The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett

WARNING: THIS IS A NONFICTION BOOK. This story should be appealing to any bibliophile, as the two Dons certainly are, but the twist here is that it is a true story about a man that embodies both a love of books and sociopathy. Because his desire to collect is far beyond his means, he turns to stealing. The author follows the serial book thief (a brief change of topics from our more usual topic of serial murderers) John Gilkey as he builds up his inventory of rare books. She travels to his family’s home in Modesto, California, where she sees his old room and talks with his mother and sister as she tries to understand his warped superego. She gets into Gilkey’s apartment and describes his incredible cache of books – he is more interesting in having them than selling them. She follows and interviews him in and out of prison since he is sometimes not so slick in his thievery and too driven by his compulsion. She also tells the parallel story of Ken Sanders, the man who works as the security chair for the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (an organization that really exists). As security chair, he is the chief detective that becomes aware of Gilkey’s prolific stealing and who spends several years pursuing him. Bartlett also weaves in information about rare book sellers, especially John Crichton, and a police detective, Kenneth Munson. Bartlett wrote about her own love of books and the strange world of rare book collectors and dealers. She once quoted Winston Churchill on the subject: “’What shall I do with all my books?’ was the question; and the answer, ‘Read them,’ sobered the questioner. But if you cannot read them, at any rate, handle them, and as it were, fondle them. Peer into them. Let them fall open where they will. Read on from the first sentence that arrests the eye. Then turn to another. Make a voyage of discovery, taking soundings of unchartered seas. Set them back on their shelves with your own hands. Arrange them on your own plan, so that if you do not know what is in them, you at least know where they are. If they cannot be your friends, let them at any rate be your acquaintances. If they cannot enter the circle of your life, do not deny them at least a nod of recognition.” As she addressed the topic of ebooks and the effect it might have on her topic, she thought people who have made the switch to ebooks (like me) would end up having a strengthened attachment to the physical books they keep (and that is insightful, clearly true for me). The author tells her story in novel-like form, so it is a good read. There is nothing dry about this nonfiction work. It was a quick read – it took me just a few hours, and the time was well spent.