Reviews - The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century

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

My first true crime and I did enjoy it, but only up to an extent. The authors fascination with birds and Edwin Rist is contagious and I certainly enjoyed those bits. They were informative and as a student of Zoology, I didn't feel like an outsider to those terms.
The writing was good and the author went in-depth with everything including the tiny details of the actual theft and his subsequent investigation. The pace was extremely slow and other than my interest in ornithology, there was very little to hold my attention. I wouldn’t say that I didn’t enjoy the book, but now that I know what True Crime books are made of, I might stray clear of this genre (especially because the author’s obsession might not necessarily interest me)

nedjemet's review against another edition

5.0

This story was equal parts fascinating, horrifying, and depressing. I absolutely recommend it, but will warn that there are a lot of upsetting elements to the story so make sure that you're in a good headspace before diving in. I'll give two trigger warnings below, but they're both spoilers, so read at your own risk!

Trigger warnings relating to autism:

Spoiler

Edwin Rist gets off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist due to an aspergers diagnosis. The UK court claims that those with aspergers - now considered a form of autism - are unable to understand right from wrong so therefore can't be blamed which is pretty darn insulting to those with autism. There's also some pretty strong evidence that Rist faked symptoms and behavior to get his diagnosis specifically to avoid jail time as he wasn't diagnosed until after he'd been caught.

Trigger warnings relating to what happens to the stolen birds:

Spoiler

some are recovered, but many are not. The books goes into detail about their mutilation and the callous attitude of the Victorian fly tying community when it comes to endangered species.

clittman19's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous sad medium-paced

What a fascinating story. Unsatisfying ending but alas that’s life sometimes. I wonder what the fly tiers think of this book, can’t imagine they liked it.