Alcoholics can justify any behavior

Mysterious Alcoholic Author Steals His Own Books From Boulder Book Store:

"A manager at the Boulder Book Store in Boulder, Colorado says that an author shoplifted several copies of his own book from the store, but he won't say which author. The manager, Christopher Ohman, told the New York Times he thought the author was somewhat entitled to the copies.

He continued:

In some ways I can kind of understand that logic. I mean, it's a commonly held misconception that authors get as many copies of their books as they want, and that's not always the case.

Ohman told the Times that he though the author struggled with alcoholism, which contributed to his tendency to steal his books. He would not, however, disclose the name of the author.

Nor would the store's current manager, Scott Foley, who--in an interview for the Boulder Daily Camera--said that the incident has become part of the training manual for book store security officers.

The Times article has prompted the prominent national gossip website Gawker to publish a page postulating which Boulder author could possibly have orchestrated such a plot. Gawker jokingly speculated that Boulder residents Jon Krakauer and Jello Biafra (Eric Reed Boucher) may be the culprits.

Until one of the Boulder Book Store employees discloses the identity of the mysterious book thief, we're left in the dark. For now, no Boulder writer seems safe from national speculation."

I can understand the logic as well. However, if the author had been sober, I'm guessing the thought may have crossed his mind, but he would not have acted on it. In our sobriety we may have those "logical" thoughts, but because we are thinking more clearly, we rarely carry them to conclusion.