Customer Reviews

The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this book because of morbid fascination with the minds of those who find it necessary or enjoyable to seek alternate, though immoral, ways to spend their time. I wanted to find a book that had easily digestible snippets on some of the more, and less, infamous serial killers. I am glad that I was able to find such a book.

The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers is a great book because it gives the reader just enough information to tempt the palate with regards to each killer. Michael Newton does a great job of giving us not too much detail, and not too little detail about each case study. Nor does he gloss over the facts regarding each case. Each individual (whether killer or killed) is looked at from a very professional standpoint. Newton looks at a killer's upbringing and other social factors that may lead to why they have done what they have done, in addition to the mere facts. Newton also addresses what has happened to these people, if they were caught and convicted. It is interesting to see how society's law enforcement has changed over the years.

Some of those included are:
Jack the Ripper
Ed Gein
Son of Sam
The Zodiac Killer
Ted Bundy
The Manson Family

If you are looking for a book that gives you a peek into the mind of not one, but many serial killers then this is the book for you. From these intriguing portrayals, one can decide which cases and killers are most interesting and buy more in-depth books about each. It's great as a reference, to read from cover to cover, or to pull out when you simply want to leaf through to kill some time. Highly recommended to fans of the true crime genre.

I thought that this book was a very extraordinary and it hightlighted all the main facts of the serial killers of all time. The book covers all kinds of killers, from solo killers - like the Son of Sam, to unresolved cases such as the Zodiac, this book has it all! If you want to know just the facts about all these crimes, this book if definitely one to have on your shelf!

Serial murder is my area of expertise. I have spent 16 years studying and writing about this field and Michael Newton's works have been along side me for all those years. Newton is an excellent researcher. His work is of the highest quality. His books are a steal. The Encyclopedia is an excellent resource for anyone who needs a thumbnail sketch of serial killers from around the world. Newton has contributed to the growing body of serial killer research by helping to track down and document these killers. Newton was one of the first authors to document the imfamous Dr. Swango, years before any other noticed him.
I highly recommend this book to students, researchers and the just curious. But beware, you may learn more than you ever wanted to know

I must apologize to the author of this book. When this book popped up on my recommendations list I mistook it for another book with the exact same title and an extremely similar cover I had recently encountered. However, last night to my extreme embarrassment, I discovered my mistake. This book does indeed report accurate and up-to-date information on David Berkowitz, and although the articles on each person/subject is necessarily short for the book to be comprehensive without being unwieldly large, the summaries are quite good for their length. I still recommend buying Maury Terry for a more complete overview of Son of Sam (or other books with greater focus on various persons), but this book is still a good introduction.

It is unfortunate that I mistook this book for another that is deceptively simlar but of far lower quality.

Quite a comprehensive book. It contained biographies of like, hundreds of serial killers, many of whom were completely unknown to me. A bit sensationalized, yes, but not overly so. I only wish they had lists of the victims' names -- I have always focused on the victims rather than the murderers. And more photographs would have been nice also.

Upon receiving this book, I began to devour every word, thouroughly enjoying the information contained therein. Courious aout one entry, I decided to cross reference this book with a CD-Rom that I purchased 5 years ago, entitled "Mind of a Killer". I discovered, much to my dismay, that this book is a word-for-word rehash of the information contained in the book portion of the 1995 CD-Rom, specifically "Hunting Humans" written by Michael Newton.

While I liked this book, I felt cheated. Aren't there laws against self-plagarism?

Theis is an amazing a-z book on serial killers. Anything that you wanted to know about anybody, what they did, how they did it, where they are from etc.... A true cookbook of killers.

This book is the best resource for broad information on the subject of serial killers I have yet read.

If you are looking for a wide variety of fact on the subject but don't want to put the effort into a lot of research this is the book.

This book is not as indepth or as comprehensive as some of the single subject serial killer books I have read, but it does provide a wealth of information for starting out.

This is a fascinating read for true crime buffs. The author's stated purpose is to "demystify, as far as possible, those predators in human form who have been with us since the dawn of history..." Serial killers at large are so frightening that they end up touching all of our lives--most especially in the United States, where 84% of all known serial killers have committed their crimes since 1980. I first became aware of this type of human predator when I was a student at the University of Michigan, and John Norman Collins was murdering coeds with pierced ears and long brown hair. (Oddly enough, Collins is missing from this encyclopedia even though he killed at least seven women--possibly because he was only charged and tried for the murder of one of them. A second edition is planned, so there is a possibility that this omission will be corrected).

California native Michael Newton has published 181 books since 1977, including 147 novels but he is best known for his true crime and reference works. I have to say that I assumed this author was British because of his concise, witty style and also for his tendency to critique other true crime authors who failed to get their facts straight, including the names of a serial killer's victims. One of his special peeves is the term 'spree killer,' and he also doesn't seem to think much of profilers.

Most of the entries in this encyclopedia are concerned with the serial killers themselves, whether they acted alone, in twosomes, or in packs. One of the biggest surprises for me was the large number of serial killers who are or were women. Something like 12% of all serial killers are female, and Hungarian women seem especially prone to this behavior, starting with Countess Erzsebet Báthory in the sixteenth century whose final body count was somewhere between 300 and 650 victims. In the early 1900s,Vera Renczi murdered 35 husbands, lovers, and a son and was arrested by the police only after they searched her basement and discovered 35 zinc coffins. "Some evenings, Vera liked to sit among the coffins in an armchair and enjoy the company of her adoring beaux." Then there were the "Angel Makers of Nagyrev"...

Well, let me just close by remarking that "The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers" is an extremely interesting source of information on the darker side of human nature. In addition to the encyclopedia entries, there are also appendices on "Solo Killers," "Team Killers," and "Unresolved Cases," plus an extensive bibliography.

Did you ever think that what you wear or your hair color could be the the death of you? Well some serial killers pick their victims because of their outside appearance. Do you imagine a nice death? Well, some people can't because they get killed by getting butchered, torchered, and many other ways. Would you rather have your body after death be eaten by worms or humans? Well, some people choose the sport of canablism. "The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers" by Micheal Newton explains all of the disturbing ways serial killers kill their victims. Micheal Newton is an author who puts reasons and childhood trama together so that you get inside the serial killer's mind. I recommend this great book to people who have only one point of view in murder cases. I rate this unique non-fiction book 5 stars. There are many serial killers not just one, described in this unique, out of the ordinary book. You might change your mind about serial killers. If you think all serial killers murder for fun, you're wrong. Many went though child-hood trama. maybe this book will change your mind about serial killers. So if you're in a thrilling, unique mood then read this excellent book of horror.