Title: The Feather Thief
Author: Kirk Johnson
Genre: True Crime
What an intriguing and bizarre read! I don't even know where to start with this book! It was so strange (in the best way possible). An American college student studying flute at London's Royal Academy of Music with a fly-tying hobby planned and executed a heist to steal rare and valuable feathers from the British Museum of Natural History. He never went to jail, and was only required to pay a fine that was just a fraction of the actual value of the stolen goods. Only one third of what was stolen was returned, and even then they were unusable to the museum because they had informational tags removed. What possesses a flute player with a fly-tying hobby to steal feathers? How did he get off so easy? What happened to all the missing feathers that were never returned? What makes feathers so valuable, anyway? What even is fly-tying and who even cares?
I'd highly recommend checking out this book. It is well-researched and well-written, and answers most of these bizarre questions, leaving only a few unanswered. I'm not much for true crime, but this was fast-paced (especially towards the end) and was really interesting.
I'd highly recommend checking out this book. It is well-researched and well-written, and answers most of these bizarre questions, leaving only a few unanswered. I'm not much for true crime, but this was fast-paced (especially towards the end) and was really interesting.
- Sarah P.
