Customer Reviews

Let Me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman,the Man Who Killed John Lennon

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He said the reason he shot John Lennon was so that he'd be a "somebody" instead of a "nobody." He said he'd always wanted to have a book written about him. Is this book just feeding his narcisism? I sort of think the book can't decide whether it wants to be a legitimate psychological portrait or sensationalistic. The highlights of the book, for me, were the chapters "All the Lonely People" and "Fan Mail." These chapters examined the culture we live in that leads people to obsess over famous people. I was disappointed in the book because I thought it would examine that more than it did, and also because it glamourized Mark David Chapman. I mean, it includes a short story he wrote. I don't care about that, I don't care about HIM. I care about the sociological and psychological factors that made him do what he did. I don't want to know his life story, and I REALLY don't want to empathize with him.

This book is not necessarily one for Lennon fans, and I can imagine that plenty would avoid it because they can't forgive Chapman for what he did.

However, the story that unfolds helps to explain why Chapman did what he did, and is a chilling examination of an unsound mind. It is also compelling evidence why handgun law reform is essential, and Lennon's death is a perfect example of what can happen when madmen can buy a gun and carry it around.

Don't judge the book by its subject..judge it by the fact that it is a superbly written explanation of why a tragedy happened.

By his own admission, Chapman was a self-professed nobody, upset with his lot in life, and was looking to lash out at somebody famous. By killing Lennon, Chapman attained status as somebody (namely, "the guy who killed John Lennon"). In an odd way, reading this book only feeds into the attention Chapman craves. I wouldn't say this book is necessarily "pro-Chapman". Using Chapmans own words via interviews and in print form, the material within the book portrays Chapman (to me) to be every inch of the nobody he felt himself to be. There's really no deeper explanation to be found behind the assassination of John Lennon and the reasons why it happened are made abundantly clear; Chapman was exactly what he thought of himself as. A loser. The in-depth probings of the voices inside his head that drove him to do it just illustrate that point in detail, and after reading the book I felt that I was (in an odd way) just giving Chapman a degree of satisfaction, as he was and is little more than a child in a man's body content with receiving negative attention rather than none at all.

The book takes you back to Mark's childhood and offers the reader an inside understanding of the experiences that shaped his twisted thoughts. In looking at current tragedies such as the killings at Columbine High School, Jonesborough, Arkansas and others, books like this that delve into the minds of unlikely killers offer educators a reflective look and may help in the identification of future killers, before they kill. The information gained offers one a reflective look into the mind of a child and brings up the question, "What can we do to help prevent killings in the future." It turns a child from a number into a human being that needs to be understood during their developmental years. There are two emotions felt while reading: compassion for the man whose childhood experiences broke your heart, enmity as he describes his cold calculating plan of murder. Well done.

Why has this book not been reprinted? Parole December, 2000? Jones' book recorded death threats towards Mark Chapman. Where is he today? Why is there no press coverage of his impending release. Would you like to live next door to this man? Well in less than a year that will be a possibility. My searches on the web have so far come up fruitless. Anyway, the book appeared to be objective and was an interesting read for anyone who was a fan.

Let Me Take You Down gets inside the head of Mark David Chapman. The author did hours upon hours of interviews with him at Attica prison in New York. At times it reads like a self analytical bad acid trip from Chapman. On one hand I can accept that what is presented in this book is reasonably accurate for how Chapman remembers things I personally believe that Chapman was probably under some sort of "Manchurian candidate" mind control when he killed Lennon.

There are many questions about Chapmans background and much that fits the protocol of how these Manchurian candidates are created. From mysterious figures visiting Chapman at random times, to his work for the YMCA, which is known to often be used as a front for the CIA, his stays in various mental hospitals, to him being globetrotted around the world to some very off the wall locations by the YMCA when he was just a very average to mediocre college kid/dime a dozen employee. He also spent time working at a military base as well as after becoming a patient at a mental he was soon thereafter hired as an employee, which is unheard of that a mental hospital would do something like that. Theres just too much that doesn't add up about Chapman as well as what was going on at the time with Lennon being monitored and harassed by the FBI for me to not view the Lennon murder as being very fishy. You also have a lot of wacky theories out there about the Lennon murder which is a common tactic to discredit the idea that all is not right with the official version. For example there is actually a book written that claims Stephen King killed John Lennon!

I have a copy of the First Edition of this book. I pick it up when I want to remember how much I despise guys. It quotes Proverbs 18:2 -- A fool hath no delight in understanding, But that his heart may discover itself. The author called Chapman "a man in the grip of madness and malice." Based on more than 200 hours of interviews with Mark David Chapman at Attica prison, it reminds of the years I spent at Harvard Law School, in Vietnam, and my short career as an attorney in Minnesota trying to avoid contact with the kind of people that contributed to extensive FBI files maintained during John Lennon's nine years of residence in the U.S. John Lennon was not entirely unwelcome in New York city. He was merely shot down in the street.

This book gives a tremendous amount of information on Mark David Chapman, but leaves many stones unturned. Why did he do what he did? Often, they give reference to him being a "born again Christian," however, Mark David Chapman himself claimed that the Catcher in the Rye was his motivation. Indeed, he said he had no personal misgivings about John Lennon. So, why did he murder somebody in cold blood? The book doesn't furnish an answer. Although the character in that book fantasized about murdering his enemies, that character in the book didn't act on it. The movie "conspiracy theory" with Mel Gibson cross references this same book. Any connection? Could there be a larger issue that is shrouded in debate? I think so. I think the murderer Mark David Chapman is a paid hitman for larger powers that be. Although I don't care for John Lennon, his death was a tragedy and the investigation in his death is poorly rendered. What did John Lennon do that aleinated the big wigs? I have a strong feeling that John Lennon, although a radical in his own right, locked horns with some powerful people and paid the price. Perhaps John Lennon had become a Christian and revolted against the very philosophy and theology he sang against in the song "Imagine." As a prominent and influential figure, this would be very upsetting for the powers that be. But, the truth will surface eventually. Many outstanding scholars and researchers are presently coming to grips with this matter and bringing hidden facts to light.

Perhaps some of you such as 'GangstaLawya' et al should read Phil Strongman's 2010 book 'John Lennon: Life, Times and Assassination', though irritatingly there's no index at the back, and British lawyer and legal journalist Fenton Bresler's 1990 investigative account, 'Who Killed John Lennon?'. The evidence points squarely to ordered political assassination due to Lennon's 'give peace a chance' and 'war is over if you want it' outspokenness and beliefs. Like the Kennedys, Lennon being as popular and charismatic was a threat to 'some [very] powerful people' including the MIC - military industrial complex, so John's close Beatle buddy George Harrison may also well have been a victim of foul play as he stood alongside his friend for world peace.

Two further books which may assist are Antony C Sutton's 'America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones', and Carroll Quigley's 'The Anglo-American Establishment'. Sutton also wrote 'Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler', i.e. how Wall St funded the Nazis.

'If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was, and never will be.' - Thomas Jefferson quote from 'Assassination Science' edited by James H Fetzer, Ph.D.

I RECEIVED A USED, BUT IN NICE CONDITION COPY OF THE BOOK "LET ME TAKE YOU DOWN". IT WAS GREAT TO BE ABLE TO GET& READ AN OLD BOOK, SUCH AS THIS. AS A LENNON FAN, IT WAS INTERESTING TO READ ABOUT HIS MURDER, AND HIS ASSASSIN.