SOURCE: “High Jinks and Low Jokes in Never-Land,” in The Spectator, October 24, 1998, p. 54.

In the following review, Taylor offers a negative assessment of The Smithsonian Institution.

Q. How do the books you see reviewed get read by their reviewers? Well, I picked up Gore Vidal’s new novel at 3.15 last Saturday afternoon as the train sped out of Paddington en route for the Cheltenham Literary Festival. At 3.45 I somewhat wanly put it back in the bag and substituted Craig Brown’s new book of parodies. Seven hours later, in a chintzy hotel room, I picked it up again and managed to hang on for at least ten minutes before falling asleep. 7.45 the next morning, as the early sun shone over the distant car parks, found me having another try, before breakfast became an urgent necessity. And so on, through the return train ride, the tube journey back to...