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Finders Keepers Paperback – Illustrated, June 25, 2013

by Craig Childs (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 275 ratings
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To whom does the past belong? Is the archeologist who discovers a lost tomb a sort of hero -- or a villain? If someone steals a relic from a museum and returns it to the ruin it came from, is she a thief?

Written in his trademark lyrical style, Craig Childs's riveting new book is a ghost story -- an intense, impassioned investigation into the nature of the past and the things we leave behind. We visit lonesome desert canyons and fancy Fifth Avenue art galleries, journey throughout the Americas, Asia, the past and the present. The result is a brilliant book about man and nature, remnants and memory, a dashing tale of crime and detection.
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  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    June 25, 2013
  4. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.76 x 8.25 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    031606646X
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0316066464
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Craig Childs understands [archeological] epiphanies, and he beautifully captures them...along with the moral ambiguities that come from exposing a long-hidden world."―George Johnson, New York Times Book Review

"[Childs is] a desert ecologist who also happens to be a fine storyteller...[Finders Keepers is] a fascinating book, full of swashbuckling pothunters, FBI raids, greasy museum curators who don't really care and many, many other characters...Childs looks at moral issues from varied angles. He doubts others as he doubts himself, a beautiful inverse of the golden rule."―Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

"Reads almost like a thriller, chock-full of vendettas, suicides and large scale criminal enterprises dedicated to the multimillion-dollar trade in antiques."―NPR, "Weekend All Things Considered"

"This is a delightful account of the complicated world of archeology by an author who loves (one might say is borderline obsessed with) the past... This nicely wrought, even poetic book about archeological excavation and the variety of people who are passionate about the past and its artifacts will fascinate everyone from high school students to professional archaeologists digging in the field. Highly recommended."―Library Journal

"Finders Keepers may be [Childs's] most tender and ferocious dissection...If you have ever ached to possess - or lost what you believed you possessed to change, time or someone else - you may find yourself equally possessed by Childs's razor-edge analysis and compassion."―Mary Sojourner, Psychology Today

"[Childs is] a superb storyteller...As Childs makes clear in this engrossing book, how people grapple with the past is as varied as history itself."―Jonathan Keats, The New Scientist

About the Author

Craig Childs -- naturalist, adventurer, desert ecologist, and frequent contributor to National Public Radio's Morning Edition -- lives in Crawford, Colorado. His previous books include House of Rain, The Way Out, The Secret Knowledge of Water, and Soul of Nowhere.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Back Bay Books; Illustrated edition (June 25, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 031606646X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316066464
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.76 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 275 ratings

About the author

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Craig Childs

Craig Childs

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Craig Childs is both a spoken word performer and a writer, and has published more than a dozen books of science, nature, and personal experience. His nonfiction narratives and journalism have appeared in The Atlantic, Outside, The Sun, the LA Times, New York Times, NPR, and Radiolab. He has won the Orion Book Award, the Colorado Book Award, the Galen Rowell Art of Adventure Award, and has three times won the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award. He lives in Southwest Colorado.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
275 global ratings
Kinda dry
3 Stars
Kinda dry
I mean I expected a little more from this book as far as cohesive story. To me it seemed fractured but it gave pretty solid information about the world of artifact sales on the black market. If you want to know about the black market sales then I would suggest it. If you want exciting stories then don’t read this.
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Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and Beautifully Written
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2021
Verified Purchase
This is a very engaging book about a subject that requires thoughtful reflection, which Childs facilitates expertly. It helped me understand my attraction to the history of the Southwest and to develop a better understanding of how I feel about archaeological plunder and why we are drawn to these ancient objects. His appreciation for the sacred lands surrounding those of us who are lucky enough to live in this environment are an inspiration for our further investigation of why we are drawn to it in the first place, what we bring to it, what we take, and what we leave behind.
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M. melde - Author of SOUL DEEP IN HORSES
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly intriguing
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2011
Verified Purchase
I unknowingly thought of this very subject long ago when I went to a museum in Berlin and saw the rebuilt pieces of the Babylonian Ishtar Gate. What the heck were these ruins doing in Germany? And what about the missing Caryotid from the Erechtheion on the Acropolis, which lives in the British Museum instead of Greece? That just didn't seem right. If you've ever come across a link to the past on a hike - such as finding obsidian chips or better yet, an arrowhead, what did you do with them? Did you keep them? Did you pick them up and look at them? Did you look at them but not touch, and left them as they laid? What would you do if you found an ancient pot? Or an as-yet undiscovered cave full of artifacts? Childs' thoroughly engaging and intriguing book is, as usual, well written, and it looks at so many facets on the collecting of (or leaving untouched) ancient artifacts and archaeology. It will make you think.
2 people found this helpful
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JL JMK
4.0 out of 5 stars Good overview of the archeological controversy
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2013
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My personal philosophy does not cotton to archeological treasures being hidden away by the millions, so that only selected archeologists can see them. There's a lot of blather about how future techniques might be better used to study these items, but you know what? It's all just for fun and enjoyment of the archeologists. None of those studies apply to current life, as it's clear that history and its paraphernalia hasn't taught the human race any valuable life lessons. Well, if you're of a bent that these treasures are better hidden than displayed or owned by private collectors, this book is on your side.
One person found this helpful
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Brent R. Swanson
5.0 out of 5 stars Protecting the Past from the Present
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2011
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Two memories came to mind as I made my way through this readable but difficult book: (1) Seeing the work of screwball relic hunters who had dug tiles out of Tom Cruise's star on Hollywood Boulevard, apparently seeking some intimate souvenir of their obsession; (2) member of my immediate and extended family showing off arrowheads they'd found in the Idaho desert lands. It's tempting and too easy to say that one was a nobler, less destructive activity than the other, but both were attempts to take possession of something larger than life, to own a piece of history.

Though not a direct sequel to "House of Rain," Craig Childs does return to that territory (as well as Tibet, Central America, and St. Laurence Island) to examine what's been going on with what's been unearthed, and the stories are neither pretty nor black & white/good vs. evil. Balanced against stories of shameless pot hunters and relic poachers are accounts of both professional and self-declared archeologists removing the past from its moorings. But where do we draw the line between legitimate removal (for preservation and/or academic purposes) and removal simply to possess something for whatever intangible power or value we see in it? Where is the line between preservation and destruction?

Childs avoids the pitfalls of caricature and easy answers. His writing is lively and his stories engrossing, which makes the dilemmas that much more heartwrenching. Though he obviously favors the repatriation of artifacts to their home turf, he is also cognizant that that may not always be best choice or even possible, calling into question his own act of "guerilla repatriation" that opens the book.

"Some people just can't leave a big fish alone," a game warden once told me in regard to a protected stream she was watching. The same could be said of our ancient heritage. Childs asks to us to consider the proposition that we have "enough." It's up to all of us to decide. This book makes the case for it; it is one of the most compelling and moral books you will ever read.
4 people found this helpful
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Sue M.
5.0 out of 5 stars Finders Keepers, or looting ancient archaeology for a profit.
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2018
Verified Purchase
I’m still reading Child’s book on the looting trade that is rampant now in the southwest and elsewhere. I first heard about it talking to an archeologist about looting after I found a potsherd in Chaco canyon, took a picture of it, and then put the shred back where I found it. I got s nice thank you for doing so. The archeologist saw me do it while I was on a walk through the park. I found the book to read more about all of this, and it’s both scary and shock. It reminds me of drug cartels, and these looting rings can be just as ruthless. Child’s peppers his book with both personal experiences and the brutal truth of all of this. It’s a fascinating read so far, but scary. I hope I never run into one of these people while exploring the southwest.
6 people found this helpful
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Melonie Ancheta
5.0 out of 5 stars Important issues surrounding archeological collecting, personal and institutional.
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2018
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This is an outstanding read for everyone, not just people interested in archeology. Childs explores the reasons we are compelled to collect artifacts, from the personal level to the institutional level, even when many of them are absolutely meaningless. He brings up important issues about storage of artifacts, the laws surrounding what we can have and can't, and the biggest one, I think, should we leave them in situ or squirrel them away in a private collection of institution storage facility where they may never be seen again.
An excellent book on a subject that needs to be reassessed and revamped with an eye to what we are collecting and why.
Seriously folks, do we really need thousands of Native human remains stuffed into cardboard boxes on a shelf no one even remembers is there?
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

zinkster
4.0 out of 5 stars This was a good tale and I finished the book which I don't ...
Reviewed in Canada on July 19, 2017
Verified Purchase
This was a good tale and I finished the book which I don't do if it's inadequate. He writes with some flair and knows his material. The book gave me pause to reconsider my meager collection of artefacts and gave me an insight to the antiquities trade.
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Alex Tee
3.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting look into archeology and the ins and outs ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 15, 2016
Verified Purchase
Very interesting look into archeology and the ins and outs of who gets to keep what.
Not being madly keen about the subject is why I gave it only 3 stars, and I found his attitude about wanting to leave everything where is was very irritiating.

Not everything needs to be kept, true, but without collecting some of these items we would have no idea of history or how things worked back then.
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