Tag: theft

The Map Thief

June 1, 2014 Biography, History, Narrative Non-Fiction, non-fiction, Psychology 29

18693681Title: The Map Thief
Author: Michael Blanding
Source: from publisher for review
Rating: ★★★★★
Fun Fact: Because mapmakers continued to depict California as an island after it was known not to be, Ferdinand VII of Spain issued a law which simply stated “California is not an island.”
Review Summary: This is a well-researched story which included both interesting personal details and awesome fun facts written in an engaging way – everything I want from narrative nonfiction!

To most people who knew him, E. Forbes Smiley III appeared to be a respectable, well-to-do map dealer. However, there were some who suspected otherwise, noting his sometimes bounced checks and less than friendly business practices. Nothing could be proven until he dropped a razor blade while visiting a rare book collection, raising the librarians suspicions. The Map Thief tells Smiley’s story, from his childhood through his arrest, as well as the history of map-making and map collecting. The author shares bits of an exclusive post-arrest interview with Smiley and is able to share other personal stories from interviews with friends. He also addresses clues that Smiley might not have been entirely forthcoming about how many maps he stole. Read more »

Divider

It’s Got Character

December 15, 2011 Biography, non-fiction 2

I really enjoyed the way The Man Who Loved Books Too Much was written.  The author’s style was very conversational and she did a nice job of blending descriptions of her own experience with those of her two “main characters” the book dealer/detective and the thief.  I really enjoyed her attempts to understand why so many people love and collect rare books, including dabbling in collecting herself.  As she concludes, a lot of people build an identity out of the books they collect.  For that reason, I very much enjoyed her descriptions of the collectors she met, the sort of books they collected and the the reasons for their collections.    The book was definitely less of a thriller or a mystery than I though it might be, but there were a few moments of tense anticipation and certainly lots of curiosity about what might happen next.  As Erik Larson said in his own review, it really was “the author’s cozy, quiet style” which kept me turning the pages on this one.  I felt like a friend was relating a story to me. Read more »

Divider

Doing the Two’s

December 14, 2011 Uncategorized 0

Section two is a very meta section, containing only books about books.  I expected this section to be horribly dry to get through, with many books of books reviews and recommendations.  But I was pleasantly surprised to find many interesting books about the history of books and the value of reading.  In fact, I hadn’t looked very far before one book in particular caught my eye: The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession.  How fun!  A true story about a crime of passion – a passion for books.  I have high hopes for this one!

Divider