This month we hear top tips from Marjolein van Breemen Director Museum of Naturalis Biodiversity Centre.

Listening to -

I love lots of different music but I can always, álways go back to:

-Bach (I must confess, very often the Goldberg variations), hear the difference between Glenn Gould in 1955 and 1981. Both so beautiful and so Glenn Gould, but a world of difference.

- 70’s Bowie that I discovered as a teenager (for instance Life on mars)

-And my favorite Brazilian music - for example Gilberto Gil or Elis Regina (or her daughter Maria Rita!) whom I fell in love with when I lived there for 8 months during my studies. One of the loveliest videos with Brazilian music is João Gilberto with his daughter Bebel, herself now a famous singer, singing “ Chega de Saudade”. It is a classical bossa nova song about longing and desire.

Reading –

I read every day; I love diving into another world and living different perspectives so I read mostly literary fiction. But, I am now actually reading two non fiction books simultaneously: The Burgundians by Bart van Loo. I am totally late to the game as it came out 2 years ago; it is an interesting book about how the Burgundian court was navigating relationships during the middle ages, shaping the political landscape of the “Low Countries” , now Belgium and The Netherlands. It is fascinating how the Dukes of that time practiced geopolitics and how what happened then is still visible in current times.

The other book is “You Matter More Than You Think” by Karen O’Brien. This was a recommendation by my fabulous colleague Lizzy Bakker. We are trying to figure out how as a Natural History Museum we can tell stories about the biodiversity crisis to our (also family) audiences in a hopeful way. A difficult puzzle. Karen's story hopefully inspires us how we are more powerful than we think to make a difference.

But if you ask me about reading I feel I need to recommend dozens of (literary novel) books, As it is too hard to choose so i’ll go for the last one I read: The Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. It won the Booker Prize in 2023 so many might know it already. It is very beautifully written and horribly disturbing. As the Guardian describes it: “ Lynch's message is crystal clear: lives the world over are experiencing upheaval, violence, persecution. Prophet Song is a literary manifesto for empathy for those in need and a brilliant, haunting novel that should be placed into the hands of policymakers everywhere”. Indeed, it should.

Following –

I am of course interested to know what my colleagues worldwide are doing and follow interesting voices through (social) media but there is not one particular voice or company that I feel I need to share.

Things keeping me up at night –

At the moment, the US elections and by the time this is published either the outcome of it, or the response to it.

It is horrific what is happening in politics in large parts of the world, including in my own country. I feel totally frustrated by it and sometimes think about joining politics myself to try to make a difference. But my husband told me a long time ago he would break up with me if I would, as I would turn into a horrible person, haha. He is probably totally right, so I will stay in the wonderful and positive museum world. But back to what's keeping me up at night: thanks to my fathers genes I am both an optimist and an excellent sleeper, so whatever it is- never too long.

Somewhere I’ve been recently -

I had the pleasure of visiting Barcelona last week with my 82 year old mom and my 9 year old son. It brings a lovely and interesting dynamic to travel together with three generations. And it was an opportunity to visit some great (also science) museums, great fun!

Somewhere I’m planning to go -

The directors forum in Bristol! I am really looking forward to seeing old friends, meeting new ones and getting inspired by the program and I am sure, great conversations.