-
The Map Thief
- The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
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Publisher's summary
Maps have long exerted a special fascination on viewers - both as beautiful works of art and as practical tools to navigate the world. But to those who collect them, the map trade can be a cutthroat business, inhabited by quirky and sometimes disreputable characters in search of a finite number of extremely rare objects.
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It was the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold. In 1985, at a heated auction by Christie’s of London, a 1787 bottle of Château Lafite Bordeaux - one of a cache of bottles unearthed in a bricked-up Paris cellar and supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson - went for $156,000 to a member of the Forbes family. The discoverer of the bottle was pop-band manager turned wine collector Hardy Rodenstock, who had a knack for finding extremely old and exquisite wines. But rumors about the bottle soon arose.
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Not just for enophiles
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If the Devil Had a Wife
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- Narrated by: A.T. Chandler
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Once upon a time. Happily ever after. Such are the classic promises of fairy tales. Yet in Texas we find a twist to the familiar storyline. In If the Devil Had a Wife, there is still the battle of Good vs. Evil, a beautiful maiden, a wealthy suitor, a kingdom of riches and the wicked witch, but any similarity with Cinderella and Snow White ends there. With the help of her life partner and an attorney (always necessary in these modern times), Nelda Stark executes a devious plan that elevates fraud and theft to a new high.
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What a Tale!!
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The Lost Painting
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An Italian village on a hilltop near the Adriatic coast, a decaying palazzo facing the sea, and in the basement, cobwebbed and dusty, lit by a single bulb, an archive unknown to scholars. Here, a young graduate student from Rome, Francesca Cappelletti, makes a discovery that inspires a search for a work of art of incalculable value, a painting lost for almost two centuries.
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an incredible and complex story unfolds seamlessly
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By: Jonathan Harr
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Age of Ambition
- Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China
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As the Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, Evan Osnos was on the ground in China for years, witness to profound political, economic, and cultural upheaval. In Age of Ambition, he describes the greatest collision taking place in that country: the clash between the rise of the individual and the Communist Party’s struggle to retain control.
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Come back when you have a warrant!
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Inside Scientology
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Scientology, created in 1954 by a prolific sci-fi writer named L. Ron Hubbard, claims to be the world's fastest-growing religion, with millions of members around the world and huge financial holdings. Its celebrity believers keep its profile high, and its teams of "volunteer ministers" offer aid at disaster sites such as Haiti and the World Trade Center. But Scientology is also a notably closed faith, harassing journalists and others through litigation and intimidation, even infiltrating the highest levels of government to further its goals.
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My cup of tea.
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A century ago, outsiders saw China as a place where nothing ever changes. Today, the country has become one of the most dynamic regions on earth. In Oracle Bones, Peter Hessler explores the human side of China's transformation, viewing modern-day China and its growing links to the Western world through the lives of a handful of ordinary people.
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Great Book, except for the narration.
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Journalist Maximillian Potter uncovers a fascinating plot to destroy the vines of La Romance-Conti, Burgundy's finest and most expensive wine. In January 2010, Aubert de Villaine, the famed proprietor of the Domaine de la Romance-Conti, the tiny, storied vineyard that produces the most expensive, exquisite wines in the world, received an anonymous note threatening the destruction of his priceless vines by poison - a crime that in the world of high-end wine is akin to murder - unless he paid a one million euro ransom.
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Eet waz eenteresteeng
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It comes as no surprise that, as a kid, Jeopardy! legend Ken Jennings slept with a bulky Hammond world atlas by his pillow every night. Maphead recounts his lifelong love affair with geography and explores why maps have always been so fascinating to him and to fellow enthusiasts everywhere.
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A Romp through Maps
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In 1912, at the height of World War I, brilliant Shakespeare expert Elizebeth Smith went to work for an eccentric tycoon on his estate outside Chicago. The tycoon had close ties to the US government, and he soon asked Elizebeth to apply her language skills to an exciting new venture: code breaking. There she met the man who would become her husband, groundbreaking cryptologist William Friedman. Though she and Friedman are in many ways the Adam and Eve of the NSA, Elizebeth's story, incredibly, has never been told.
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Captivating Biography
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Printer's Error
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Since the Gutenberg Bible first went on sale in 1455, printing has been viewed as one of the highest achievements of human innovation. But the march of progress hasn't been smooth; downright bizarre is more like it. Printer's Error chronicles some of the strangest and most humorous episodes in the history of Western printing. Take, for example, the Gutenberg Bible. While the book is regarded as the first printed work in the Western world, Gutenberg's name doesn't appear anywhere on it.
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Porn for Ye Old Bibliophiles
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In 1919, Texas rancher J. Frank Norfleet lost everything he had in a stock market swindle. He did what many other marks did - he went home, borrowed more money from his family, and returned for another round of swindling. Only after he lost that second fortune did he reclaim control of his story. Instead of crawling back home in shame, he vowed to hunt down the five men who had conned him. Through Norfleet's ingenious reverse-swindle, Amy Reading reveals the mechanics behind the scenes of the big con.
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Confusing Premise Makes for A Tough Read
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What listeners say about The Map Thief
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Luis Rodríguez
- 04-16-16
Una gran historia
El autor nos lleva q la historia de los mapas y subirán impacto en la sociedad hasta nuestros días
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- Paul M.
- 08-26-17
Detailed review of cartography
While this was a book was about Forbes Smiley it was also a detailed history of maps and the libraries who house them. While very informative it was at times very detailed in its' discussion of maps.
If you are just looking for the more human side of the information you may just want to look up Forbes Smiley.
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- Bruce Derflinger
- 12-15-14
Doesn't live up to the hype.
This was sold as an adventure story and it was a dry documentary. I did learn a great deal about early map making and the past and present values (both directionally and monetary) of these works of 15th to 18th century mapmakers. But exciting; only to a student of cartography, topographical history buff, or to someone who had acquired maps from the main character and just found out that they had purchased purloined papers.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jim
- 10-15-14
Disappointed
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
the story was boring. Much like reading a list of someones purchases over a lifetime.
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- Leslie
- 06-04-15
BIG MAP ENTHUSIAST? You need to be to enjoy this.
I didn't care for the book. I like maps but the information was too laborious to enjoy. The reading was ok I suppose.
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- Patrick Mabry, Jr.
- 02-11-15
Have Lots of Red Bull Handy
The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps by Michael Blanding is exceedingly tedious and boring. It is an endless recitation of banal facts that you wonder how anyone could value. While waiting to engage with the narrative have lots of coffee or Red Bull handy. A primer on historical cartography would have been a better use of Blanding's time.
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- D
- 10-30-14
A little boring for me
What would have made The Map Thief better?
I thought the story was lacking, not my cup of tea
Has The Map Thief turned you off from other books in this genre?
perhaps
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Disappointing, i thought there was much more that could have been offered I did not even listened to the whole thing I found myself forced to listen.... I wish i could take this book back.
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- The Louligan
- 10-19-14
AN OPPORTUNITY WASTED!
GRIPPING?!? I don't think so! This is probably the most boring book I've ever listened to. This was an opportunity wasted by the author. A little-known subject matter which COULD have made a great story. All I got was a greedy privileged man who thought he was above the law. When caught, Edward Smiley got sentenced for a white-collar crime. Yet, he stole valuable antique maps with the "mens rea" of a street thug. Cat burglars, jewel thieves and even map thieves should be charming and charismatic. Smiley had the personality of a box of wood chips! Author Michael Blanding does nothing to raise this subject and this sociopath to the level of any intelligent person's interest.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Eric
- 10-20-14
Gripping...NOT Exciting
What would have made The Map Thief better?
I thought by "gripping" they meant exciting. I was wrong. While interesting, this novel was nothing like I anticipated. I expected some adventure but perhaps I should have read into the description a little more.
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- danny lawrence
- 11-30-14
Only the maps were interesting
Very little value to this story. I did find the background stories of some of the maps he stole to be interesting, but not enough to make this book worthwhile. The thief was a privileged, greedy, destructive individual who put his financial status ahead of the preservation of these maps for all to enjoy. No sympathy for this guy at all. His destruction of these old works of art for his own personal gain is unforgivable. The entire story left a bad taste that I just cant get over.
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1 person found this helpful