In all likelihood, you understand going in that this is a book by a journalist. You know what I mean. There is nothing wrong with that, sometimes you can just... tell. But that's not to say it's not a fine piece of work.

Some of the subject matter I found wholly entertaining: historical tidbits and first hand tales about books, libraries, bibliophiles, bibliomaniacs, rare books, book fairs, and book dealers especially. In fact, I think it's a shame that the real focus of the book wasn't the dealers, and Sanders especially.

Somewhat interesting were the stories of the thefts, the moments that made you wonder just how someone could have the gall to blithely steal from honest, dedicated, passionate people.

The part I didn't care for was the pursuit of "the story" of what made the thief steal, what made him tick. I mean, the guy is an outright creep and it bothered me that so much time was given to analysis of his motives, the particulars of his misanthropic, narcissistic, sad-sack personality, and especially his so-called ambitions and his feeble, faux-erudite posturing. I mean, I already feel bad that I've spent this much time typing about someone I refuse to even name. Alas, there would be no book without him.

All told, it's a quick read and worth the time. I just wish there were fewer such people getting as much airtime.

I was intrigued by the story, so I kept reading, but throughout the book I kept wondering why the author felt the need to keep making value judgments about book dealers, thieves, and Gilkey specifically. His actions and comments pretty much speak for themselves.

Toward the end, I guess it becomes a bit clear that the author played a larger part of the story than perhaps she was comfortable with, which might explain why her opinions were as frequent as her observations throughout the book... but overall I kind of felt like I was reading a decent magazine article that had been dragged out to book length for no particularly good reason.

This was a really enjoyable read. It really forces one to think about the difference between book lovers and readers. It was interesting to see how little the legal world does to book thieves and even to start to understand their thought processes.

An interesting topic bound in a magazine article gone on too long.

I was expecting a relatively large tome (digital tome, since I ironically read this as an ebook from the library...) of standard nonfiction, a biography of this "man who loved books too much.

Instead, I got a memoir of interviewing a rare book thief and various rare bookshop owners, and a mini-history of book collecting. Pretty safe to say, this was the opposite of what I was expecting.

Although this casual, and sometimes partially off-topic, approach discouraged me a tad bit, I still loved this book and the quirky history that it discusses. It's quite a short book, and I devoured it in a few days.

The author focuses on telling the story of a rare book thief, actually interviewing him and discussing his drive to acquire rare books by any illegal means. She also interviews many bookstore owners who have been targeted by the thief and/or are doing their part to prevent rare book theft, and provides some short history of book theft throughout the ages. Lots of interesting observations on all fronts of the topic.

Bartlett does interject a lot of personal stories (related to her interviews and research) into the narrative, and she seemed shocked, in many instances, that book collecting was a "thing" and an "obsessive thing" at that. She acknowledged her love of books, but seemed to think that collecting them was weird and pointless. I'm not against the author of a book on books objecting to the concept of collecting books, but I also felt she was adamant about saying, essentially, "These people are crazy, and I have to counteract that by saying I totally don't get it." A little off-putting, the main reason for the fifth star getting knocked off the rating.

If anything, this is more of a general history of rare book theft, with a focus on Gilkey, the thief that the author interviews, NOT a mostly focused biography of ONE thief as the title suggests.

Regardless of these pet peeves and nit picks, the book was informative, fun to read, and easy to relate to. Of course, that relation was towards the book thief himself, which I'm sure many people will find incriminating. But if you collect books to any extent, you'll most likely see yourself relating to Gilkey's obsession with books... just not the theft part ;)

Saw it as a recommendation on the Library Website - a very interesting tale for any bibliophile. If you are registered on this site...I'm atalkin' to you! hehe

A journalist's piece about the obsession of books. Its well written and a rare look into the underbelly of the first edition book trade.

Rare book theft. It was a world the author was unfamiliar with until an old book, clearly stolen, landed on her desk and piqued her curiosity. As she started to research the book on her desk and the world of rare book collecting, she was introduced to a detective of sorts for The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA), Ken Sanders. Ken was on a quest to hunt down a man who was indiscriminately stealing rare books from all over the country. John Charles Gilkey uses the Modern Library's List of 100 Best Novels to guide what items he steals. He is elusive when not in jail, serving time for writing bad checks, stealing credit card numbers, etc. Bartlett is able to interview him for the first time as he is serving out the last days of his current sentence. She then goes on to meet with him for a couple of years after that, during which he is back in jail for some of that time. In between meetings with Gilkey, Bartlett has conversations with Sanders and other resources in the world of collecting. It's an interesting world, and how Gilkey fits into it is somewhat odd. As Bartlett discovers, not everyone who collects books - in this particular world of collecting - loves books or reading. Some of them collect for the thrill of the hunt, some collect as a future investment, some collect for nostalgia, some collect for some reason only known to them, and yes, some do collect because they love to read and love books. Gilkey's reason? He wanted a large and grand library that communicated a certain status to others. The problem? He didn't have that status and never would. Eventually, he realized this, and to obtain the status he desired and felt entitled to, he figured out how to acquire (he never used the word steal and was confused when accused of theft) the books he thought would create the library he desired. Gilkey is a deluded man. He suffers from a strange entitlement. He seems genuinely perplexed by the consequences of his actions. He has no problem with lying and twisting circumstances to fit his preferred events. He is, quite frankly, a gross human being. But I am coming close to digressing. Despite the gross human Gilkey is, I enjoyed this look into the world of rare book collecting and the motivations behind those who collect.

Didn't finish. We love books differently. He loves the physical, first edition copies and I, well, admire them but, with maybe 3 exceptions, wouldn't want to own them. To much work and stress. Perhaps that will change at some point. In any case, I was not quite the target audience.