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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
The start was a bit slow for me but once it got going, I was hooked! Learned a lot about birds and fly tying.
Fascinating read! Unusual story I never imagined reading. Very well written and researched.
Interesting ideas about the purpose of preservation vs. the demands of the market. Is it better to preserve items in case they are of scientific interest, or to let people enjoy nature's bounty knowing that they might drive a species to extinction? This question comes at an interesting time because the current administration in the U.S. has recently decided that economic interests can outweigh the needs of endangered species, and that if there's money to be made in the forest, the preservation of the spotted owl habitat can take a back seat.
I was especially stuck by the fact that a specimen loses almost all of its scientific value if the provenance is lost. All these guys had to do was snip off the ID tags, and the museum couldn't use it anymore.
I was a little turned off by the author's obsession to solve the crime. He certainly seemed to feel little hesitation in taking over the case when the police decided that they couldn't do anymore. He interrogated people for like 8 hours straight! I suppose they chose to stay and cooperate, but I wondered why he felt he had the right to impose himself and his judgements on others so much.
I was especially stuck by the fact that a specimen loses almost all of its scientific value if the provenance is lost. All these guys had to do was snip off the ID tags, and the museum couldn't use it anymore.
I was a little turned off by the author's obsession to solve the crime. He certainly seemed to feel little hesitation in taking over the case when the police decided that they couldn't do anymore. He interrogated people for like 8 hours straight! I suppose they chose to stay and cooperate, but I wondered why he felt he had the right to impose himself and his judgements on others so much.
My dad would have loved this book he was an avid fisherman & tied his own flys. It was an interesting read on more than a feather heist.
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
This is a story that I didn’t know I needed. A work of non-fiction, it is a tale of weird obsessions told in three parts: from the 19th century scientists and subsequent black marketers who collected rare and beautiful birds that fed the Victorian obsession with iridescent feathers, to the modern day fly fishing tiers equally obsessed which drove a remarkable heist, to the amateur fly fisherman turned researcher obsessed with recovering what was stolen. It was weird and fascinating and, frankly, I loved it.
adventurous
challenging
informative
sad
medium-paced
Wow, this book was upsetting, it wasn't bad it was good, the research and interviews were well done, but everything about it was also upsetting. From Edwin getting away with stealing and ruining decades worth of scientific discovery, to the community of fly tyers, while not all of them, but those who did buy and keep the stolen goods not seeing the need to return anything, to people who were directly affected by this, it was upsetting. Kirk did a great job at trying to unravel as much as he could, to try to really put what happened out there, but hearing the interview with Edwin, and realizing how he doesn't really seem to feel he did anything wrong or rather he had a good enough excuse was painful to hear.
All in all, it was a good book, I recommend it even if you don't have an interest in fly tying, or if you never really thought twice about feathers in that sense, but just having this knowledge, I say it's worth it.
All in all, it was a good book, I recommend it even if you don't have an interest in fly tying, or if you never really thought twice about feathers in that sense, but just having this knowledge, I say it's worth it.
I am not normally a non-fiction reader but I really liked this book. Great history, interesting link to the world of fly-fishing and the obsessions with exotic feathers. Also a great crime story. Well worth the read.