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The Map Thief: The Gripping Story Of An Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps (2014)

by Michael Blanding(Favorite Author)

3.63 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1592408176 (ISBN13: 9781592408177)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Gotham

review 1: This is an account of maps and how little they are or were recognized as important historical pieces. What I found most interesting were the sections on the development of maps and what the maps meant - here you can think of how Israel draws maps to exclude the Palestinians. But the the maps discussed are much really old. They are historical and art objects. Yet despite their importance were stored in very insecure conditions. So the account harkens to a time when librarians trusted their readers and researchers. Into this trusting environment comes Forbes Smiley, map dealer and eventual map thief.
review 2: Interesting, but not gripping, unless I have a different definition of the word. It was interesting to read about map collecting and the trade, whic... moreh still old fashioned compared to many things these days, with handshake agreements and even IOUs being handed out and actually honored. I didn't really find it gripping, and the spacing a bit slow, and the info dumps slowing down the pace even more. However the information dumps going into the history of maps of various regions and their impact on the world or map making itself, was interesting to read. The main reason the thefts managed to take place was due to insufficient resources for security and cataloguing in many libraries that house these documents, which is just sad; along with libraries not wanting to come forward about thefts so they could protect their reputations, which is also sad. less

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