The Man Who Loved Books Too Much (Alison Hoover Barlett)

After visiting an antiquarian book fair in 2005, author and journalist Allison Hoover Bartlett was drawn into the world of rare books and book thefts. The result was this book, The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, a piece of investigative journalism relaying the criminal career of book thief John Gorky, who stole, not for profit, but for pleasure. Gorky, a bibliomaniac, used stolen credit card numbers and bad checks to scam rare booksellers out of thousands of dollars of books, many of them first editions. Bartlett tells the story of Gorky's exploits, from how he got started collecting books to his arrests, as well as the efforts of Ken Sanders, a rare book dealer, to organize efforts to catch Gorky. 

Bartlett's book is an entertaining, light read. It leaves me with the desire to browse book shops, run my fingers over spines and pages, and to expand my already large book collection. Sadly, the kind of rare books mentioned by Bartlett are--most likely--permanently out my price range. Luckily for me, I don't care about first editions. There are plenty of cheaper, finely bound books to buy.