SSBA Book Club November: The Feather Detective, by Chris Sweeney
Zoom Meeting
Tuesday, November 18th at 6:00 PM
As cool fall days approach, why not relax by a window, curled up with a good book? Our next book for the SSBA Book Club will be The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne, by Chris Sweeney.
As per the publisher, this book details: “The fascinating and remarkable true story of the world’s first forensic ornithologist—Roxie Laybourne, who broke down barriers for women, solved murders, and investigated deadly airplane crashes with nothing more than a microscope and a few fragments of feathers.
…The Feather Detective takes readers deep within the vaunted backrooms of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History to tell the story of a burgeoning science and the enigmatic woman who pioneered it. While her male colleagues in taxidermy embarked on expeditions around the world and got plum promotions, Roxie stayed with her birds. Using nothing more than her microscope and bits of feathers, she helped prosecute murderers, kidnappers, and poachers. When she wasn’t testifying in court or studying evidence from capital crimes, she was helping aerospace engineers and Air Force crews as they raced to bird-proof their airplanes before disaster struck again, after the Boston Logan Airport tragedy in 1960.”
We will be meeting via Zoom on Tuesday, November 18th at 6:00 PM. To sign up for the discussion questions and to receive the Zoom link closer to the meeting time, please email Rachel at lightningdash09@yahoo.com .
