf-tailed Geckos, Tortoises, Stick Insects, Doves, Tanagers, Butterflies, and more! It’s as if the collection was curated by BoingBoing. Extreme samples are pulled in from the far corners of the Earth and smashed together in a central hub, leaving the viewer to make sense of it. The Academy of Sciences is the perfect foil for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which prides itself on the curation and  presentation of the ecosystem that directly outside its door. Hell, the Aquarium even features a giant kelp forest, perhaps the most subtle exhibit to occupy an entire wing. Compared this to the Academy’s Philippine Coral Reef, with its Technicolor fish and exotic rays. All in all, the Academy illustrates the worldview of San Francisco better than any other institution I’ve seen. It’s definitely worth the trip.

Last week I finally made it out to the California Academy of Sciences. The museum is a fantastic collection of disparate specimens, the perfect museum for a city that revolves around the internet, hyperlinks and blogs. There’s no context beyond the litany of content.

The Academy’s website perfectly illustrates the disparate direction of their collection:

One of the most notable changes to the Academy is simply the growth in its animal and plant population. The new Academy is now home to nearly 40,000 animals, more than six times the number at the old Academy.
Leafy Sea Dragons, Anaconda, Giant Octopuses, Amazonian Piranhas, Borneo fruit bats, Leaf-tailed Geckos, Tortoises, Stick Insects, Doves, Tanagers, Butterflies, and more!

It’s as if the collection was curated by BoingBoing. Extreme samples are pulled in from the far corners of the Earth and smashed together in a central hub, leaving the viewer to make sense of it.

The Academy of Sciences is the perfect foil for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which prides itself on the curation and  presentation of the ecosystem that directly outside its door. Hell, the Aquarium even features a giant kelp forest, perhaps the most subtle exhibit to occupy an entire wing. Compared this to the Academy’s Philippine Coral Reef, with its Technicolor fish and exotic rays.

All in all, the Academy illustrates the worldview of San Francisco better than any other institution I’ve seen. It’s definitely worth the trip.

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