The Feather Thief

Educational, fun to read, and by the end of it I found myself genuinely invested in the story. The writing itself is compelling, and although I was intitially confused by the author's inclusion of personal details in the narrative, by the end it did make sense. I thought the author approached a sensitive topic with great care, and wrote with a lot of respect about the people involved in the story.

While I enjoyed the book, which tells the story of an unusual theft from a natural history museum, and it is well written, I believe it would have been improved if the author had not injected himself into the story. His role in the case is minimal–few of the stolen birds were recovered as a result of his efforts–and his wife's pregnancy really has nothing to do with anything that the reader needs to be concerned with.

I found this fascinating! In a lot of ways the crime itself is very similar to “The Map Thief” in that a respected dealer/hobbyist is allowed the benefit of the doubt when selling rare items, but still super interesting. I appreciated that Johnson went in such detail about not only fly-tying but naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace, who I had never heard of.

This is a great nonviolent true crime pick or for anyone interested in museums and science.

3.5

This story is bananas, and I'm so glad I read it. It's wonderfully written and engaging from start of finish. It has the pacing of a thriller but the subject matter ranges from Victorian hat fashions, rare birds, science and exploration, fly fishing, and museum heists. Highly recommend giving this book a try.

This was such a bizarre story, but super interesting!

I've recently listened to this podcast about the Victorian bird market, which is super interesting too: https://www.dressedpodcast.com/podcasts/murderous-millinery.htm

Also, guys, Edwin Rist does flute covers of pop songs and tv music! https://youtu.be/CKnEp5qdANQ