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The Spiral Notebook: The Aurora Theater Shooter and the Epidemic of Mass Violence Committed by American Youth
On July 20, 2012, twelve people were killed and fifty-eight wounded at a mass shooting in a movie theater in Colorado. In 1999, thirteen kids at Columbine High School were murdered by their peers. In 2012, twenty children and seven adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary. Thirty-two were killed at Virginia Tech. Twelve killed at the Washington Navy Yard. In May 2014, after posting a YouTube video of ‘retribution” and lamenting a life of “loneliness, rejection, and unfulfilled desires,” a lone gunman killed six and wounded seven in Isla Vista. All of these acts of violence were committed by young men between the ages of eighteen and thirty.
Mass violence committed by young people is now an epidemic. In the first fourteen school days of 2014, there were seven school shootings, compared to twenty-eight school shootings in all of 2013. The reasons behind this escalating violence, and the cultural forces that have impugned a generation, is the subject of the important new book The Spiral Notebook.
New York Times-bestselling author Stephen Singular has often examined violence in America in his critically-acclaimed books. Here he has teamed with his wife Joyce for their most important work yet — one that investigates why America keeps producing twenty-something mass killers. Their reporting has produced the most comprehensive look at the Aurora shooting yet and draws upon the one group left out of the discussion of violence in America: the twenty-somethings themselves.
While following the legal proceedings in the Aurora shooting, The Spiral Notebook is full of interviews with Generation Z, a group dogged by big pharma and anti-depressants and ADHD drugs, by a doomsday/apocalyptic mentality present since birth, and by an entertainment industry that has turned violence into parlor games.
Provocative and eye-opening, The Spiral Notebook is a glimpse into the forces that are shaping the future of American youth, an entire generation bathed in the violence committed by their peers.
Mass violence committed by young people is now an epidemic. In the first fourteen school days of 2014, there were seven school shootings, compared to twenty-eight school shootings in all of 2013. The reasons behind this escalating violence, and the cultural forces that have impugned a generation, is the subject of the important new book The Spiral Notebook.
New York Times-bestselling author Stephen Singular has often examined violence in America in his critically-acclaimed books. Here he has teamed with his wife Joyce for their most important work yet — one that investigates why America keeps producing twenty-something mass killers. Their reporting has produced the most comprehensive look at the Aurora shooting yet and draws upon the one group left out of the discussion of violence in America: the twenty-somethings themselves.
While following the legal proceedings in the Aurora shooting, The Spiral Notebook is full of interviews with Generation Z, a group dogged by big pharma and anti-depressants and ADHD drugs, by a doomsday/apocalyptic mentality present since birth, and by an entertainment industry that has turned violence into parlor games.
Provocative and eye-opening, The Spiral Notebook is a glimpse into the forces that are shaping the future of American youth, an entire generation bathed in the violence committed by their peers.
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First published May 5, 2015
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About the author
Stephen Singular
28 books40 followersStephen Singular is the author or co-author of 22 non-fiction books, many of them about high-profile criminal cases. He’s also written sports and business biographies and social commentary. Two of the books have been “New York Times” bestsellers.
His first book, Talked to Death, set the tone for his journalistic career. Published in 1987, it chronicled the assassination of a Denver Jewish talk show host, Alan Berg, by a group of neo-Nazis known as The Order. The book was nominated for a national award — the Edgar for true crime — and became the basis for the 1989 Oliver Stone film, “Talk Radio.” Talked to Death was translated into several languages and explored the timeless American themes of racism, class, violence, and religious intolerance.
His first book, Talked to Death, set the tone for his journalistic career. Published in 1987, it chronicled the assassination of a Denver Jewish talk show host, Alan Berg, by a group of neo-Nazis known as The Order. The book was nominated for a national award — the Edgar for true crime — and became the basis for the 1989 Oliver Stone film, “Talk Radio.” Talked to Death was translated into several languages and explored the timeless American themes of racism, class, violence, and religious intolerance.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
June 2, 2015
This was a pretty frustrating read for me as this book was riddled with holes and inconsistencies regarding James Holmes. Perhaps these contradictions are so glaring to me because of the depth in which I followed this case. I’m appalled that this journalist (…and his wife) did the one thing most journalists should caution against, being a victim of the media’s hasty rush to report on bullshit and the thrill they get in making crimes look like offenses committed by monsters. Within 50 pages of the book, I could point out a handful of rumors that were published within weeks of the shooting. All discredited.
I bristled when I read the statement that referred to “I’m The Joker”; not only was that never said, but the writers clung on to this false comment as the foundation of his obsession and motive, paralleling his crime with that of the villain and referring to it throughout the book, making the book greatly erroneous.
I understand the urgency in which to publish a book while the topic is hot, but when it’s so critically inaccurate to almost be insulting, that’s pretty embarrassing on the author’s part. I expected more out of a journalist to not only get the facts straight, but at least spell the leading officer's (Jason OVIATT) name correctly; especially when you’ve got a tool like the internet to research with! This leaves me with little wonder that there isn’t even a reference section at the back of the book. Close behind these maddening discrepancies there’s nothing short of grammatical errors.
However, I appreciated the sections that delved deeper into psychology and mental illness, which I do believe is at the heart of these tragedies, and I respect anyone who tries to bring awareness to mental health. Most chapters ended with insightful quotes by anonymous twenty-something’s about how they feel on the topic of mass violence, which I feel is important to hear. Had the writers stayed within the focus of mental illness, psychology and gun laws but left the speculation of James Holmes out of it, it would have been a better book.
I bristled when I read the statement that referred to “I’m The Joker”; not only was that never said, but the writers clung on to this false comment as the foundation of his obsession and motive, paralleling his crime with that of the villain and referring to it throughout the book, making the book greatly erroneous.
I understand the urgency in which to publish a book while the topic is hot, but when it’s so critically inaccurate to almost be insulting, that’s pretty embarrassing on the author’s part. I expected more out of a journalist to not only get the facts straight, but at least spell the leading officer's (Jason OVIATT) name correctly; especially when you’ve got a tool like the internet to research with! This leaves me with little wonder that there isn’t even a reference section at the back of the book. Close behind these maddening discrepancies there’s nothing short of grammatical errors.
However, I appreciated the sections that delved deeper into psychology and mental illness, which I do believe is at the heart of these tragedies, and I respect anyone who tries to bring awareness to mental health. Most chapters ended with insightful quotes by anonymous twenty-something’s about how they feel on the topic of mass violence, which I feel is important to hear. Had the writers stayed within the focus of mental illness, psychology and gun laws but left the speculation of James Holmes out of it, it would have been a better book.
August 29, 2015
When the trial finally drew to a close on Wednesday, Aug. 26 (2015), the judge who sentenced James Holmes to 3,318 years in prison did nothing to stop the applause and cheering. Twelve individuals had been killed, including one six-year-old girl. Seventy others were hurt, including one four-month-old baby. More than three years had passed since the awful night in July of 2012 in Aurora, Colorado. “Get the defendant out of my courtroom,” said the judge in a rare display emotion. The applause began. The judge, for once, did not ask for an orderly courtroom. The case was over.
If only this was a rare event, we might be able to move on.
It’s not.
"The Spiral Notebook—The Aurora Theater Shooter and the Epidemic of Mass Violence Committed by American Youth," by Stephen and Joyce Singular, starts with the James Holmes case and steps back, in a very big and very helpful way, to examine “the cultural and emotional forces” driving young shooters across the country.
Read the book and you will have a good overview of the events and timeline leading up the night of horror. More importantly, you’ll come away with a growing awareness of the complex array of factors, influences and pressures around this particular incident. (Incident sounds so minor; I mean in one in a series and in this case one in a series of utter tragedies.)
Holmes’ case is fascinating in one particular aspect—he was in the process of studying the brain and its functions at a very high level at the University of Colorado’s Nueroscience Program. Six months or so before the shooting, in fact, James Holmes gave an oral presentation about the nervous system of the lobster and how neurons create behaviors in the lobster’s stomach. A professor tells the Singulars that Holmes “was good at conducting complex scientific experiments and analyzing data.”
This fact alone makes Holmes’ case unique but in so many other ways, his act of violence was typical, as the Singulars point out. His age was typical, his skin color was typical, his involvement with psychotropic drugs was typical, his heavy immersion in video games was typical, his easy access to weapons and bullets was typical, his ability to live two completely separate lives was typical, his hidden depression was typical. About the only unusual detail? He surrendered easily and without hurting or killing himself.
At least one “authority” was aware that James Holmes was displaying “increasingly disturbing signs” a few months before he carried out his attack. In 2005, Dr. Lynne Fenton entered the psychiatry residency program at the University of Colorado-Denver. In fact, she became the chief resident at UCD. Later, she was hired as the director of mental health services for students at the Anschutz Medical Campus (University of Colorado) and later still made an associate professor of psychiatry. Schizophrenia was her primary interest. James Holmes was one of her patients and it was her name on the address when James Holmes wrapped up his detailed diary, the spiral notebook itself. Holmes broke off his relationship with Dr. Fenton shortly before enacting his horrific plan.
Dr. Fenton knew James Holmes was dangerous and took steps to protect the university. She had his key card deactivated and he left the program. Holmes’ last meeting was one month and nine days prior to the attack. “Holmes was no on his own—untethered from his research and his school and no longer under the care of a psychiatric professional,” the Singulars write. “He was isolated to a degree he’d never been before in Aurora, if not in his whole life. The daily interactions with classmates and professors were gone, and he had no known social circle or close friends. His attachment to a normal routine had been severed.”
In beautiful, calm and straightforward prose, the Singulars explore how Holmes bought 6,300 bullets. They talk with a CU professor who realized the shooter was the young man he knew from campus. They look at the stew of drugs that Holmes took—some self-prescribed, some prescribed, including the antidepressant Zoloft. They talk to a mental health clinical pharmacy specialist and pscyho-pharmacologist about the Attention Deficit Disorder so-called ‘epidemic’ and the anti-anxiety drug Klonopin. And they quote, sometimes extensively, from teenagers and young adults today who view these issues through a different prism.
In one of several powerful “interludes,” they take a cue off their son’s words like “isolation” and “dystopian” and write a beautiful essay about the state of cultural violence in the United States today. They explore the definition of sanity and they make keen observations about the legal process and its protracted, deliberate and ultra-careful processes—including the delicate balance of patient’s rights in the context of such a trial involving such a horrendous crime.
“Never had lawyers worked so hard to keep the general population from learning anything about the mind or the emotions of a mass killer,” they write. “Never had it been more difficult to get beneath the façade of a crime in which nearly every pertinent physical fact was already known and there was no question of guilt or innocence: James Holmes was the shooter. Never had the public interest been greater, because the American populace not only paid for the legal system, and was not only called upon to serve on juries, but it kept getting terrorized and maimed and murdered by those with significant health issues.”
If for some reason you don’t believe there is really an “epidemic” along these lines, I suggest opening The Spiral Notebook to pages 238 and 239 for a reconsideration. The Spiral Notebook asks, and asks in convincing fashion, for us all to step back and take a much bigger look at a complex and deeply disturbing trend that has shaken far too many communities to their core. When a shooter opened fire in a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana as the Holmes trial was winding down (in that case, two people were killed), the mayor asserted something to the effect of “We are Any Town, U.S.A. This doesn’t happen here.”
And that’s just the point. It does happen “here.” Or anywhere. The Spiral Notebook makes a compelling case that “here” is everywhere. And it’s time for everybody to stop and decide if we’re going to keep on enduring these kinds of horrors or, perhaps, do something about them.
(Full disclosure that Stephen and Joyce are friends of mine here in Denver. But I stand by every word. For an interview with Stephen and Joyce, visit http://wp.me/plqD1-Df.)
July 10, 2015
I admire what the authors were trying to do, and appreciate that they asked the hard questions. But too much speculation about James Holmes, too much reliance on their son's perceptions, and too little solid research.
March 28, 2021
This book started out strong, capturing the reader’s interest. Then, it started to look as if the authors were going to put a full-court press on the (questionable at BEST) influence of violent movies/games. Honestly, though? The item that made me realize this book is not as well-sourced as it purports to be? They have nearly two pages addressing Heath Ledger’s brilliant performance as The Joker in Nolan’s Dark Knight, and the Aurora shooter’s fascination with the character. Then they mention Ledger’s character’s “bright orange hair.” That broke the book for me. Obviously, they did not take the time to watch Ledger’s scenes, or even look at screenshots online - in the film, the character’s hair is green, and definitively so. The bright orange hair was that of the actual murderer, with his face plastered hither and yon. If the authors present something so blatantly incorrect as fact, presenting it as if they have done their research, how can the reader believe other data/observation they have presented as fact is accurate? If nothing else, it’s sloppy research which undermines their analysis.
The same may be said for details related to the crime itself - multiple details, before, during and after the massacre, are just...inaccurate. Again, when facts which are easily discovered from contemporaneous reports by sources such as BBC, NPR, Colorado Public Radio, Denver Post, etc., yet the authors blatantly, carelessly misstate basic details, it renders their entire ‘non-fiction’ work dubious, at best.
And, the insane availability of guns in this country is barely touched upon. Yes, violent movies, video games and other such imagery IS very accessible in the US. It should come as no surprise that this same media is likewise available in many, many places in the world. Japan and Germany are reknown for their ultra-violent horror films, South Korea’s youth are defined by their love of video games, yet these countries are not in the news for mass shootings on a weekly basis. Why, might you ask? Guns are not available for easy, unlimited purchase by anyone age 18+, or lying around for an adolescent to spirit away. An investigative book which sets itself up to examine and analyze the increase of mass violence by the teens and young adults in this country that doesn’t address such a simple and glaring disparity...the authors are either being disingenuous or they have gone into the project with their minds made up. I feel it’s the latter. The dreadful, shameful lack of free, quality mental health treatment in this country, coupled with the myopic obsession over the rights of gun OWNERS, over the rights of regular people to go to a movie, a concert, a grocery store without being murdered, the toxic masculinity running through our culture...THAT is the story. The gaming/film/music is a red herring, something to distract and garner headlines, whilst doing nothing substantive to actually address this awful phenomenon, which seems to happen in the US, nearly exclusively.
On a lovely March weekend when there were THREE mass shootings in this country, it’s obvious we are on the wrong path. This is an incredibly compelling and absolutely necessary issue to unpack, but this is not the book to do so.
The same may be said for details related to the crime itself - multiple details, before, during and after the massacre, are just...inaccurate. Again, when facts which are easily discovered from contemporaneous reports by sources such as BBC, NPR, Colorado Public Radio, Denver Post, etc., yet the authors blatantly, carelessly misstate basic details, it renders their entire ‘non-fiction’ work dubious, at best.
And, the insane availability of guns in this country is barely touched upon. Yes, violent movies, video games and other such imagery IS very accessible in the US. It should come as no surprise that this same media is likewise available in many, many places in the world. Japan and Germany are reknown for their ultra-violent horror films, South Korea’s youth are defined by their love of video games, yet these countries are not in the news for mass shootings on a weekly basis. Why, might you ask? Guns are not available for easy, unlimited purchase by anyone age 18+, or lying around for an adolescent to spirit away. An investigative book which sets itself up to examine and analyze the increase of mass violence by the teens and young adults in this country that doesn’t address such a simple and glaring disparity...the authors are either being disingenuous or they have gone into the project with their minds made up. I feel it’s the latter. The dreadful, shameful lack of free, quality mental health treatment in this country, coupled with the myopic obsession over the rights of gun OWNERS, over the rights of regular people to go to a movie, a concert, a grocery store without being murdered, the toxic masculinity running through our culture...THAT is the story. The gaming/film/music is a red herring, something to distract and garner headlines, whilst doing nothing substantive to actually address this awful phenomenon, which seems to happen in the US, nearly exclusively.
On a lovely March weekend when there were THREE mass shootings in this country, it’s obvious we are on the wrong path. This is an incredibly compelling and absolutely necessary issue to unpack, but this is not the book to do so.
December 13, 2015
Very Deceptive.
I didn't follow the Aurora Shooting very closely. I read the book jacket and thought it would be interesting to learn more. This book did nothing to clarify anything about that incident.
I didn't understand the point of the interludes. It only caused the book to feel like a collection of news articles instead of a complete story.
It ends up as just a collection of news pieces instead of a really great insight.
I didn't follow the Aurora Shooting very closely. I read the book jacket and thought it would be interesting to learn more. This book did nothing to clarify anything about that incident.
I didn't understand the point of the interludes. It only caused the book to feel like a collection of news articles instead of a complete story.
It ends up as just a collection of news pieces instead of a really great insight.
November 17, 2022
Take this book with a grain of salt. It favours sensationalism over accuracy.
February 7, 2017
This book was incredibly frustrating. I think it's because I do believe that we as a country need to have a serious discussion about the violent events that seem to happen with horrifying regularity lately. I get that this book is trying to start that conversation, which is great, but it does it all the wrong ways.
My biggest gripe, as you can see from my previous updates, is that this book has some obvious fact-checking issues. The one that upsets me the most is that this book keeps insisting that the joker, namely as portrayed by Heath Ledger, has orange hair. He does not. It's green. It's a minor detail, but it REALLY bothers me. The color of the joker's hair is not a jealously guarded secret that would require intense research to uncover. A five-second google image search could have revealed this, but neither of the authors or any editors caught this. They constantly drew attention to his hair color and used this as a key part of their argument that Holmes was emulating the joker. This bothers me so much because it makes me question the validity of the rest of the research. If they got something that simple wrong, what else could be inaccurate about this book?
Also, this book does a lot of things that experts have advised the media NOT to do. Namely not to focus on "manifestos" like the spiral notebook. While we want to understand why these shooting occur, various media experts, psychologists and even survivors, have cautioned news outlets against focusing on these items because they act as a call to arms to anyone who might feel the same way as the shooter. The media has also been advised not to fixate on details that could inspire or offer instruction to copy cats, this includes play by play recreation of the event, clothing, death counts (as it provides a number to "beat"), and weaponry. Some experts are even campaigning to keep the names and faces of the shooters out of the news. This book focuses on all of these things and really it's hard to tell if it isn't somehow adding to the problem of giving a lot of attention to violent acts.
This book also spends a lot of time dwelling on certain "myths" about mass shootings which have generally been disproved by other research. Especially the link between violence and mental illness, bullying, and video games. This is subject that I've read a lot about outside of this book and many studies suggest that mentally ill people are no more likely to commit violent crimes than other people. In fact, mentally ill people are more likely to either harm themselves or be the victim of a violent crime. Like I said in my review of A Mother's Reckoning, constantly linking the idea of depression with violent crimes does not help the stigma surrounding mental disease which already deters people from getting treatment. It's harder to say about video games which still has a lot of debate surrounding it.
The Columbine section also frustrated me. Again, this book focuses on a lot of Columbine "myths". It has a rather misleading focus on the bullying that occurred at Columbine. While it has been confirmed by several sources that Eric and Dylan were bullied, they also were described as popular and friendly with many people as well. Also, despite numerous reports immediately following the event, many researchers state that Eric and Dylan did not target certain groups of kids, like the jocks or Christians, instead they mostly appeared to kill at random.
This book did provide a certain amount of insight. I liked that the book actually questioned people of my generation who had a front row seat for the rise in gun violence. It showed a desire to discuss the problem, and look at perhaps different potential causes, like isolation, rage and feelings of inadequacy. I'm considered part of the millenial generation, a generation that is often critcized and portrayed in a negative light. I think it's possible that shooters might internalize some of that as well as the feelings of fear and frustration that comes from growing up and a chaotic and often violent world. I wish that the book had dwelt on this a bit more. I think it would have led to a better conversation. One that our country really needs to have. Instead, it just seemed to rehash all of the arguments we have already heard while adding very little new information to the discussion.
My biggest gripe, as you can see from my previous updates, is that this book has some obvious fact-checking issues. The one that upsets me the most is that this book keeps insisting that the joker, namely as portrayed by Heath Ledger, has orange hair. He does not. It's green. It's a minor detail, but it REALLY bothers me. The color of the joker's hair is not a jealously guarded secret that would require intense research to uncover. A five-second google image search could have revealed this, but neither of the authors or any editors caught this. They constantly drew attention to his hair color and used this as a key part of their argument that Holmes was emulating the joker. This bothers me so much because it makes me question the validity of the rest of the research. If they got something that simple wrong, what else could be inaccurate about this book?
Also, this book does a lot of things that experts have advised the media NOT to do. Namely not to focus on "manifestos" like the spiral notebook. While we want to understand why these shooting occur, various media experts, psychologists and even survivors, have cautioned news outlets against focusing on these items because they act as a call to arms to anyone who might feel the same way as the shooter. The media has also been advised not to fixate on details that could inspire or offer instruction to copy cats, this includes play by play recreation of the event, clothing, death counts (as it provides a number to "beat"), and weaponry. Some experts are even campaigning to keep the names and faces of the shooters out of the news. This book focuses on all of these things and really it's hard to tell if it isn't somehow adding to the problem of giving a lot of attention to violent acts.
This book also spends a lot of time dwelling on certain "myths" about mass shootings which have generally been disproved by other research. Especially the link between violence and mental illness, bullying, and video games. This is subject that I've read a lot about outside of this book and many studies suggest that mentally ill people are no more likely to commit violent crimes than other people. In fact, mentally ill people are more likely to either harm themselves or be the victim of a violent crime. Like I said in my review of A Mother's Reckoning, constantly linking the idea of depression with violent crimes does not help the stigma surrounding mental disease which already deters people from getting treatment. It's harder to say about video games which still has a lot of debate surrounding it.
The Columbine section also frustrated me. Again, this book focuses on a lot of Columbine "myths". It has a rather misleading focus on the bullying that occurred at Columbine. While it has been confirmed by several sources that Eric and Dylan were bullied, they also were described as popular and friendly with many people as well. Also, despite numerous reports immediately following the event, many researchers state that Eric and Dylan did not target certain groups of kids, like the jocks or Christians, instead they mostly appeared to kill at random.
This book did provide a certain amount of insight. I liked that the book actually questioned people of my generation who had a front row seat for the rise in gun violence. It showed a desire to discuss the problem, and look at perhaps different potential causes, like isolation, rage and feelings of inadequacy. I'm considered part of the millenial generation, a generation that is often critcized and portrayed in a negative light. I think it's possible that shooters might internalize some of that as well as the feelings of fear and frustration that comes from growing up and a chaotic and often violent world. I wish that the book had dwelt on this a bit more. I think it would have led to a better conversation. One that our country really needs to have. Instead, it just seemed to rehash all of the arguments we have already heard while adding very little new information to the discussion.
January 16, 2019
This book has no clear progression or focus. It’s a melee of criticism ranging from misogyny in one sentence to prescribing psychotropics to teens in the next.
I question the statistics of the authors, particularly those regarding school shooters and psychotropic drugs. Many of the statements made do not line up with medical reports, as compared to more reputable and vetted sources. Some of the shooters claimed by this author to be on psychotropics at the time of the shooting were NOT, as evidenced by medical autopsies. Credibility is compromised when the author lists a melange of incidents, some of which don’t include violence to others at all (the girl who hung herself, for instance).
This book was overly sympathetic to a (not THE) millennial viewpoint which I found to be derisive, simplistic, unproductive, and ageist.
I certainly could have done without the “interludes”, which treated the authors’ blowhard son as the ultimate authority on culture at large. Apparently “old people” are to blame “because they don’t understand” and have never lived through anything like this. News flash, kid: you didn’t invent the wheel and your present experience isn’t unique or original. School shootings didn’t begin with Columbine and even if they did, you were too young to absorb the impact meaningfully in the same way that, say, and OLD PERSON, who had children of high school age. Check your blind spots.
This book absolutely rubbed me the wrong way. Boo.
I question the statistics of the authors, particularly those regarding school shooters and psychotropic drugs. Many of the statements made do not line up with medical reports, as compared to more reputable and vetted sources. Some of the shooters claimed by this author to be on psychotropics at the time of the shooting were NOT, as evidenced by medical autopsies. Credibility is compromised when the author lists a melange of incidents, some of which don’t include violence to others at all (the girl who hung herself, for instance).
This book was overly sympathetic to a (not THE) millennial viewpoint which I found to be derisive, simplistic, unproductive, and ageist.
I certainly could have done without the “interludes”, which treated the authors’ blowhard son as the ultimate authority on culture at large. Apparently “old people” are to blame “because they don’t understand” and have never lived through anything like this. News flash, kid: you didn’t invent the wheel and your present experience isn’t unique or original. School shootings didn’t begin with Columbine and even if they did, you were too young to absorb the impact meaningfully in the same way that, say, and OLD PERSON, who had children of high school age. Check your blind spots.
This book absolutely rubbed me the wrong way. Boo.
February 20, 2016
Spiral Notebook- In America we sure love our mass shooting! Some cry about these events, others seek blame, but here the Singular family tries to figure it all out! Spiral Notebook is not the hard hitting investigative reporting I was looking for, it seeks something greater. The events of at the Aurora Theater are delineated fine enough, but with the “gag order” placed on all involved, the authors reach for something softer, and provide something profoundly useful. Using a “homebrew” approach the authors and their son Eric deduce why mass shootings are so numerous in the US. Some of these are obvious. Others, mostly from the son Eric, miss their mark altogether citing “stress”, the crazy world we live in, Y2K, 9/11, Iraq war, etc. Stranger yet are the anonymous spiels that are littered throughout the book, seemingly random insights on mass shootings from the peanut gallery. Apparently the anon nature helps the kids “open up".OK, whatever. Yes, the Singular family throws a lot at the wall, but it’s not hard to argue with what sticks:
Too many guns--too many wrong approaches to mental illness and too much video violence desensitizing kids these days.
Like a good homebrew, even when it misses it’s mark it can still be satisfying and worthy!
Too many guns--too many wrong approaches to mental illness and too much video violence desensitizing kids these days.
Like a good homebrew, even when it misses it’s mark it can still be satisfying and worthy!
August 17, 2015
I read halfway through then decided to return it to the library (old fashioned, I know). This book was less about the actual crime and the events that took place. The focus was more about the scientific way the mind works on drugs and why this generation is prone to this kind of violence. Not my type of read. When I read about true crime, I want to know about the crime itself, a little background information and the events occurring in court. Apparently there was and still is a gag order at the time of this book was written. Had I known that I would've never checked it out of the library.
December 27, 2019
Far too much navel gazing about the impact of rock music, the Joker and video games.
To be honest, calling it the spiral notebook is misleading, as the authors never gain access to this, and so can provide little more insight than anyone else. Disappointing.
To be honest, calling it the spiral notebook is misleading, as the authors never gain access to this, and so can provide little more insight than anyone else. Disappointing.
May 19, 2019
I don't think the author watched the Dark Knight or played video games ever in their life. This was kind of (very) cringey to read.
March 24, 2023
Gave up halfway through… this book sounded and was to some extent promising for first 4/5chapters, but then everything falls apart. The only credit to the authors is their genuine intention to keep the conversation alive regarding mass shootings, gun related massacres and its effects on the parallel generation. However, the facts or the lack of em, inconsistencies, point of views based on 1 young man directly contradicts that very intentions.
The key points any readers can pick halfway through on this book are following:
- writers obsession with “why he did what he did?” Or “what caused him to do so?”
- the whole thing with the notebook, Dark Knight Rises, Joker and Batman (unnecessary and misleading)
- trying to find a scapegoat be Movies, Media, Comics, Video games, mental health while looking away from the obvious culprit “guns and its accessibility”
- Behold: their Son’s POV, who somehow represents every millennial
What triggered me the most is how these two well educated and experienced writers who are also parents and have lived through some pretty horrific situations want to singlehandedly solve this mass violence crisis by pointing out that mental health and video games as major contributor to creating a monster. Saddest thing is people who suffer from mental health issue specifically as mentioned in this book depression, anxiety, OCD, bipolar disorder in particular already find it so bloody hard to function during a simple task, let alone speaking up and getting help. And here come 2 “investigative Journalists” that poke the very sensitive area of these mental issues: fear of going crazy, immense sadness, paralysing fear of impending doom that never happens, losing will to be.
This just proves why people who need professional help and want help and want to feel normal find it so difficult to make that call, to reach out. The Fear of being judged, questioned, evaluated and labelled as ‘clinically insane, the crazies AKA the UNACCEPTABLES’. This fear is so strong in most individuals that they rather choose to suffer on their own, silently (which only contributes to the suicide statistics) rather then having the risk of being misunderstood and shunned by the society.
The key points any readers can pick halfway through on this book are following:
- writers obsession with “why he did what he did?” Or “what caused him to do so?”
- the whole thing with the notebook, Dark Knight Rises, Joker and Batman (unnecessary and misleading)
- trying to find a scapegoat be Movies, Media, Comics, Video games, mental health while looking away from the obvious culprit “guns and its accessibility”
- Behold: their Son’s POV, who somehow represents every millennial
What triggered me the most is how these two well educated and experienced writers who are also parents and have lived through some pretty horrific situations want to singlehandedly solve this mass violence crisis by pointing out that mental health and video games as major contributor to creating a monster. Saddest thing is people who suffer from mental health issue specifically as mentioned in this book depression, anxiety, OCD, bipolar disorder in particular already find it so bloody hard to function during a simple task, let alone speaking up and getting help. And here come 2 “investigative Journalists” that poke the very sensitive area of these mental issues: fear of going crazy, immense sadness, paralysing fear of impending doom that never happens, losing will to be.
This just proves why people who need professional help and want help and want to feel normal find it so difficult to make that call, to reach out. The Fear of being judged, questioned, evaluated and labelled as ‘clinically insane, the crazies AKA the UNACCEPTABLES’. This fear is so strong in most individuals that they rather choose to suffer on their own, silently (which only contributes to the suicide statistics) rather then having the risk of being misunderstood and shunned by the society.
March 9, 2017
You can either dislike this book for what it doesn't do (it doesn't provide an exhaustive account of what happened, and it's far too speculative to qualify as investigative journalism) or appreciate what it does do (it attempts to explore why we're seeing such an increase in mass shootings among young, intelligent, apparently privileged white males).
It raises some interesting questions we should be asking:
--To what extent are the millennials products of a post-9/11 America that runs on anxiety, aggression, corruption, and the dangerous idea that firepower makes right? (Incidentally, I felt I understood the Bernie Bros phenom better after reading this--I could see their deep desire for a sudden sea change in our politics and our culture.)
--To what extent does violent gaming suppress empathy and indicate a prolonged adolescence? Although it may not affect a relatively normal brain, what can it do to a diseased brain?
--How do we balance a suspect's right to privacy with the public's need to know and understand what factors contribute to mass violence?
--And the question I most appreciated because it seems to be largely overlooked: to what extent does Big Pharma endanger the public in pushing psychotropic drugs that are known to increase violent ideation?
More questions than answers here, for sure, but it's well worth reading.
It raises some interesting questions we should be asking:
--To what extent are the millennials products of a post-9/11 America that runs on anxiety, aggression, corruption, and the dangerous idea that firepower makes right? (Incidentally, I felt I understood the Bernie Bros phenom better after reading this--I could see their deep desire for a sudden sea change in our politics and our culture.)
--To what extent does violent gaming suppress empathy and indicate a prolonged adolescence? Although it may not affect a relatively normal brain, what can it do to a diseased brain?
--How do we balance a suspect's right to privacy with the public's need to know and understand what factors contribute to mass violence?
--And the question I most appreciated because it seems to be largely overlooked: to what extent does Big Pharma endanger the public in pushing psychotropic drugs that are known to increase violent ideation?
More questions than answers here, for sure, but it's well worth reading.
July 15, 2015
While this is not an academic publication, and some of the information that was provided to the authors is incorrect (especially with regard to Batman and the Joker), it was a very interesting read. I did not give it five stars because of the inconsistencies. As investigative journalists, I did not expect faulty evidence that has been refuted to be included in the publication. That being said, I definitely recommend this book, especially in our increasingly apathetic society. This is not a book promoting stricter gun control. Instead, it is addressing the root of the problems that the United States is facing today. The fact that mental illness is still considered taboo and shameful will only allow atrocities like this to continue happening. Also, the authors bring up a good point about how most of the individuals who committed these acts were on pharmaceutical drugs meant to treat their illness. How medication has taken the place of emotional attachment and coping mechanisms. Really, it is a call for mental illness awareness and reform.
March 17, 2018
I was looking forward to reading this book for a while but ended up being pretty disappointed. The authors (husband and wife) were a little all over the place & there really wasn't any kind of clear message. It started off really interesting but they clearly had an agenda towards the to end of the book. It was worth a try but I didn't learn a whole lot about gun violence. And really all they did was stereotype millenials - making us all seem like anti-social crazies that have every reason to think of shooting people on a daily basis. While I agree our society is much different from 50 years ago, I still believe the "insane" that kill people for fun shouldn't be cut ANY slack. No matter how far gone they are. I tried to keep an open mind throughout the reading, but when the readers are clumping 16-30 year olds into one category, it's hard to truly relate.
December 16, 2022
There was little here that couldn't be gleaned from headlines. They routinely quoted anonymous and almost certainly cherry-picked to reinforce their narrative anonymous reflections. They took their son's perception as a generalization of everyone his age.
And *spoilers below* if you can call it that --
I would hope that investigative journalists would learn that correlation does not equal causation in their investigations.
And *spoilers below* if you can call it that --
I would hope that investigative journalists would learn that correlation does not equal causation in their investigations.
December 16, 2015
I think this book is too ambitious. They did some good reporting of the facts regarding cases of mass violence. Then they tried to synthesize the information and come up with some reasons why this is happening. I found this part to be deeply flawed and in need of fact-checking. Correlation versus causation is a really important concept to have a handle on for a book like this. I put it down eventually because I knew things were wrong and it was difficult to know how much of what they were presenting was fact and how much was conjecture or misrepresentation of facts. I think they usually work on crime reporting, so I wonder how much is due to the skills necessary for crime reporting versus the skills one would expect from a science writer.
November 5, 2023
DNF around 85%. I had a lot of very bad feelings from this book. Too many broad statements demonizing mental health medications (specifically SSRIs) without examining the litany of other variables for individuals carrying out violence. These statements are harmful for people with clinical mental health diagnoses who are nonviolent and depend on SSRIs. There was also a distinct lack of intersectionality in this book, specifically of how violence disproportionately impacts women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ communities. For a book that mostly focused on the trial of one individual, this felt lacking of the bigger picture of gun violence.
December 12, 2015
Other reviewers didn't take well to the format, but I didn't mind it. It was a little eerie (read: disappointing) to read this about a year after all the events the authors discuss in the epilogue, because it feels like we haven't made any progress, and in fact, have regressed. It's an important set of topics to be talked about—particularly if you have young kids/teenagers in your immediate vicinity—but I'm not sold that this is the most important book by which to start the conversation.
June 26, 2015
Could not quite get the "this generation had it harder" theme and that's why we are seeing these shootings. I disagree. Youth in other countries is just as exposed to negative news and shooter games, but we exceed their ratio of violent group shootings by 30 times. Make you go mmmmmh.
May 13, 2018
i actually enjoyed this book but after reading some reviews and finding out that a lot of the things they said weren't true or were just speculation, i'm disappointed
anyway guns are fucking stupid
anyway guns are fucking stupid
January 4, 2019
Interesting info on the aftermath of the Aurora shooting, but rampant speculation and a weird undercurrent that seemed to be from only anti-drug voices. Disconnected at best. As other reviews said, the authors perpetuate many myths about Columbine - a better book is Dave Cullen’s “Columbine”.
January 5, 2017
I didn't even finish this book. It was quite boring.
January 4, 2021
The Spiral Notebook is an ambitious project. The Singulars set out to cover the case of the Aurora Theater Shooter, which is no easy task when you consider that it's shrouded in secrecy due to a gag order that prevents most important facts of the case from being revealed. However, as they were beginning their investigative journey, they realized that there was a broader phenomenon to be covered - that of mass violence. They realized that this was a topic about which their son was knowledgeable because he was in the same age group as many people who commit violent crimes against the public. They also interviewed other people in the (roughly) 19-30 age group to see what they thought about this issue and included some memorable quotes in the first section.
Mass violence is a complicated, emotionally fraught, and necessary topic to cover. I think it's admirable of the Singulars to try and provide a broad overview of it. They looked at the Aurora Theater Shooter's case to provide examples of the ways that potentially dangerous people are able to slip past the 'safety nets' that are supposed to protect the public. They chose to place special focus on mental illness. I absolutely agree that there are issues in the way mental illness is addressed in the United States, but at times the Singulars seemed to lean toward a 'medication is usually bad' stance. It's true that every individual's needs should be considered and reactions taken into account when they're prescribed a new medication. This is true of any medication, whether it be for treating high cholesterol or bipolar disorder. I don't think all of their distrust toward psychoactive medicines was warranted. Interviewing one or two experts who agree with your point doesn't mean that you're correct, it just means you've found someone who agrees with you. The issues around psychoactive medication are complex and should be examined. I think that would require its own books, though. The Spiral Notebook can only go so far into this topic before they have to move on. I wanted to mention this because I know some people who are on the fence about taking psychoactive medication as part of a treatment plan may have read that part and felt as if taking medication posed more risk than possible reward. That's an issue to be taken up with your doctor. They'll have more insight into what you as an individual need than this book will.
Other than that, I think this book offers a good starting point for a conversation about mass violence. I'd definitely recommend supplementing it with some other sources (this book is more of an overview of the topic than an in-depth examination of any one facet. Yes, mental health included) if you want to have a discussion, but it's a decent foundation.
Mass violence is a complicated, emotionally fraught, and necessary topic to cover. I think it's admirable of the Singulars to try and provide a broad overview of it. They looked at the Aurora Theater Shooter's case to provide examples of the ways that potentially dangerous people are able to slip past the 'safety nets' that are supposed to protect the public. They chose to place special focus on mental illness. I absolutely agree that there are issues in the way mental illness is addressed in the United States, but at times the Singulars seemed to lean toward a 'medication is usually bad' stance. It's true that every individual's needs should be considered and reactions taken into account when they're prescribed a new medication. This is true of any medication, whether it be for treating high cholesterol or bipolar disorder. I don't think all of their distrust toward psychoactive medicines was warranted. Interviewing one or two experts who agree with your point doesn't mean that you're correct, it just means you've found someone who agrees with you. The issues around psychoactive medication are complex and should be examined. I think that would require its own books, though. The Spiral Notebook can only go so far into this topic before they have to move on. I wanted to mention this because I know some people who are on the fence about taking psychoactive medication as part of a treatment plan may have read that part and felt as if taking medication posed more risk than possible reward. That's an issue to be taken up with your doctor. They'll have more insight into what you as an individual need than this book will.
Other than that, I think this book offers a good starting point for a conversation about mass violence. I'd definitely recommend supplementing it with some other sources (this book is more of an overview of the topic than an in-depth examination of any one facet. Yes, mental health included) if you want to have a discussion, but it's a decent foundation.
April 11, 2018
This book isn't quite what I expected it to be. It was less about the crime, Holmes and the background of the incident and trial, and more about the need for social change and proposed possibilities regarding making those changes. That is not to say it is a bad book -- but it deals less with the subject at hand than the title and cover leads the reader to believe.
Singular does spend a lot of time looking at the epidemic of mass violence that has rocked our society in recent years -- and particularly how that epidemic is so strongly manifested in the younger generations. He also explores possible reasons behind why these events continue to happen on an ever increasing schedule across America. Singular even puts forward several possible solutions -- many of which are positive, in that it engages the generation that seem to be struggling under the violent events. But over all, I felt he got too far away from his target, in an effort to use it as a means to introduce change.
By the end of the book I actually had to go look up the trial outcome because he doesn't get much beyond jury selection. And he spends as much time focusing on Columbine and other mass shooting events around the nation, as he does on the Aurora Theater Shooting. And for the title of the book referencing the infamous Spiral Notebook -- he has very little reference to the notebook at all. (Another thing that I actually had to go research, in order to understand what the fuss was all about.)
Overall, I think Singular would have been better billing his book as an effort towards social change and simply including this mass shooting in with all the others, rather than singling this one out for the title and subject -- and then focusing less on it than many of the others. I would have been much more open to this this type of presentation -- and his cry for change would have been more effective if I didn't feel like I was being blindsided as a reader with a bait an switch topic for the book. This is sad -- because many of his ideas are very good, and I think they are important enough to deserve an audience. Generally -- I would consider it a good book to work as a starting point for opening the conversation about change in relation to violence in America -- but it isn't so much a true crime story about this one particular event.
Singular does spend a lot of time looking at the epidemic of mass violence that has rocked our society in recent years -- and particularly how that epidemic is so strongly manifested in the younger generations. He also explores possible reasons behind why these events continue to happen on an ever increasing schedule across America. Singular even puts forward several possible solutions -- many of which are positive, in that it engages the generation that seem to be struggling under the violent events. But over all, I felt he got too far away from his target, in an effort to use it as a means to introduce change.
By the end of the book I actually had to go look up the trial outcome because he doesn't get much beyond jury selection. And he spends as much time focusing on Columbine and other mass shooting events around the nation, as he does on the Aurora Theater Shooting. And for the title of the book referencing the infamous Spiral Notebook -- he has very little reference to the notebook at all. (Another thing that I actually had to go research, in order to understand what the fuss was all about.)
Overall, I think Singular would have been better billing his book as an effort towards social change and simply including this mass shooting in with all the others, rather than singling this one out for the title and subject -- and then focusing less on it than many of the others. I would have been much more open to this this type of presentation -- and his cry for change would have been more effective if I didn't feel like I was being blindsided as a reader with a bait an switch topic for the book. This is sad -- because many of his ideas are very good, and I think they are important enough to deserve an audience. Generally -- I would consider it a good book to work as a starting point for opening the conversation about change in relation to violence in America -- but it isn't so much a true crime story about this one particular event.
March 21, 2017
This is really half of a book. It ends abruptly when the jurors are being picked for the trial! Perhaps Singular wanted to get the book out while the trial was underway to get more sales, but the book suffers for it. He explains that as he's writing this, most of the court records, interviews, mental health evaluations, and the titular spiral notebook journal are all sealed. Why not wait a year or two and write a more comprehensive book? The book is called, "The Spiral Notebook." Singular keeps teasing the reader with what it could contain, saying it could be the key to the case and window into the killer's mind, and then we never get to see its contents.
What Singular does write about the shooting and its perpetrator is meager. Attorneys, family members, investigators, and Holmes himself are all under a gag order as he writes, so we're only given a timeline of events, the various delays and motions leading up to the trial, and some speculation about Holme's past and his studies in neuroscience. You could get the same thing with a Google Search.
The other half of the book is really just filler. It largely deals with the author's teenage son who argues that the Baby Boomers are out of touch with the needs of Millenials. At these points, the book stops being journalism and becomes commentary. Singular attacks the usual targets: violent movies and video games, overprescribed prescription pills, and a culture that seems to glorify violence.
He points to 9/11, the Iraq War, and recent terrorist attacks as causes for teenager's eagerness to act out violently, but by that logic, his own generation should have been in a similar place with the Vietnam War, the Kennedy Assassination, and the Cold War. I'm more sympathetic to his appeals to background checks for military-grade weapons and removing the stigma of mental illness, but they're familiar territory. Then there's other chapters that are barely connected to the Aurora Theater shooting: one is a tangent about the media company Vice, while another two chapters are devoted to yoga of all things.
I read some Goodreads reviews before checking this out of the library. One mentioned several grammar and spelling errors that made it past editors and, indeed, they're in there. On one hand, I commend the author for trying to tackle this recent shooting, but Singular does it in such a half-assed manner, it does a disservice to an important subject.
If you want a thorough examination of a mass shooting, read Dave Cullen's "Columbine." It covers the shooting of course, but also the build-up to the event, the perpetrator's videos and diaries, the aftermath of the community, and the way evangelicals and politicians tried to capitalize on the tragedy. It dispels a ton of myths surrounding Columbine. I wish "The Spiral Notebook" had done half as much.
What Singular does write about the shooting and its perpetrator is meager. Attorneys, family members, investigators, and Holmes himself are all under a gag order as he writes, so we're only given a timeline of events, the various delays and motions leading up to the trial, and some speculation about Holme's past and his studies in neuroscience. You could get the same thing with a Google Search.
The other half of the book is really just filler. It largely deals with the author's teenage son who argues that the Baby Boomers are out of touch with the needs of Millenials. At these points, the book stops being journalism and becomes commentary. Singular attacks the usual targets: violent movies and video games, overprescribed prescription pills, and a culture that seems to glorify violence.
He points to 9/11, the Iraq War, and recent terrorist attacks as causes for teenager's eagerness to act out violently, but by that logic, his own generation should have been in a similar place with the Vietnam War, the Kennedy Assassination, and the Cold War. I'm more sympathetic to his appeals to background checks for military-grade weapons and removing the stigma of mental illness, but they're familiar territory. Then there's other chapters that are barely connected to the Aurora Theater shooting: one is a tangent about the media company Vice, while another two chapters are devoted to yoga of all things.
I read some Goodreads reviews before checking this out of the library. One mentioned several grammar and spelling errors that made it past editors and, indeed, they're in there. On one hand, I commend the author for trying to tackle this recent shooting, but Singular does it in such a half-assed manner, it does a disservice to an important subject.
If you want a thorough examination of a mass shooting, read Dave Cullen's "Columbine." It covers the shooting of course, but also the build-up to the event, the perpetrator's videos and diaries, the aftermath of the community, and the way evangelicals and politicians tried to capitalize on the tragedy. It dispels a ton of myths surrounding Columbine. I wish "The Spiral Notebook" had done half as much.
June 20, 2018
It started out good but ended up with some chapters on "mindfulness" which added nothing to the "story" in my opinion. The timeline and dates the authors presented on the shooting were confusing. I kept going over the dates and times and couldn't make sense of them. By the end, I was also disappointed that "The Spiral Notebook" was apparently never released to the public, so the contents of the notebook remained a mystery. The authors' son's insights were a little bizarre. I believe that there are so many contributing factors to the "making" of a mass shooter. I strongly believe that violent video games that have been consumed since childhood and on into young adulthood contribute immensely toward a person's mental state and increases their risk of perpetrating violence against others a hundredfold. I know that is not a popular opinion as video games have become "babysitters" of our country's young and parents wholeheartedly offer them to their children. It angers me and makes me sad.
January 26, 2018
Too many "Interludes"
I understand what the authors were trying to do here and I get that they used their youthful son for insight but the fact is there just wasn't enough information at the time of the book's release to complete a full book. So instead they tried to understand a type, an angry young male, and what kind of society may have helped produce him. They pull from many, many places to reach their conclusions. There are some unusual sources but after reading the whole book you know you just got taken in by likable aging hippies. I mean, never have I just wanted to make a book review a higher star simply based on author appeal. At the end of it all I found I don't really like the book and wouldn't really recommend it but perhaps something else by the Singular family?
I understand what the authors were trying to do here and I get that they used their youthful son for insight but the fact is there just wasn't enough information at the time of the book's release to complete a full book. So instead they tried to understand a type, an angry young male, and what kind of society may have helped produce him. They pull from many, many places to reach their conclusions. There are some unusual sources but after reading the whole book you know you just got taken in by likable aging hippies. I mean, never have I just wanted to make a book review a higher star simply based on author appeal. At the end of it all I found I don't really like the book and wouldn't really recommend it but perhaps something else by the Singular family?
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