The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson
I found The Feather Thief on a list of true crime books labeled as must reads. Since I'm always trying to expand my horizons, I figured I'd give it a shot. I like birds, feathers are lucky, so why not?
The first part of this book focuses on Alfred Russel Wallace, a British naturalist in competition with Charles Darwin. When all his diaries and plant specimens gathered from the jungles of South America land on the ocean floor after his ship headed for home catches fire, he looks for new discoveries in the Far East. There he gathers studies previously unknown species of birds with spectacular plumage and routinely sends the skins home to England.
Fast forward to 2009 when a young, obsessed fly tier breaks into the British Museum housing Wallace's discoveries, loads them into his suitcase and walks to the train station to wait for the 3 a.m. train back to London. Several years later the theft is made known to the writer and fly fisherman, Kirk Wallace Johnson, his goal becomes that of cracking the case.
I have no interest in fishing of any kind but I was hooked by The Feather Thief. The history of the demand for feathers in fashion drew me in at first. And then throw in a modern and for the most part unsolved crime, and I couldn't stop turning the pages. This book is all that it says it is, a story of beauty, obsession and the natural history heist of the century. You won't be able to put it down.
I found The Feather Thief on a list of true crime books labeled as must reads. Since I'm always trying to expand my horizons, I figured I'd give it a shot. I like birds, feathers are lucky, so why not?
The first part of this book focuses on Alfred Russel Wallace, a British naturalist in competition with Charles Darwin. When all his diaries and plant specimens gathered from the jungles of South America land on the ocean floor after his ship headed for home catches fire, he looks for new discoveries in the Far East. There he gathers studies previously unknown species of birds with spectacular plumage and routinely sends the skins home to England.
Fast forward to 2009 when a young, obsessed fly tier breaks into the British Museum housing Wallace's discoveries, loads them into his suitcase and walks to the train station to wait for the 3 a.m. train back to London. Several years later the theft is made known to the writer and fly fisherman, Kirk Wallace Johnson, his goal becomes that of cracking the case.
I have no interest in fishing of any kind but I was hooked by The Feather Thief. The history of the demand for feathers in fashion drew me in at first. And then throw in a modern and for the most part unsolved crime, and I couldn't stop turning the pages. This book is all that it says it is, a story of beauty, obsession and the natural history heist of the century. You won't be able to put it down.
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