Book Thieves Just Did Something Remarkable

Three book thieves just completed an incredible heist. As my British readers may already know, some of the most expensive and rare books in the entire world were stolen from a London warehouse this past January. The thieves made off with over 160 books collectively worth around $2.5 million.

But it isn’t the number of books that is extraordinary. Nor is it their value. No, the reason this theft is so remarkable is the way that the perpetrators went about it.

According The Guardian, the group “climbed on to the building’s roof and bored holes through the reinforced glass-fibre skylights before rappelling down 40ft of rope while avoiding motion-sensor alarms.” The thieves then stole books written by Copernicus, Galileo, Da Vinci, Dante, and Isaac Newton among others.

Even more absurd is the fact – and I’m not making this up – that the police believe that this heist occurred at the behest of a mysterious, wealthy book collector known only as “The Astronomer”.

As heinous as the crime is, these details delight my storyteller’s mind, and if no one transforms these events into a bestselling novel, I will be heartbroken. I will also, however, be heartbroken if whoever currently possesses the books is not keeping them in a climate controlled space away from the air and light pollution that might damage them. If you are going to steal valuable books, then you had better take good care of them.