The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century [B0236]

2019 PB. As heard on NPR's This American Life "Absorbing . . . Though it's non-fiction, The Feather Thief contains many of the elements of a classic thriller." -Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air. "One of the most peculiar and memorable true-crime books ever." -Christian Science Monitor. From the author of The Fishermen and the Dragon, a rollicking true-crime adventure and a captivating journey into an underground world of fanatical fly-tiers and plume peddlers. On a cool June evening in 2009, after performing a concert at London's Royal Academy of Music, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist boarded a train for a suburban outpost of the British Museum of Natural History. Home to one of the largest ornithological collections in the world, the Tring museum was full of rare bird specimens whose gorgeous feathers were worth staggering amounts of money to the men who shared Edwin's obsession: the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying. Once inside the museum, the champion fly-tier grabbed hundreds of bird skins-some collected 150 years earlier by a contemporary of Darwin's, Alfred Russel Wallace, who'd risked everything to gather them-and escaped into the darkness. Two years later, Kirk Wallace Johnson was waist high in a river in northern New Mexico when his fly-fishing guide told him about the heist. He was soon consumed by the strange case of the feather thief. What would possess a person to steal dead birds? Had Edwin paid the price for his crime? What became of the missing skins? In his search for answers, Johnson was catapulted into a years-long, worldwide investigation. The gripping story of a bizarre and shocking crime, and one man's relentless pursuit of justice, The Feather Thief is also a fascinating exploration of obsession, and man's destructive instinct to harvest the beauty of nature.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Birds lovers beware, you're in for a scare!! I saw this recomended on a birding subreddit with the poster simply describing it as "a book about a guy who steals feathers" which sounds somewhat interesting enough to someone whose even mildly interested in birds, but after reading the first chapter I was thrilled to find out it would be much more than that."; "Lovers of all genres should give this book a shot! I never imagined I’d be so excited—or so deeply intrigued—by feathers and the world of salmon fly-tying. Thanks to this incredible true-crime story, I filled my Google searches with the names of rare birds and exotic feathers. When I wasn’t actively reading, the story completely occupied my thoughts, and I felt compelled to finish it as quickly as possible. I truly hope Hollywood adapts this story, staying faithful to Kirk Wallace Johnson’s distinctive style, storytelling, and delivery. I never thought I’d say this about a movie centered on bird crime, but I’ll be first in line at the theater the moment it hits the box office."; "Found this book strangely compelling. struggled through the first 50-75 pages; after that I struggled to put the book down."; "This was quite the page turner in nonfiction, extremely well written and contained story after story about many interesting historical and scientific characters."