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Nut Jobs: Cracking California's Strangest $10 Million Dollar Heist
It’s the $10 million heist you’ve never heard of. In a matter of months, dozens of truckloads disappeared from American highways. But what were they carrying? Nuts.
Marc Fennell takes you into a rabbit hole of crime syndicates, stolen identities and private investigators that will change the way you think about food forever. Eighty percent of the world’s almonds are grown in the heart of California, but this journey will take you to Italy, the Spanish coast, deep under the earth and even into space.
Marc Fennell takes you into a rabbit hole of crime syndicates, stolen identities and private investigators that will change the way you think about food forever. Eighty percent of the world’s almonds are grown in the heart of California, but this journey will take you to Italy, the Spanish coast, deep under the earth and even into space.
4 pages, Audible Audio
First published June 1, 2020
20 people are currently reading
439 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 335 reviews
June 15, 2020
I thought I was getting an offbeat crime story about the clever theft of millions of dollar worth of nuts that were stolen from various California farmers via an elaborate scheme in which the legitimate shipping process was used to swipe truckloads of almonds. What I got instead was 4 hours of irritation.
I’ve noted before that the Audible Originals that I’ve listened to aren’t really audio books, they’re podcasts. Apparently the folks at Audible got my memo because Marc Fennell flatly refers to it as “a podcast for Audible Originals” in his introduction. However, while the structure and style are trying to rip off that Serial style it's still delivered in one big chunk so I’m not sure why that intro was repeated multiple times as if these were episodes delivered week to week. Yeah, it has different chapters, but you could do some kind of break indicating that instead of having Fennell reintroduce himself and the show with the full musical theme several times.
Fennell also comes across as incredibly stupid and/or naïve for repeatedly bringing up how amazed he is that anybody would steal nuts. Then when he learns that some kind of organized crime was involved he’s even more shocked. Which then leads to maybe the most idiotic question I’ve ever heard posed: “Does it surprise you that people would want to steal millions of dollars worth of nuts?”
It shouldn’t surprise anybody to hear that people would want to steal millions of dollars worth of ANYTHING. Particularly when it’s an untraceable commodity that could then be quickly turned around and sold for full market value. News flash - Where there's an illegal buck to be made, then you can usually count on some kind of organized crime figures to try and get in on it.
I suspect that Fennell is playing up the Gee-Whiz!-This-Is-Crazy! factor for the podcast, and he uses being an Australian in America to put some extra mustard on it. It also doesn’t help that he hits that same note repeatedly when doing things like freaking out about the guns that some security guards he interviews carry as he does a whole Wow!-America-Is-Crazy! angle. I live here, Fennell, so I’m well aware of it.
My biggest gripe is that this is a perfect example of false advertising. Out of the 4 hours of this, I think there’s probably less than 45 minutes actually talking about the nut heists in detail. Which is too bad because when that’s the focus it’s an interesting account of a complex criminal scheme. Unfortunately, what Fennell really wanted to do was to use that crime story as a Trojan horse to sneak in an audio essay about how our food is grown, transported, marketed, and sold to us.
It shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody who knows anything about capitalism, but it turns out that the whole thing is dependent on big money interests using a variety of low paid workers while destroying the environment to provide overpriced items for a market they created. As a famous quote goes, "I am shocked, SHOCKED to find out there's gambling going on in here!"
And that’s an important story, but it’s not what I signed up for when I clicked on something that said it was going to be about stealing nuts. At this point in the hellish year of 2020 I really wasn’t in the mood to hear yet another example of how everything is fucked. I got Twitter for that.
I’ve noted before that the Audible Originals that I’ve listened to aren’t really audio books, they’re podcasts. Apparently the folks at Audible got my memo because Marc Fennell flatly refers to it as “a podcast for Audible Originals” in his introduction. However, while the structure and style are trying to rip off that Serial style it's still delivered in one big chunk so I’m not sure why that intro was repeated multiple times as if these were episodes delivered week to week. Yeah, it has different chapters, but you could do some kind of break indicating that instead of having Fennell reintroduce himself and the show with the full musical theme several times.
Fennell also comes across as incredibly stupid and/or naïve for repeatedly bringing up how amazed he is that anybody would steal nuts. Then when he learns that some kind of organized crime was involved he’s even more shocked. Which then leads to maybe the most idiotic question I’ve ever heard posed: “Does it surprise you that people would want to steal millions of dollars worth of nuts?”
It shouldn’t surprise anybody to hear that people would want to steal millions of dollars worth of ANYTHING. Particularly when it’s an untraceable commodity that could then be quickly turned around and sold for full market value. News flash - Where there's an illegal buck to be made, then you can usually count on some kind of organized crime figures to try and get in on it.
I suspect that Fennell is playing up the Gee-Whiz!-This-Is-Crazy! factor for the podcast, and he uses being an Australian in America to put some extra mustard on it. It also doesn’t help that he hits that same note repeatedly when doing things like freaking out about the guns that some security guards he interviews carry as he does a whole Wow!-America-Is-Crazy! angle. I live here, Fennell, so I’m well aware of it.
My biggest gripe is that this is a perfect example of false advertising. Out of the 4 hours of this, I think there’s probably less than 45 minutes actually talking about the nut heists in detail. Which is too bad because when that’s the focus it’s an interesting account of a complex criminal scheme. Unfortunately, what Fennell really wanted to do was to use that crime story as a Trojan horse to sneak in an audio essay about how our food is grown, transported, marketed, and sold to us.
It shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody who knows anything about capitalism, but it turns out that the whole thing is dependent on big money interests using a variety of low paid workers while destroying the environment to provide overpriced items for a market they created. As a famous quote goes, "I am shocked, SHOCKED to find out there's gambling going on in here!"
And that’s an important story, but it’s not what I signed up for when I clicked on something that said it was going to be about stealing nuts. At this point in the hellish year of 2020 I really wasn’t in the mood to hear yet another example of how everything is fucked. I got Twitter for that.
June 17, 2020
I listened to the Audible original “Nut Jobs: Cracking California’s Strangest $10 Million Dollar Heist” narrated by Marc Fennell. This entertaining listen begins with the case of stolen almonds. How can a shipment of almonds be stolen along the food chain? Fennell uncovers a massive corrupt trucking food supply problem. As consumers, we never think of the supply chain and the details involved in getting those products like almonds into our homes. He reveals the underground trucking problems that involves unwitting good businesses and independent truckers into an illegal fold.
Under Fennell’s hands, this is akin to an educational podcast that brings attention to America’s food chain. As consumers, we rarely think about how food is brought into our home. Fennell examines the trucking business, identity theft, and computer security. It begins with nuts being stolen in California. Once those thefts are examined, it uncovers a massive organized, almost choreographed, trucking heist that expands beyond those nuts in California.
Fennell makes this entertaining by adding suspense and a cast of captivating characters. I highly recommend this one, especially if you chose to listen while in a long-distance car ride. Those trucks around you will be seen differently while listening.
Under Fennell’s hands, this is akin to an educational podcast that brings attention to America’s food chain. As consumers, we rarely think about how food is brought into our home. Fennell examines the trucking business, identity theft, and computer security. It begins with nuts being stolen in California. Once those thefts are examined, it uncovers a massive organized, almost choreographed, trucking heist that expands beyond those nuts in California.
Fennell makes this entertaining by adding suspense and a cast of captivating characters. I highly recommend this one, especially if you chose to listen while in a long-distance car ride. Those trucks around you will be seen differently while listening.
June 13, 2020
The cops never caught the thieves, who used fake pickup papers to drive off with the nuts.
That's it. That's the whole story. Took me 10 seconds to type out.
The man spent 3.5 hours pretending that his surprise that organized crime exists revealed something deep about global warming or something.
It's unclear why this exists, but it ain't to tell you about nut heists.
That's it. That's the whole story. Took me 10 seconds to type out.
The man spent 3.5 hours pretending that his surprise that organized crime exists revealed something deep about global warming or something.
It's unclear why this exists, but it ain't to tell you about nut heists.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 7, 2020
I adored this audiobook :) but I can understand why some people were disappointed by it… if you go into it thinking it will be only about the “nut thief” I have some bad news for you, it’s not… :) it starts with that mystery and sorry to say it, we never quite learn how exactly it happened… what this podcast-turn-into-book does, is it starts with that eye catching story and then delves a bit deeper into why someone would steal nuts specifically… from there one chapter after another builds on what we learned before :) more often than not it goes in an unexpected direction and all through it Marc Fennell gives us his funny commentary with a bit of wink to the audience… but don’t be fooled, the topics he touches upon are quite serious and might ignite a spark within you to educate yourself more, like it did with me :) I highly recommend you to check this gem out ;)
XOXO
A
XOXO
A
June 15, 2020
Audible decided to throw their hat in the original reporting arena and the result was, so far, great. I only put it in my library because it was free and because I thought maybe I would learn a bit more about the obscure crime of stealing nuts from California. What ended up being so incredible about this book is that it taught me so much more about the trucking process that brings our food from the farm to table. In that chain of delivery, there is the farmer who is devastated anyone would steal from such a hard working, honest man. There are the workers who are paid a low wage to harvest the food and drink we ingest. There are the companies who arrange transport of food. And, here is the key, there are constantly powerful people who do all they can to ship those products at the absolute lowest cost. Then they are shocked when someone takes advantage of them. We Americans seem to think finding the way with the lowest cost is "good business" but it ends up taking advantage of the worker. When someone rises up and takes advantage of the big company, then all of a sudden it's labeled a crime. But it wasn't a crime to pollute the air in which poor people live. It wasn't a crime to pay the lowest possible amount for shipping, which puts the people who ship the items in a bind (The average trucker is away from their family 190 nights a year and they need to make every mile count). It sets up motives for people to not care if they end up engaging in shady activity.
I also found the arms race narrative, which runs throughout the book, interesting. If humans build up some quantity of value-- money, jewels, or in this case nuts-- some other human will work to find a way to try to gain that resource. Then other humans come in and find ways to stop the stealing. In the case of the stolen nuts, how do you put a tracker on a nut?! Some curious and driven people went to work to figure out just that problem.
I enjoyed this a lot more than I predicted I would.
I also found the arms race narrative, which runs throughout the book, interesting. If humans build up some quantity of value-- money, jewels, or in this case nuts-- some other human will work to find a way to try to gain that resource. Then other humans come in and find ways to stop the stealing. In the case of the stolen nuts, how do you put a tracker on a nut?! Some curious and driven people went to work to figure out just that problem.
I enjoyed this a lot more than I predicted I would.
November 26, 2020
Agro-theft is on the rise, targeting California's growers. A truckload of almonds can be worth as much as half a million dollars, and organised crime has swooped in for easy money on untraceable goods. Unlike TVs or sound systems or iPhones, nuts don't have barcodes and can't be tracked. The criminals are all the more difficult to find because they resort to using legitimate truck drivers who believe they are transporting legitimate shipments. With the rise in veganism and people cutting back on meat, nuts have risen in popularity, and almonds especially are used as a popular milk substitute, which has impacted the value of nuts, making them a valuable commodity. Marc Fennel tries to understand why organised crime would take interest in food, and in the course of his investigation learns about the lobbying to promote the health benefits of nuts and increase demand. He also learns (something I was already well-aware of) that the Italian mafia started with the food industry and has always had a stranglehold on produce and basically every step of food production and sales in Italy. No surprise that they, or other crime consortiums would swoop in to do the same in the US. Crime groups target people who struggle financially to take on the burden of the dirty work, making an unstated case for decent wages and social benefits (in my view). Fenell has an easy and friendly approach to interviewing people. I enjoy stories about bloodless crime and heists especially, so this podcast series made for a fascinating listen.
August 10, 2025
Fascinating take on the inner workings of the California nut industry and the number of brazen thefts of large loads of almonds in particular.
Marc Fennel talks to a range of people from private detectives to people in the food sector to get a handle on how and the why this fascinating event occurred.
Marc Fennel talks to a range of people from private detectives to people in the food sector to get a handle on how and the why this fascinating event occurred.
June 22, 2020
Did you know a truckload of almonds is worth half a million dollars?
An Australian journalist goes tooling around Southern California tracing a series of "daring" (in the sense that it worked really well for a while since no one had thought of it before) nut heists. He does some legwork to explain how the nut industry works - specifically, the world of freelance truckers who are constantly bidding through online brokers to catch a shipment of goods from point A (wherever they are) to point B (wherever they're going). So some criminal cartels got the bright idea of inserting themselves as the middlemen. Book a legitimate trucker who thinks he's been given a legitimate job to go pick up some nuts from a farmer who thinks he's the guy the broker sent, and he delivers to a receiver who promptly disappears with the goods. About $10 million worth of nuts disappeared in a few weeks this way.
So that was kind of interesting, but Marc Fennell has to pad the story out a bit. First there's the strange reluctance of the cops and detectives he talks to to come out and say who's responsible. (Spoiler: they're pretty sure it was the Armenian mob.) Then he veers off into economic issues, water tables and environmental damage, and the plight of mostly non-white farm laborers in Kern County, living in heavily polluted towns and working for peanuts (pardon the pun). His interviews with community activists were much less interesting than his interview with a Georgian (from the country of Georgia) truck driver who was convicted of knowingly participating in a "freight fraud" scheme.
Another kind of interesting little docu-series that gets stretched out with more filler than was needed.
An Australian journalist goes tooling around Southern California tracing a series of "daring" (in the sense that it worked really well for a while since no one had thought of it before) nut heists. He does some legwork to explain how the nut industry works - specifically, the world of freelance truckers who are constantly bidding through online brokers to catch a shipment of goods from point A (wherever they are) to point B (wherever they're going). So some criminal cartels got the bright idea of inserting themselves as the middlemen. Book a legitimate trucker who thinks he's been given a legitimate job to go pick up some nuts from a farmer who thinks he's the guy the broker sent, and he delivers to a receiver who promptly disappears with the goods. About $10 million worth of nuts disappeared in a few weeks this way.
So that was kind of interesting, but Marc Fennell has to pad the story out a bit. First there's the strange reluctance of the cops and detectives he talks to to come out and say who's responsible. (Spoiler: they're pretty sure it was the Armenian mob.) Then he veers off into economic issues, water tables and environmental damage, and the plight of mostly non-white farm laborers in Kern County, living in heavily polluted towns and working for peanuts (pardon the pun). His interviews with community activists were much less interesting than his interview with a Georgian (from the country of Georgia) truck driver who was convicted of knowingly participating in a "freight fraud" scheme.
Another kind of interesting little docu-series that gets stretched out with more filler than was needed.
July 4, 2020
I've been had!
The premise of this Audible original sounded so interesting. True crime about million dollar nut heists? Pfft. Yes, please! I expected all the story and innuendo.
What we actually got was a five minute narrative of how this crime wave of agricultural theft started in 2015, and then a speedy, preachy plunge into Mark's biased political and environmental views. Don't get me wrong. Some of what he delves into has some validity. But I take particular issue with his victimizing the perpetrators and villainizing the "greedy" farmers by carefully selecting interview candidates that support his views. Also, his childish response to armed security on the farms and attitude towards firearms in general was incredibly off-putting. He behaves as if he's infiltrated a cult when he goes with the security personnel to a shooting range.
Be prepared for smatterings of interesting, and landslides of redundancy with Mark asking everyone from the sociologist to the shipping industry guy, "Can you believe people would actually be interested in stealing nuts?"
Yes, little buddy. See, criminals have interest in this thing called easy money...
One star for the overwhelming political bias and false advertising of what this original would be about. The salt is strong right now.
I'd rate this an R for the simple fact that the F-bomb was dropped in too many times for it to be rated lower. Also some mild adult content.
The premise of this Audible original sounded so interesting. True crime about million dollar nut heists? Pfft. Yes, please! I expected all the story and innuendo.
What we actually got was a five minute narrative of how this crime wave of agricultural theft started in 2015, and then a speedy, preachy plunge into Mark's biased political and environmental views. Don't get me wrong. Some of what he delves into has some validity. But I take particular issue with his victimizing the perpetrators and villainizing the "greedy" farmers by carefully selecting interview candidates that support his views. Also, his childish response to armed security on the farms and attitude towards firearms in general was incredibly off-putting. He behaves as if he's infiltrated a cult when he goes with the security personnel to a shooting range.
Be prepared for smatterings of interesting, and landslides of redundancy with Mark asking everyone from the sociologist to the shipping industry guy, "Can you believe people would actually be interested in stealing nuts?"
Yes, little buddy. See, criminals have interest in this thing called easy money...
One star for the overwhelming political bias and false advertising of what this original would be about. The salt is strong right now.
I'd rate this an R for the simple fact that the F-bomb was dropped in too many times for it to be rated lower. Also some mild adult content.
June 21, 2020
This started out interesting; the main crux being the mystery of the theft of millions of dollars of almonds, but eventually went off on tangents, some of which were interesting and some not so much. After the mystery surrounding the almond theft was revealed it all made sense when considering the whole picture presented. You have an easily transportable, untraceable commodity, currently experiencing crazy global demand, of course this would attract criminals.
The rise of the almond is an interesting story. Almonds consumption is certainly on the rise. Countries such as China and Iran use trickery to obtain California almonds despite high tariffs and trade restrictions. It was sad but not surprising to hear that this profitable industry is built on the backs of low paid workers and that the environment is suffering as profits continue to skyrocket.
The almond-related tangents the author goes down are private security, the trucking industry, organized crime, and farming.
It was worth the listen but maybe could use a different title as the actual theft is a just a piece of a bigger puzzle.
The rise of the almond is an interesting story. Almonds consumption is certainly on the rise. Countries such as China and Iran use trickery to obtain California almonds despite high tariffs and trade restrictions. It was sad but not surprising to hear that this profitable industry is built on the backs of low paid workers and that the environment is suffering as profits continue to skyrocket.
The almond-related tangents the author goes down are private security, the trucking industry, organized crime, and farming.
It was worth the listen but maybe could use a different title as the actual theft is a just a piece of a bigger puzzle.
June 30, 2020
Amazing! Very well put together. Informative, interesting and an addictive listen!
March 22, 2022
The concept seemed fascinating, however they only spent about 30% on the actual crime. And spoiler alert, they never figured out who did it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 23, 2020
Bait and switch. Spent maybe 30 % of the time talking about the nut heist. The rest of the audio was about workers, food production and how the mafia controls the entire supply chain from field to fork.
I gave this 3 stars rather than two because I did find the non heist related information interesting.
But it ONLY gets 3 stars because it DID NOT focus.on the heist the majority of the time.
I gave this 3 stars rather than two because I did find the non heist related information interesting.
But it ONLY gets 3 stars because it DID NOT focus.on the heist the majority of the time.
June 17, 2020
This is a podcast, it started out interesting but then meandered around in different directions.
October 2, 2020
This is really a nuts poscast/audiobook. Started slow, but rapidly get you hooked with other insides beyond the nut heist. Marc Fenell, love his laugh (he seems a happy person) expose the shipping cracks in the America shipping business. Nuts how the cargos are being sold everyday in US and impact that the era of the online shopping has made it critical for them and the world. From there to organise crime and its relationship with food industry (Love the quote "Eating is an act of faith". And of course the human and eco impact in California State, from corporations that want to masimize and grow benefits year on year, under the pressure of consumer (us) and share holders. Nuts. Really, we are an unsustainable specie. Here we are, trying to get away from dairys and red meats and on the process, we are creating other problems. Highly recommended, specially if you have almond milk in your diet. 😉
Not big fan of this type of productions, but it worked this time for me.
Not big fan of this type of productions, but it worked this time for me.
June 8, 2020
Pretty interesting but wished it was longer.
Nut Jobs: Cracking the Case seemed to be a wild adventure all on it's own. At one point, we are all about some heists being in California. Then it does a loop-de-loop into California farming and environment issues. Not saying it was horrible.. but it was confusing and interesting at the same time.
At one point, I just kind of went with it.. and it felt like the author did that at some point as well. It felt like we were in this one together and I just sat back and waited for what was going to happen next. Thankfully, this book was pretty short and ended on a nice note. Crazy.. but nice.
Nut Jobs: Cracking the Case seemed to be a wild adventure all on it's own. At one point, we are all about some heists being in California. Then it does a loop-de-loop into California farming and environment issues. Not saying it was horrible.. but it was confusing and interesting at the same time.
At one point, I just kind of went with it.. and it felt like the author did that at some point as well. It felt like we were in this one together and I just sat back and waited for what was going to happen next. Thankfully, this book was pretty short and ended on a nice note. Crazy.. but nice.
June 8, 2020
Started off interesting but quickly went away from the topic. Started to complain about the air quality and blaming almonds rather than the millions of cars on the road. One woman in an interview blamed the farmers because they don’t have full time truck drivers. He has to realize that doesn’t make any sense, they only harvest and ship the nuts once a year. Why have a full time worker for two weeks of work a year? He talked about everything but the almond thefts.
June 6, 2020
True crime from the category of exceedingly bizarre: Fennell travels to the US to recount the strange tale of a series of high-value heists - of nuts. Weirdly entertaining and surprisingly informative.
August 5, 2020
Another free Audible treat. The name is a play on words as there was no cracking the case as we say. The author and narrator points the finger in one direction of invincible Armenian mafia and that's it. Everyone knows the truth, but is powerless to do anything about it. Nevertheless, the journey of our most common and beloved household nuts back to their origins fascinated me. How many lives are they touching, making and destroying. The narration was good by Marc the author and kept me engaged throughout. A nice podcast for some light listening.
September 23, 2020
This is a podcast not a book.
This is about organized crime infiltrating the world’s food distribution network. It’s about environmental degradation. It’s about the state of California sucking itself dry in an irreversible process, driven by greed, that will eventually leave much of the place a wasteland. It’s about grinding poverty in the shadow of great wealth.
So it’s obviously a bedtime story.
May 29, 2022
Insightful, entertaining, highly recommended!
June 22, 2020
I enjoy a true crime thriller and that's what I thought I getting here from an investigative journalist. But that's not entirely what I got hence the 3-star review. What the story ended up being was part true crime and part critical review (not critical as in nasty, but critical as in scholarly) of our food production system. From the cheap, migrant farm labor to the underpaid truckers tot he online system rife with holes.
From the beginning it seems like what Audible did was combine as series of podcasts into single audio file. Throughout the story, you hear Marc Fennel re-introduce himself. Not necessary, you could've left hat out.
Fennell brings into focus the problem of a multi-million dollar nut heist which is believed to have started in California and spread to other states. California growers in the nut producing capital of the world, had multiple shipments of raw nits hijacked. In some cases right out from under farmers' noses and in trucks en route to the packager. In these daring crimes, we're not talking about the usual movie heist. There is no unsuspecting truck driver being duped with a fake road closure or diverted by force then his truck is stolen. Nope, this heist involved forged paperwork and unwitting(?) drivers.
From here Fennell, goes on to interview food scientists, sociologists and other journalists to take about the inherent problems with our food supply and the supply chain. Why? That's not the reason for this story. That's where the story meanders down the social commentary rabbit hole.
While the real culprits in this wacky heist have not been apprehended, all roads point to a well known group of suspects. No proof, no arrests. But what I don't know is what's next? New efforts have been put in place by nut growers to cut down on or eliminate future theft. So is that it? Is the book closed on previous crimes. We don't know because Fennel is too busy staring into his fridge pondering the supply chain for every item in his fridge to tell us.
From the beginning it seems like what Audible did was combine as series of podcasts into single audio file. Throughout the story, you hear Marc Fennel re-introduce himself. Not necessary, you could've left hat out.
Fennell brings into focus the problem of a multi-million dollar nut heist which is believed to have started in California and spread to other states. California growers in the nut producing capital of the world, had multiple shipments of raw nits hijacked. In some cases right out from under farmers' noses and in trucks en route to the packager. In these daring crimes, we're not talking about the usual movie heist. There is no unsuspecting truck driver being duped with a fake road closure or diverted by force then his truck is stolen. Nope, this heist involved forged paperwork and unwitting(?) drivers.
From here Fennell, goes on to interview food scientists, sociologists and other journalists to take about the inherent problems with our food supply and the supply chain. Why? That's not the reason for this story. That's where the story meanders down the social commentary rabbit hole.
While the real culprits in this wacky heist have not been apprehended, all roads point to a well known group of suspects. No proof, no arrests. But what I don't know is what's next? New efforts have been put in place by nut growers to cut down on or eliminate future theft. So is that it? Is the book closed on previous crimes. We don't know because Fennel is too busy staring into his fridge pondering the supply chain for every item in his fridge to tell us.
July 1, 2020
I was excited to start this book (podcast) and get into the amazing details of this $10 Million Dollar nut heist, but what I got was disappointing.
**Spoiler Alert**
The case is unsolved, the heist is actually just every case of nut stealing in California put together.
Only about 1/4 of this book is actually about any of the heist. Half is about how the nuts are cultivated, grown, transported, consumed, and where each of these things happens - some was interesting, but most was not relevant to the heist. The final 1/4 was the author virtue signalling, and showing what a great world citizen he is, while wondering why the rest of the world could stand by and do nothing. *shakes head sadly and dramatically*
Dissapointed.
**Spoiler Alert**
The case is unsolved, the heist is actually just every case of nut stealing in California put together.
Only about 1/4 of this book is actually about any of the heist. Half is about how the nuts are cultivated, grown, transported, consumed, and where each of these things happens - some was interesting, but most was not relevant to the heist. The final 1/4 was the author virtue signalling, and showing what a great world citizen he is, while wondering why the rest of the world could stand by and do nothing. *shakes head sadly and dramatically*
Dissapointed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 30, 2022
A four-hour “Audible Original”, still available, as of this writing (7/2020), for free to Audible members. Some people here seem to be bothered by the fact that the author/reporter/narrator (hereafter, “author”) clearly meant it to be a podcast, but Audible is marketing it as a book. It didn't bother me. I thought this, uh, whatever it is, is excellent. I found it an amusing and informative thing to listen to while doing the inevitable extra cooking and cleaning that pandemic-related sheltering at home has created.
The podcast format, in general, allows creative people to do the cool things with sound effects and mixing that make listening to the radio a superior experience to watching television. In addition, the technology to produce high quality sound-without-video is within reach of the average budget and intelligence, so the podcast format gives a wider variety of unhomogenized creators the opportunity to get their message out there, without having to worry about fitting whatever they have to say into, for example, 30 minutes. Unfortunately, a lot of people actually need to have their ramblings shortened. The result is a lot of podcasts are just people nattering about their own opinions.
This is not one of those podcasts.
However, when the author finds something that interests him, the podcast format allows him to go off on tangents, all of which I found interesting. For example, when a university professor he is interviewing as a kind of “expert witness” about food industry practices turns out also to have appeared in the 2016 massive Wikileaks dump of Hillary Clinton's emails, he feels he can explore the topic completely, even though it is not strictly relevant to the main story of the thefts of truckloads of almonds. I didn't mind: I laughed while waiting for the charcoal to heat up. But it seemed to bother other reviewers, who seemed unnecessarily grumpy (in my sight) about it. Being sometimes known as less than a little ray of sunshine myself, I understand the will to grumpiness, but I believe that a pandemic is an excellent time to resolve to turn a more generous face towards the world.
Also, the grumpy reviewers here seem to resent the author for reminding us that the food industry, like nearly all types of profit-making endeavor, is shot through with corruption, dishonesty, incompetence, and misery. Consciousness of this truth does seems to leave you at a loss about what to do. If the exploitation of the diamond business bothers you, you can easily resolve not to festoon oneself with precious stones, but starving yourself to death in protest of food industry exploitation won't really accomplish anything.
Of course, one could remember, and remind others, that hard-won small but incremental advances in both food safety and labor protection in the US have been joyously surrendered in the recent past in the name of allowing population-wide morbid obesity to be achieved more economically. And, further, we are ruining the environment trying to maintain this. These are things that this generally funny and interesting podcast reminds us of. We need reminding.
The podcast format, in general, allows creative people to do the cool things with sound effects and mixing that make listening to the radio a superior experience to watching television. In addition, the technology to produce high quality sound-without-video is within reach of the average budget and intelligence, so the podcast format gives a wider variety of unhomogenized creators the opportunity to get their message out there, without having to worry about fitting whatever they have to say into, for example, 30 minutes. Unfortunately, a lot of people actually need to have their ramblings shortened. The result is a lot of podcasts are just people nattering about their own opinions.
This is not one of those podcasts.
However, when the author finds something that interests him, the podcast format allows him to go off on tangents, all of which I found interesting. For example, when a university professor he is interviewing as a kind of “expert witness” about food industry practices turns out also to have appeared in the 2016 massive Wikileaks dump of Hillary Clinton's emails, he feels he can explore the topic completely, even though it is not strictly relevant to the main story of the thefts of truckloads of almonds. I didn't mind: I laughed while waiting for the charcoal to heat up. But it seemed to bother other reviewers, who seemed unnecessarily grumpy (in my sight) about it. Being sometimes known as less than a little ray of sunshine myself, I understand the will to grumpiness, but I believe that a pandemic is an excellent time to resolve to turn a more generous face towards the world.
Also, the grumpy reviewers here seem to resent the author for reminding us that the food industry, like nearly all types of profit-making endeavor, is shot through with corruption, dishonesty, incompetence, and misery. Consciousness of this truth does seems to leave you at a loss about what to do. If the exploitation of the diamond business bothers you, you can easily resolve not to festoon oneself with precious stones, but starving yourself to death in protest of food industry exploitation won't really accomplish anything.
Of course, one could remember, and remind others, that hard-won small but incremental advances in both food safety and labor protection in the US have been joyously surrendered in the recent past in the name of allowing population-wide morbid obesity to be achieved more economically. And, further, we are ruining the environment trying to maintain this. These are things that this generally funny and interesting podcast reminds us of. We need reminding.
August 23, 2020
This one is presented more as a podcast than a book. The podcast presents itself as being about the $10 million heist of loads of nuts in California. And that is definitely where the story starts. Marc Fenell does an excellent job of diving into these heists (it is more than one incident). But this podcast goes so much deeper into some of the issues with the industry in California (impact of the food boards on research into the health benefits of different foods, pollution, health of the farm workers, poverty and socio-economic issues, impact on the bee population in California, water issues and the sinking of the land because of water pumping). I found the entire conversation eye-opening. He mentions many times the leap of faith we take with our food choices - and after listening to this podcast I have so many more questions about my food choices. I am so much more aware of the impact my food choices can have - there are so many more industries involved than I realized before.
From a personal standpoint, I feel like the conversation with the professor who discussed the impact that different food boards and their grants were having on the research being done and the results being reported to the general public left me with so much to think about. How do we know what is really the healthiest options since there is so much sensationalizing of the information that was also approached in a way to find benefits of particular products. It has really left me with questions about what is really healthy.
From a global standpoint, I feel like learning how much impact the almond industry and more generally the agriculture industry has on the environment, the water levels, the trucking industry, the farmers, and the farm workers really astonished me. I had a friend who had already shared some info with me about the impact of the increase of almond milk consumption on the environment and in particular bees and water levels. But listening to this podcast went even further. And combined with with earlier discussion about the influence on research - I found myself really questioning the health benefits balanced with the environmental and social impact of the industry.
In the end - I cannot say I know what to do with all of the information. I am not even sure Marc Fenell knows what to do with the information. His stance is not to condemn the nut industry or to advocate for not eating nuts (he closes with clip of his sons eating nuts). But he does want us all to think about things and ask if there are better ways. Are there changes that can or need to be made.
From a personal standpoint, I feel like the conversation with the professor who discussed the impact that different food boards and their grants were having on the research being done and the results being reported to the general public left me with so much to think about. How do we know what is really the healthiest options since there is so much sensationalizing of the information that was also approached in a way to find benefits of particular products. It has really left me with questions about what is really healthy.
From a global standpoint, I feel like learning how much impact the almond industry and more generally the agriculture industry has on the environment, the water levels, the trucking industry, the farmers, and the farm workers really astonished me. I had a friend who had already shared some info with me about the impact of the increase of almond milk consumption on the environment and in particular bees and water levels. But listening to this podcast went even further. And combined with with earlier discussion about the influence on research - I found myself really questioning the health benefits balanced with the environmental and social impact of the industry.
In the end - I cannot say I know what to do with all of the information. I am not even sure Marc Fenell knows what to do with the information. His stance is not to condemn the nut industry or to advocate for not eating nuts (he closes with clip of his sons eating nuts). But he does want us all to think about things and ask if there are better ways. Are there changes that can or need to be made.
July 15, 2020
I love stories like NUT JOBS. I look for oddities & things people miss for the sources for my books and stories. This is one of those things that caught my eye. It's a crime that shouldn't happen but it makes total sense. It's totally untraceable and the security risk is low compared to robbing a bank. If you're a fan of Jon Ronson's work, you'll love this.
June 25, 2020
So, this audio book (which is actually a series of podcasts) is an Audible original. I wasn't really expecting much, but I have to say I found this short account of a nut heist really interesting and informative. I learned about agricultural crimes and found the whole thing fascinating. I do wish it had been longer and structured like a traditional narrative, but overall this was a great "freebie!"
November 14, 2020
Fascinating and eye-opening.
June 18, 2020
This isn’t actually a book, but we listened to it as if it was an audiobook on a road trip - all episodes of the podcast in one long stretch. I learned more than expected about how our food economy utilizes road transportation, the effect of nut harvests on local citizen’s health, and the impact on the California valley from overuse of underground water sources. Just engaging enough that my two sons (11 & 13) enjoyed it too.
June 15, 2020
this was a fun quick listen. I've spent some time in CA and have seen some of the agriculture but certainly not from this angle. I'm not surprised at the criminal activity but did find it interesting as I'd never really thought about all of that going on as I drove past giant fields of various crops.
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