Jonathan K (Max Outlier)’s Reviews > The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century > Status Update

Fascinating factual account that demonstrates how natural history museums fail to inventory the collective. And when robbed there is no way for them to know how many were stolen. Brief 4 star review tomorrow.

Amazing.. 50 pages of bibliography, acknowledgements and footnotes. You'd think he'd just written the Origin of the Species!

While not unusual for an author to chronicle facts related to thefts, when Kirk learns there are hundreds of birds that weren't recovered after Rist was sentenced, he take it upon himself to find them. Good stuff

As you make your way through the factual account, the name John McClain. A police officer assigned to the Edwin Rist case, it triggered memories of Bruce Willis in "Die Hard" since his character was also a cop with the same name. Stranger than fiction

While I never had interest in fly fishing, I had no idea of its global popularity and the prices fly tying experts are willing to pay for rare feathers. Having enjoyed factual art theft stories, this is truly fascinating

This won't be for everybody since it involves fly tying and history of bird extinction sine they're directly related. That said Kirk's narrative style mimics mystery authors since the topic is stolen feathers and how he creatively finds ways to sell them. Truly fascinating

While I'm not a fly fisher nor have I ever cast a line, I've watched the Robert Reford film, A River Runs Through It, numerous times. For those like myself, we have no idea how passionate these people are about fishing nor the intricacies of fly tying. I mention this since Edward Rist, was one such person who stole feathers from museums to make flies

I doubt any of us realize how fashion trends caused the extinction of nature's beauty nor the murder of innocent animals. We've heard about how Rhino's were killed for their horns, and sharks for their fins, but few if any of us realize that millions upon millions of birds were done away with for their colorful feathers and skins to be used in women's hats and accessories. And when this occurs, smugglers get involved

Good stuff!

Stories like this remind the reader of the importance of nature and it's blessings and how man's greed gets in the way. The extinction of species is akin to genocide, and the loss unfathomable. While we show disdain for racial injustice, Nature is overlooked, seas, are over fished and animals are factory raised for profit.