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Jack the Ripper: Summing Up and Verdict
Wilson, Colin, Odell, Robin, Gaute, J. H. H.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1987
3 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
About the author
Colin Wilson
403 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.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 16, 2022
De los mejores libros que he leído. Histórico, y a la vez se enlaza perfectamente con la investigación criminal.
July 5, 2015
Posiblemente se trate del mejor compendio de información que existía en los 80 sobre el caso. Aunque omite casi totalmente cualquier referencia al contexto histórico y social, es de muy adictiva lectura y al menos opta por ofrecer una interpretación seria de unos hechos que han dado lugar a especulaciones de lo más variopintas,
May 9, 2021
Maravilloso compendio de teorías sobre el asesino en serie más famoso de la historia, aunque el libro es un poco viejo ya que se han desarrollado nuevas teorías.
June 12, 2012
Many people have fascination with real-life serial killers. It's not uncommon. I got fascinated with Jack the Ripper after when I read about him somewhere in an old article and I went out and picked the first book I saw which happened to be this one!
There are many books dedicated to Jack the Ripper and his brutal murders which has earned him an almost cult-like household name. This book has plenty to offer: His murders and how he planned them, his victims, the descriptions of the victims before, during and after, the notable suspects, the hide-outs, the police etc... Everything is written in such gory detail that one might think he is reading a horror novel. Also, this book is also interactive and often asks you "what do you think?" or "it's up to you to decide" and such.
A very entertaining read on the most feared serial killer in history and encourages you to come up with your own questions and theories!
There are many books dedicated to Jack the Ripper and his brutal murders which has earned him an almost cult-like household name. This book has plenty to offer: His murders and how he planned them, his victims, the descriptions of the victims before, during and after, the notable suspects, the hide-outs, the police etc... Everything is written in such gory detail that one might think he is reading a horror novel. Also, this book is also interactive and often asks you "what do you think?" or "it's up to you to decide" and such.
A very entertaining read on the most feared serial killer in history and encourages you to come up with your own questions and theories!
August 28, 2014
Worth buying just for the bibliography of every book and article up to the point it was written aboiut jack the ripper, elsewhere there are some excellent summaries of all the major to that point theories from Duke Clarence (Unlikely) to Druitt (Which needs only some reason why the police believed it was him to be likely). As a summary this works perfectly and you could do worse if you want all the details and summaries of all the theories ranging from Jill The Ripper to the Doctor Ripper and beyond.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews