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The Feather Thief
- Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
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Publisher's summary
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)
A rollicking true-crime adventure and a captivating journey into an underground world of fanatical fly-tiers and plume peddlers, for fans of The Stranger in the Woods, The Lost City of Z, and The Orchid Thief.
On a cool June evening in 2009, after performing a concert at London's Royal Academy of Music, 20-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.
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- Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking
- By: Rachel Love Nuwer
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Our insatiable demand for animals - for jewelry, pets, medicine, meat, trophies, and fur - is driving a worldwide poaching epidemic, threatening the continued existence of countless species. Rachel Nuwer, an award-winning science journalist with a background in ecology, takes listeners on a narrative journey to the front lines of the trade: to killing fields in Africa, traditional medicine black markets in China, and wild meat restaurants in Vietnam. Through exhaustive first-hand reporting that took her to 10 countries, Nuwer explores the forces currently driving the demand.
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Fascinating
- By Annie on 11-30-18
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Provenance
- How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art
- By: Laney Salisbury, Aly Sujo
- Narrated by: Marty Peterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Here is a tautly paced investigation of one the 20th century's most audacious art frauds, which generated hundreds of forgeries - many of them still hanging in prominent museums and private collections today. Provenance is the extraordinary narrative of one of the most far-reaching and elaborate deceptions in art history.
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reads like a thriller
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By: Laney Salisbury, and others
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Here Is Where
- Discovering America's Great Forgotten History
- By: Andrew Carroll
- Narrated by: Andrew Carroll
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
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The centerpiece of a major national campaign to indentify and preserve forgotten history, Here Is Where is acclaimed historian Andrew Carroll’s fascinating journey of discovery in which he travels to each of America’s 50 states and explores locations where remarkable individuals once lived or where the incredible or momentous occurred.
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A Man who Loves his Country
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By: Andrew Carroll
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The Lost Book of Moses
- The Hunt for the World's Oldest Bible
- By: Chanan Tigay
- Narrated by: Chanan Tigay
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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In the summer of 1883, Moses Wilhelm Shapira - archaeological treasure hunter and denizen of Jerusalem's bustling marketplace - arrived unannounced in London claiming to have discovered the world's oldest Bible scroll. When news of the discovery leaked to the excited English press, Shapira became a household name. But before the British Museum could acquire them, Shapira's nemesis, French archaeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau, denounced his find as a fraud.
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Fascinating!
- By Deborah on 07-27-17
By: Chanan Tigay
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The Great Pearl Heist
- London's Greatest Thief and Scotland Yard's Hunt for the World's Most Valuable Necklace
- By: Molly Caldwell Crosby
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 1913, under the cover of London’s perpetual smoggy dusk, two brilliant minds are pitted against each other - a celebrated gentleman thief and a talented Scotland Yard detective - in the greatest jewel heist of the new century. An exquisite strand of pale pink pearls, worth more than the Hope Diamond, has been bought by a Hatton Garden broker. Word of the “Mona Lisa of Pearls” spreads around the world, captivating jewelers as well as thieves.
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Entertaining Read
- By Rodney on 12-18-12
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Maphead
- Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks
- By: Ken Jennings
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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It comes as no surprise that, as a kid, Jeopardy! legend Ken Jennings slept with a bulky Hammond world atlas by his pillow every night. Maphead recounts his lifelong love affair with geography and explores why maps have always been so fascinating to him and to fellow enthusiasts everywhere.
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A Romp through Maps
- By Lynn on 01-27-12
By: Ken Jennings
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Finders Keepers
- A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession
- By: Craig Childs
- Narrated by: Craig Childs
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Is the archeologist who discovers a lost tomb a sort of hero - or a villain? If someone steals a relic from a museum and returns it to the ruin it came from, is she a thief? Craig Childs's riveting new book is a lyrical ghost story - an intense, impassioned investigation into the nature of the past and the things we leave behind. We visit lonesome desert canyons and fancy Fifth Avenue art galleries, journey throughout the Americas, Asia, the past and the present. The result is a brilliant book about man and nature, remnants and memory, a dashing tale of crime and detection.
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I roam the deserts
- By matt hewman on 08-21-19
By: Craig Childs
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Hellhound on His Trail
- The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin
- By: Hampton Sides
- Narrated by: Hampton Sides
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
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On April 23, 1967, Prisoner #416J, an inmate at the notorious Missouri State Penitentiary, escaped in a breadbox. Fashioning himself Eric Galt, this nondescript thief and con man - whose real name was James Earl Ray -drifted through the South, into Mexico, and then Los Angeles, where he was galvanized by George Wallace's racist presidential campaign. With relentless storytelling drive, Sides follows Galt and King as they crisscross the country, one stalking the other, until the crushing moment at the Lorraine Motel.
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History Comes Alive
- By L. Lyter on 06-29-10
By: Hampton Sides
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Wild Ones
- A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Looking at Animals in America
- By: Jon Mooallem
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
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Half of all species could disappear by the end of the century, and scientists now concede that most of America’s endangered animals will survive only if conservationists keep rigging the world around them in their favor. So Jon Mooallem ventures into the field, often taking his daughter with him, to move beyond childlike fascination and make those creatures feel more real. Wild Ones is a tour through our environmental moment and the eccentric cultural history of people and wild animals in America that inflects it.
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The line between conservation and domestication...
- By Bonny on 04-02-14
By: Jon Mooallem
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The Skeleton Crew
- How Amateur Sleuths Are Solving America's Coldest Cases
- By: Deborah Halber
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
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Performance
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The Skeleton Crew provides an entree into the gritty and tumultuous world of Sherlock Holmes-wannabes who race to beat out law enforcement-and one another - at matching missing persons with unidentified remains. In America today, upwards of forty thousand people are dead and unaccounted for. These murder, suicide, and accident victims, separated from their names, are being adopted by the bizarre online world of amateur sleuths.
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I Don't Understand
- By Hannah Wallner on 08-07-18
By: Deborah Halber
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The City of Falling Angels
- By: John Berendt
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
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The author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil returns to give us an intimate look at the "magic, mystery, and decadence" of the city of Venice and its inhabitants.
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Do Yourself a Favor and Skip This Book!
- By AUDIBLE on 10-08-05
By: John Berendt
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Between Man and Beast
- An Unlikely Explorer, the Evolution Debates, and the African Adventure that Took the Victorian World By Storm
- By: Monte Reel
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
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In 1856 Paul Du Chaillu marched into the equatorial wilderness of West Africa determined to bag an animal that, according to legend, was nothing short of a monster. When he emerged three years later, the summation of his efforts only hinted at what he'd experienced in one of the most dangerous regions on earth. Armed with an astonishing collection of zoological specimens, Du Chaillu leapt from the physical challenges of the jungle straight into the center of the biggest issues of the time.
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Extraordinary book! Masterpiece.
- By BVerité on 04-23-13
By: Monte Reel
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To See Every Bird on Earth
- A Father, A Son, and a Lifelong Obsession
- By: Dan Koeppel
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
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From well-known nature and adventure writer Dan Koeppel, whose work has appeared in Audubon and National Geographic Adventure, comes this true story of one bird watcher's incredible achievements.
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Reader is Ancient
- By Caroline on 06-18-05
By: Dan Koeppel
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Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die.
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Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita is one of the most beloved novels ever. And yet, very few of its readers know that the subject of the novel was inspired by a real-life case: the 1948 abduction of 11-year-old Sally Horner. Weaving together suspenseful crime narrative, cultural and social history, and literary investigation, The Real Lolita tells Sally Horner’s full story for the first time. Sarah Weinman uncovers how much Nabokov knew of the Sally Horner case and the efforts he took to disguise that knowledge during the process of writing and publishing Lolita.
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Meandering and tedious while never delivering the promised story.
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The Optimist
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In The Optimist, David Coggins makes a case for the skills and sensibility of an enduring sport and shares the secrets, frustrations, and triumphs of the great tradition of fly fishing, which has captivated anglers worldwide. Written in wry, wise, and keenly observed prose, each chapter focuses on a specific place, fish, and skill. Few individuals, for example, have the visual acuity required to catch the nearly invisible bonefish of the Bahamas flats.
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But the hard copy.
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Rising from humble roots as the son of an antique dealer, Wittman built a 20-year career that was nothing short of extraordinary. He went undercover, usually unarmed, to catch art thieves, scammers, and black market traders in Paris and Philadelphia, Rio and Santa Fe, Miami and Madrid. In this compelling memoir, Wittman fascinates with the stories behind his recoveries of priceless art and antiquities.
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What listeners say about The Feather Thief
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Rosekeet
- 03-01-19
Great telling of an absolutely BONKERS event
The story told in this book is absolutely BONKERS. A salmon fly tying flute prodigy breaks into a museum to steal feathers collected by a famous naturalist to sell so he can buy a new flute. You can't make this stuff up. The story is engaging already and Johnson paints a vivid picture of the events of the heist, the thief (Edwin Rist), and community surround it. I didn't know anything (or frankly have any interest in) fly tying before reading this book, but its actually really fascinating with a fascinating history. Johnson's description of the heist and its aftermath is very compelling and so is his final interview with Edwin (who is absolutely THE WORST). I listened to this book on a long road trip with my dad and we both (a 30 year old woman and a 67 year old man) really enjoyed it and have recommended it to others. If you enjoyed "the Orchid Thief" you'll enjoy this.
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24 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 04-22-19
Top of my list!
Not only is this a compelling true story with all the elements of a thriller/mystery, but it is read by one of the very best narrators in the biz!
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- rhonda
- 05-20-20
amazing detective work
loved it. author took you into history of hat making and the Amazon. loved it!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Carl holsinger
- 05-17-21
Worth listening 2-3 times
There is so much in this book so much I have listen to it 5 time and I still get something new every time if you fish, fly tie or love history that they don’t talk about this one is for you
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- Shrewsie Shrew
- 02-07-20
One idiot wreaks havoc on science
One idiot wreaks havoc on science and obliterates unknown quantities of potential research.
I read this book for the non-violent true crime category of the 2019 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. I overall liked this book but.....
Firstly, if you're used to reading great long-form journalism or nonfiction, this book is slightly awkward. The author includes a lot of information about his interview and research process, and it's kind of interesting but mostly it's just very clear that he is not a professional journalist. Why on earth would you hire a bodyguard to interview someone, and also bring your wife to that interview? I was very baffled by that whole part of the book, I thought someone was going to get shot but then nothing happened and I wondered why even include that? I don't know. It was weird.
So we get a lot of information about the author's process but he left out other information that would have been helpful for this book. The book is about a fly-tying hobbyist who steals bird specimens from a natural history museum so he can sell their feathers to fly-tiers. Natural history museums, the history of European bird collections (specifically Alfred Russel Wallace), the impact of the millinery trade and the founding of the Audubon Society, and the international and U.S. laws protecting bird species are discussed. Those are all relevant, but there is really not a lot of discussion of the birds themselves, or really......nature? I felt like more could have been included about the threats to those species now, and their ecological significance.
The author obliquely discusses how the demand for feathers impacts species, but I wish he had more directly focused on it. At one point in his interview, Edwin says that he thinks that he probably saved some birds by stealing birds from the natural history museum. The author at this point should have pointedly said, "Stealing birds from the natural history museum to sell to fly-tiers in fact increases demand for these feathers, which in turn increases the threat of hunting to these particular species." The fly-tiers apparently need it explained to them that what they are doing is detrimental to rare species in a direct way.
It made me really sad and angry that the fly-tiers (many of whom aren't even using flies for fishing!!) all said that natural history museums were just hoarding these birds for no purpose. Johnson did an ok job describing the use of these birds to modern science, but he really didn't put enough emphasis on it. We obviously need better ambassadors to share the importance of natural history museums. Of course, the fly-tiers will continue to delude themselves no matter how many times it's explained to them.
While I'm throwing out complaints I'll add in that the language about collectors going out into the world to "discover" new species was Euro-centric in a way that sounds very out of date in 2019.
So that is a lot of complaints about a book that overall was very good and educational and well-written. I definitely recommend it, and the audio was very good.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-12-21
Facinating
A facinating story of an unknown world of fly tying fanatics and a decimated museum. Enjoyed the narration , the history of feather gathering and the intrigue.
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- Christopher James
- 05-07-21
A truly excellent audiobook
While hard to listen to sometimes as Johnson describes the plunder of species in times gone by, I can’t praise the author enough for his excellent prose, his characterizations of the players, and his very complete narrative.
Moreover, Andrews is an exceptional narrator who draws you in and take the effort to execute a cadence that really communicates the text.
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- RJ
- 04-08-20
Trafficking of Wildlife Then and Now
The narrator's voice was perfect. The story dealt with the concept "we murder to dissect" in the realm of bird collecting in the 1800's and the subsequent lust for feathers in millinery and fly-tieing. The author moved into the broader realm of CITES currently. It was a compelling story that delved into personalities and professional relationships as well as the role of the museum in natural history research. It made me sad overall due to the trafficking of wildlife but I found it interesting.
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- laconfidential
- 09-29-18
Surprisingly Compelling, Being About Feathers
Super book overall. Drawn inside a sub-culture I didn't know existed - and was glad for the journey. Fascinating tale. Unfortunately, I think the author should have pulled in his line sooner as the last 15-20 minutes drag out in anti-climactic fashion and we seem to catch nothing new. Rather than wrapping up the main story, it felt like an author's confessional. However, I highly recommend this audio book. Narrator is terrific - and I'm a stickler for a good narration.
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- Bella
- 01-12-23
The feather thief
Love how the story unfolded
Historial non fiction my fave. I’m not a fly fisher or a birder by this story is enthralling
Thumbs up.
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