Books that I’ve read and thought they didn’t suck!! 

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.

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