The Good Guide: A Sourcebook for Interpreters, Docents, and Tour Guides

Rating:
Summary: Sensible and Useful
Review: I was given this book when I began my work as a museum interpreter ten years ago. It gives a comprehensive overview of the field. There is information on both how museums have changed and present trends. Theoretical insights about learning theory are developed into realistic applications for planning activities on the museum floor. Part Two on the interpretive process would be improved by some discussion of first person interpretation, a dynamic new way to bring history alive at house museums, outdoor sites, and more traditional history museums. Also, there's room for more discussion of the problems and pitfalls which today's visitors can offer. But I found this book so helpful that I plan to use it in training 150 volunteers and a dozen paid staff at a new museum opening in January, 2001.