What do you think?
Rate this book
World Famous serial Killer
Book by Colin and Damon Wilson
192 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2005
8 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Colin Wilson
401 books1,291 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Colin Henry Wilson was born and raised in Leicester, England, U.K. He left school at 16, worked in factories and various occupations, and read in his spare time. When Wilson was 24, Gollancz published The Outsider (1956) which examines the role of the social 'outsider' in seminal works of various key literary and cultural figures. These include Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William James, T. E. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and Wilson discusses his perception of Social alienation in their work. The book was a best seller and helped popularize existentialism in Britain. Critical praise though, was short-lived and Wilson was soon widely criticized.
Wilson's works after The Outsider focused on positive aspects of human psychology, such as peak experiences and the narrowness of consciousness. He admired the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and corresponded with him. Wilson wrote The War Against Sleep: The Philosophy of Gurdjieff on the life, work and philosophy of G. I. Gurdjieff and an accessible introduction to the Greek-Armenian mystic in 1980. He argues throughout his work that the existentialist focus on defeat or nausea is only a partial representation of reality and that there is no particular reason for accepting it. Wilson views normal, everyday consciousness buffeted by the moment, as "blinkered" and argues that it should not be accepted as showing us the truth about reality. This blinkering has some evolutionary advantages in that it stops us from being completely immersed in wonder, or in the huge stream of events, and hence unable to act. However, to live properly we need to access more than this everyday consciousness. Wilson believes that our peak experiences of joy and meaningfulness are as real as our experiences of angst and, since we are more fully alive at these moments, they are more real. These experiences can be cultivated through concentration, paying attention, relaxation and certain types of work.
Colin Henry Wilson was born and raised in Leicester, England, U.K. He left school at 16, worked in factories and various occupations, and read in his spare time. When Wilson was 24, Gollancz published The Outsider (1956) which examines the role of the social 'outsider' in seminal works of various key literary and cultural figures. These include Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William James, T. E. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and Wilson discusses his perception of Social alienation in their work. The book was a best seller and helped popularize existentialism in Britain. Critical praise though, was short-lived and Wilson was soon widely criticized.
Wilson's works after The Outsider focused on positive aspects of human psychology, such as peak experiences and the narrowness of consciousness. He admired the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and corresponded with him. Wilson wrote The War Against Sleep: The Philosophy of Gurdjieff on the life, work and philosophy of G. I. Gurdjieff and an accessible introduction to the Greek-Armenian mystic in 1980. He argues throughout his work that the existentialist focus on defeat or nausea is only a partial representation of reality and that there is no particular reason for accepting it. Wilson views normal, everyday consciousness buffeted by the moment, as "blinkered" and argues that it should not be accepted as showing us the truth about reality. This blinkering has some evolutionary advantages in that it stops us from being completely immersed in wonder, or in the huge stream of events, and hence unable to act. However, to live properly we need to access more than this everyday consciousness. Wilson believes that our peak experiences of joy and meaningfulness are as real as our experiences of angst and, since we are more fully alive at these moments, they are more real. These experiences can be cultivated through concentration, paying attention, relaxation and certain types of work.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 23, 2014
This book is built on a foundation of stereotypes rather than facts. Many Wilson's claims were disproven, years before this book was published, by sources far more reliable than Wilson himself.
A few facts:
This book claims that only sex drives serial murder. Nope! If you kill a bunch of people over a long period of time with cooling off periods between the murders, your motive doesn't matter. You're a serial killer. Sorry, you can't get off that easy.
I stopped reading at the point where the book informed me that rape originated when sex workers became too expensive.
I still skimmed the conclusion in which Wilson states that serial killers invariably have high IQs.... Wrong again! Serial killers are no smarter than the general population.
Did this guy do any research at all?
A few facts:
This book claims that only sex drives serial murder. Nope! If you kill a bunch of people over a long period of time with cooling off periods between the murders, your motive doesn't matter. You're a serial killer. Sorry, you can't get off that easy.
I stopped reading at the point where the book informed me that rape originated when sex workers became too expensive.
I still skimmed the conclusion in which Wilson states that serial killers invariably have high IQs.... Wrong again! Serial killers are no smarter than the general population.
Did this guy do any research at all?
June 1, 2020
This is a book for readers who like to crime related articles or books. The book surely describes the dark side of the human nature. No doubt it's very informative and understanding the nature of some criminals.
The writers have highlighted a lot of famous serial killers like Ted Bundy, Jack the Ripper etc. Which will make the readers comprehend how were they caught and possibly the reasons for the murders.
The writers have highlighted a lot of famous serial killers like Ted Bundy, Jack the Ripper etc. Which will make the readers comprehend how were they caught and possibly the reasons for the murders.
January 12, 2021
This book was a good round-up of various cases throughout history. I was a bit baffled why some cases/victims were explained in heavy detail and others were glossed over, and I think the book could do with a refresh/fact-check. But overall it was entertaining and a solid foundation for people new to learning about serial killers and true crime.
December 4, 2016
Actual rating: 4 stars
This book saved me a lot of wikipedia pages, blog, Reddit links on serial killers. A neat description of the crime committed by some of the most horrific people in history.
The reason I picked this up was obviously to read more about the serial killers and their doings, immerse in their psychology to know more. However, let us just consider you cannot 'immerse' in the psychology as this book just gives you details and other journalist-based facts regarding the cases.
Purely non fiction, an informative read.
Drawback:
Just like one person said here in the review, the author gives a very rigid reason for the cause of serial killing among individuals. If looked at the broader perspective, many factors make a serial killer, so do many motives. It is time we look at the serial killing psychology under a wider perspective and not term them as 'sexual excitement' only.
Conclusion:
A good read, saves you time.
This book saved me a lot of wikipedia pages, blog, Reddit links on serial killers. A neat description of the crime committed by some of the most horrific people in history.
The reason I picked this up was obviously to read more about the serial killers and their doings, immerse in their psychology to know more. However, let us just consider you cannot 'immerse' in the psychology as this book just gives you details and other journalist-based facts regarding the cases.
Purely non fiction, an informative read.
Drawback:
Just like one person said here in the review, the author gives a very rigid reason for the cause of serial killing among individuals. If looked at the broader perspective, many factors make a serial killer, so do many motives. It is time we look at the serial killing psychology under a wider perspective and not term them as 'sexual excitement' only.
Conclusion:
A good read, saves you time.
September 28, 2010
This is like a documentary on serial killers. The authors trace the history of serial killers, the commonalities (or the lack of them) across regions, time frames, sexes (yes, there are female serial killers too), etc. It's mostly descriptive (simple story0telling) but there is very brief analysis on the trends etc as well.
Simple reading; but sometimes it seems a bit of an overload as too many killers are covered in ~180 pages.
Not a bad read, overall.
Simple reading; but sometimes it seems a bit of an overload as too many killers are covered in ~180 pages.
Not a bad read, overall.
July 29, 2011
I really enjoyed the book and I learned a lot. I'm still having difficulty believing that people can actually do things like that though (even after what happened in Norway last week) it's just hard to believe that anybody can be that evil. Luckily it hasn't made me too scared of stepping outside the front door!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews