THE A TO Z ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SERIAL KILLERS - Harold
Schechter & David Everitt. POCKET BOOKS, 1633 Broadway 8th Fl., New
York, NY., 10019-6785, USA.
Now, you have books out on serial killers that give you
a list of killers through the ages and small information on them, and that’s
it. But in this book we have a multitude of killer bios, but also information
about artwork, calendars, collectibles, fan clubs, groupies, movies, songs,
tourist attractions, zines, and tons more that have to do with mass &
serial murderers. This comes along with photos, art work, and trading card
shots of killers. Pretty informative and helpful in cross checking with
other like sources. 341Pgs.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DEATH - Robert & Beatrice Kastenbaum.
AVON BOOKS, 1350 Ave. of Americas, New York, NY., 10019, USA.
Quite an interesting book full of interesting facts that
deal with death. From diseases (AIDS, Bubonic Plague, Cancer, etc.) to
common practices used in differet societies and religions; from burial
rights to ethical issues. Also including executions, suicides, murders,
euthanasia to vampires & zombies to necrophilia and embalming to cryonic
suspention and cremation. This is quite in depth on many items of death.
If life and living intrigue you, you shouldn’t be afraid to know about
death and dying.
ZODIAC - Robert Graysmith. BERKLEY BOOKS, 200 Madison
Ave., New York, NY., 10016, USA.
This is one of my first books I bought on the subject
of serial killers and one of my favorites! Not only for the writing here
but mainly for the Zodiac killer himself, who till this day hasn’t been
caught for those crimes. Man, this guy was great, he goes and kills people
around the time of yearly equinox’s, sends deciphered letters to newspapers
and investigators, and taunts them to catch him. this goes into the days
of the killings, retracing steps, going into the investigation and following
suspects, but never finding out who this killer was. If is one of the best
books and killers to read on.
EXQUISITE CORPSE - Poppy Z. Brite. SIMON & SCHUSTER,
Rockefeller Center, 1230 Ave. of the Americas, New York, NY., 10020, USA.
If your into reading books on real life serial killers
you’ll get a kick out of this fictional novel of two serial killers leading
two separate lives, then meeting (only believing they were finding their
next victim) and stricking a kinship just like peas and carrots. This book
delves deep into the killer minds, with part of the book told through the
mind of one of the killerss. While both these killers are homosexual and
are HIV-positive this delves graphically into the sexual and drug addictive
souls of the lives they live and the lives they kill, with one of the lives
being that of a young boy who briefly captures the emotions of one of the
killers. This is a book that goes deep within the sexuality (ravaging and
sensual), the emotional status of each character, and more over what brought
them all together. This also is pretty graphic in the methods they do these
killings. At times of reading this, I was reminded of Dahmer, Gacy, Gein,
Haigh, Grossman, and more that I’ve read up on. At times I thought of this
as an autobiography of these killers, believing theme to be real and actually
writing, piece by piece (no pun intended), of their killings. This is a
good book to picture in your mind. Even though I found her first book,
Lost Souls, better I was intrigued by the graphicness and vividness this
brought within my mind.
THE SHAMAN’S BODY - Arnold Mindell. HARPERCOLLINS,
10 E. 53rd St., New York, NY., 10022, USA.
This book is close to being personal in my life. Mindell
goes into methods to seeking and re-vealing your shaman’s body (dreaming
body) (It’s hard to explain this simply enough for those of you who don’t
know much about Shamanism & other ‘non-ordinary’ items.) , and I have
been able to use his words as a source of knowledge on my path. This goes
into lessons taught by different spiritual teachers & healers from
around the world he has been in contact with, becoming a hunter & warrior
in your path, finding your ally & working with it, and going into how
this could be worked into society to create a better future, for material
existance & spiritual existance. After reading the book I’ve noticed
I wasn’t too concerned about the wide aspect the book carries, with helping
others in society & working together. Possibly I’m too stuck on my
own growth & my own (un)conciousness, but yet I’ve realized it’s my
path & soon I’ll reach that part in my journey. Anyway, this book gives
helpful insight to realizing the unrealizable, by seeing & noticing
things you normally disgard and helping you see the glimpses of other realities.
If youhate books that delve into one set religion, path, philosophy, etc.,
you won’t find that here. I find this an open-minded book going into Native
American beliefs & teachings, Jungian psychology, Taoism, Buddism,
& Shamatic teachings of Africa, Japan, India, & Australia and going
into the writings and teachings of Carlos Castaneda. I really can’t go
into the whole feelings of this book but it does hold a personal feeling
in me, but this book is very well written and easy to understand (with
a basic understanding of Shamanism and the works and books of Castaneda
within you). I’ve only read this once prior to writing this review but
I know I’ll be reading this a few more times to absorb what’s being said
and help push me along.