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Unsolved Mysteries by Colin Wilson
From the files of the untold, comes a series that brings to light the evil that lurks among us. Dramatizations of true, unsolved (at the date of broadcast) crimes-some grisly, some frightening, some supernatural. 2 cassettes.
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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.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 24, 2012
I love reading about unsolved mysteries of almost any subject, so in that sense, this was a great book. There were many mysteries that I’m familiar with, but many more that I wasn’t. The author cares about the subject, and that shows throughout his work. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though sometimes I found the wordiness a bit tedious. And, while some of the information may be a bit outdated now, or new information discovered at this point in time, it gives me a great starting point to do my own research on some of my favorite mysteries.
March 22, 2009
A five star book about all kinds of things unsolved or unexplained~
July 29, 2021
I actually liked this book more than I thought I would! While it is a bit dated (for example, the bodies of all of the Romanovs have since been located), it is an honestly interesting book. Well presented and thoughtful, I wasn't once bored. Well worth a read if you enjoy a good mystery.
November 5, 2019
Interesting book with reference to mysteries of the 20th century,etc incl Oak Island.
December 31, 2021
Some of the chapters held my interest much more than others. Some unexplained mysteries in this book I had never heard about, others were much more well known which tended to interest me more.
January 3, 2013
Simply put - one of the most interesting books ever made! I love it but my main disappointment was not covering one of the biggest hystorical mysteries ever - Beast of Gévaudan. Also another thing that bothers me is that I cannot find any information on the psychiatrist known as Nelsen Nelsen which is weird.
I love how the book covers many things about the space, strange animals, people, unexplainable events and so on.
I love how the book covers many things about the space, strange animals, people, unexplainable events and so on.
May 29, 2016
I love unsolved mysteries and this book covered some of the more well known ones such as
the Loch Ness monster, Abdominal Snowman, and UFOs and many other ones that I had
never heard about.
the Loch Ness monster, Abdominal Snowman, and UFOs and many other ones that I had
never heard about.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews