Best products from r/serialkillers

I own two that I think are really good in the sense that they're really useful in examining the case, but I'm not sure if that's the 'good' you're looking for in terms of vacation reading!

If you want something entertaining, but isn't overly long and dry, you might pick up a book called 'The Cases That Haunt Us' by the "real life" Jack Crawford, John Douglas. That book has overviews of several different famous, unsolved cases, including an interesting section about The Ripper (link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Cases-That-Haunt-Us/dp/0671017063). This one is probably the best vacation reading sort of book.

If you don't mind something dry & academic, I like 'The Ultimate Jack The Ripper Companion' by Stuart Evans & Keith Skinner (link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Ultimate-Jack-Ripper-Companion/dp/0786707682). It's the only contemporary source material encyclopedia that I know of.

Finally, there's a book that sort of marries these two types called 'Complete History of Jack the Ripper', but Philip Sugden (link: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-History-Ripper-Philip-Sugden/dp/1841193976). Like the one above, this one is pretty long, but is written in a more accessible way.

If you have a tablet or other mobile device that you're bringing with you, you can always enjoy my favorite Ripper website, http://casebook.org/

My interest is mainly in texts that are, (even if sometimes taken from context) as direct from the horse's mouth as I can get. The products of killers are of extreme importance in understanding them. I may just post it as another separate post so it can gain greater exposure if the list goes well, but the prizes of my shelf include:

• The Gates of Janus, by Ian Brady. Two hundred and fifty pages of masturbatory self-justification and gratification, full of utterly perverted interpretation of philosophy and reeking of utter genius in its own hideous, solipsistic way. It is superb, and I would recommend it for anyone interested in further understanding the mind of a serial killer, because in it he does not just profile other killers, but in doing so, builds an unparalleled self-portrait. http://www.amazon.com/The-Gates-Janus-Killing-Analysis/dp/0922915733/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1408762290&sr=8-1
  
  
• Face to Face With Evil by Dr. Chris Crowley has been skewered in the Amazon reviews for some reason, but I thought it was quite interesting. Not necessarily new information, but there were some good Brady conversations in there, and it offers a fine counterpoint to Gates. http://www.amazon.com/Face-Evil-Conversations-Ian-Brady/dp/184454981X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408764445&sr=1-2&keywords=face+to+face+with+evil
  
  
• Carl Panzram: A Journal of Murder has been mentioned a few times in the odd comment here or there, but I cannot recommend it enough. I find him to be a quite sympathetic figure, all told. The story is compelling as anything you'd see in a film, and horrible, because it is (at least, mostly) truth. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=carl%20panzram&sprefix=carl+pan%2Caps
  
  
• Killing for Company by Brian Masters, about poor, lonely Dennis Nilsen. Dennis, who the British government is preventing from publishing his autobiography, History of a Drowning Boy (http://dennisnilsen.blogspot.com/ contains fragments). This is a terrible shame. Isn't his story just as important? Shouldn't we seek to learn from it, and understand why these things happened? But, nonetheless, Killing for Company is a fine and fascinating book, which shares its title with one of my favorite songs. http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Company-Case-Dennis-Nilsen/dp/0099552612/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1408764106&sr=1-2
  
  
• The Sexual Criminal: A Psychoanalytical Study is not only fascinating, but full of fantastic photographs. http://www.amazon.com/Sexual-Criminal-Psychoanalytical-Study/dp/0965032426/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408764526&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Sexual+Criminal
  
  
• Apocalypse Culture, Books I and II, though particularly II, which has a very compelling story about the cannibal Issei Sagawa, (who, incidentally, is now a free man and food critic in Japan). Beware, however, that the books are highly subversive and some of the articles may curdle your stomach--though, much like reading de Sade, sometimes it's worth it to come out the other side, yourself still clean. http://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-Culture-II-Adam-Parfrey/dp/0922915571/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408764639&sr=1-2&keywords=Apocalypse+Culture
  
  I'm sure I'm leaving things out. I may update another time.

There is a lot of ethical debate on animal rights, especially when it comes to what rights certain animals are afforded. This is a different topic all together. It does not make them human, and I don't think there are many, if any, debates on that. There aren't "levels" of being human. You either are, or you aren't. There are levels of other things which we deem to be human characteristics like empathy, intelligence, autonomy etc. It doesn't mean that these animals are human because they possess one or more of these characteristics. To break it down to the most simple way I can I will provide a simple logic example:

All humans are animals; I am human. Therefor, I am an animal. This is logically correct.

All humans are animals; a gorilla is an animal. Therefor, a gorilla is a human. This is logically incorrect.

Even simpler:

All oranges are fruits, does not mean all fruits are oranges.

Edit: The topic of animal rights is a really interesting one to read about and debate. I think you would enjoy reading this book, and you would probably agree with a lot of it.

19 Crimes wine is very cool. Each bottle features a real person that was exiled to Australia. Their app allows your wine label to come alive with AR and tell their story.

I also received this Notorious Killer card game that’s pretty interesting and fun to play.

Or how about an adult coloring book?

I love the Mindhunter TV series, but you should really read the book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker, for the best telling of Kemper's story. I was an English teacher and I gave away at least half a dozen copies of that book to high school Seniors that were interested in forensics or law enforcement. It's a great read.

Hijacking my comment to let everyone know about a new subreddit we've launched. r/RedditCrimeCommunity is a hub for all the case specific subs and a forum for high quality self posts on crime. I'd love it if you'd join me there and help us build it.

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Mark has been verified by the mods and we've added a Verified flair.

Here's a link to his Amazon Author page

The new book, The Killer Across the Table on Amazon

Mindhunter on Amazon

Edit: The AMA is now concluded. Thanks again to everyone who came to the thread and either asked a question or lurked and read.

I hope you guys got as much out of this as I did. Thank you again to u/Mark_Olshaker for agreeing to do this. I've extended an open invitation to him to join us in the future if he so chooses.

Edit2:

Archive of the AMA - Archive.is

Archive of the AMA - Archive.org

He wrote a great book on his studies called Obedience to Authority. He goes deep into detail on his experiments and the data he got and how people reacted. His writing style is easy and conversational so that you don't need a PHD to understand him, though he doesn't dumb anything down.

Honestly one of the only books I've read that made me a better human being.

The ice man is pretty interesting.
A lot of the book was written from first hand knowledge. The author actually talked to Richard kuklinski. The story starts from when he was a child. You get to see the progression all the way up to when he was caught. Really fascinating stuff.

Depraved was really good. Did a good job at slowly but surely showing what a monster he was. Not read The Devil in White City so I can't compare, but I really enjoyed this one [?!]

I also enjoyed this book about a despicable human being who killed his entire family to protect the outrageous lies that were his life. It has an unusual writing style but it certainly creeped me out...

Talking with Serial Killers is pretty interesting read.

Rose West: The Making of a Monster is quite a detailed book about the West case,i really enjoyed this to read,got through it pretty quickly.

Fiction wise, American Psycho is a great story. I have a strong stomach but some parts of that I had to put the book down and walk away for a bit. You can't beat the Hannibal Lector series either.

"They All Love Jack" is a great book all about the Masonic connections. It's a dense read, but excellent.

You should check this out. http://www.amazon.com/The-Ice-Man-Confessions-Contract/dp/0312938845
It's a pretty awesome read.

I seen some special on TV about Dahmer maybe last month or so it mentioned a highschool friend wrote a comic book about it called My friend Dahmer...Seemed interesting so I just downloaded it and I read a few pages of it and I was thinking they could make a film about this except it's kind of glorifying a serial killer...but hey people are into it apparently...so I was about to post it here but seen you posted this about a Film of the same name it must be based on..


The comic (book) https://www.amazon.com/My-Friend-Dahmer-Derf-Backderf/dp/1419702173

Anyone read this book about Bible John?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07HRRK53S

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From the reviews, it says Tobin wasn't Bible John.

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Any good?

Thanks

I believe I've come pretty close. This is based off of photos and books that have described the area.

Google Maps

Adding this: I remember reading that the road was a service road that followed powerlines. Bundy would carry the bodies up and through some foliage into ma clearing and then into more trees and foliage.

The Bundy Murders had some aerial photos I believe and I was able to find an area that matched up somewhat.

If you read one of the several books about the case that goes into more detail like Invisible Darkness (which is a great book btw, it goes into much more detail about the Green Ribbon Task Force and how they were very much focused on the wrong things and wasted time and leads) it is quite clear that the police bungled the case badly.

Then there is the entire "deal with the devil" clusterfuck, Karla's testimony bargain, which could have been easily reversed once they knew she had lied and was much more involved than she initially confessed to.

I highly recommend that book, it was very interesting and informative.

https://www.amazon.ca/Invisible-Darkness-Horrifying-Bernardo-Homolka/dp/0988015293

http://www.amazon.com/People-Who-Eat-Darkness-Tokyo/dp/0374230595

Just watched a doc on this case as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fj0ArZ_3r0&list=WL&index=2

Perspectives from the parents, police, lawyers, made it a good watch.

Amazon, my friend

The People Who Eat Darkness- It is a look at not only a disturbing crime but the culture that gave rise to it and a legal system as confusing as a labyrinth. Came highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/People-Who-Eat-Darkness-Tokyo/dp/0374230595

Here's a amazon link mate : https://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Friend-Dahmer-Derf-Backderf/dp/1419702173

Check out the graphic novel My Friend Dahmer, by, well, a friend of Dahmer's who went to school with him. It's disturbing in a special kind of way. No big revelations or anything, but gives you an oddly uncomfortable insight into events in Dahmer's life as an awkward highschooler.

http://www.amazon.com/My-Friend-Dahmer-Derf-Backderf/dp/1419702173

Ahhh yes!!! Mindhunter: Inside the FBI elite serial crime unit.
This guy is one of the 1st FBI'S profilers.He narrates his experiences and interviews with serial killers.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501191969/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_yx4zCbQECQJ5K