Customer Reviews

Mothermelters: The inside story of Cryonics and the Dora Kent Homicide

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is written in a lowbrow amateur manner that had me nearly giving up reading it by the second chapter. However, I did find some laughs in it, although I doubt the author had intended them. For example:

"I leaned back and let go with a heavy sigh, which hung in the air like a choking fog." - Mothermelters. pg 9

One would gather that the author was stating that he had bad breath.

It seemed as though Kunzman, the author, had a grudge against a few former co-workers and spent an inordinate amount of time in character assassination of them. The writer tries to paint himself as a gallant knight on a white steed, but only comes across as a Don Quixote chasing windmills. There is very little substance, and no entertaining value in the pages of this book. Save your money and do not buy it.

MotherMelters, a review

Wow, some book. Mothermelters by Alan Kunzman (hereinafter referred to as "AK".)

First off, I must say that I think this book may be libellous. Some parts of it may certainly be untrue. And certainly exaggerated. But I suspect much of what is in this book has a strong kernel of truth, with the exception of some very intangible rumors/allegations made by anonymous sources.

It could have been a very good book the self-promoting, aggrandizing point of view and obvious AK's obvious agenda ruin it to some degree.

However, every cryonicist should read this book, not only for the tidbits of info that are quite likely true, but also because it provides a detailed perspective on cryonics that comes from what is a normal person in many ways. AK's take on cryonics probably represents that of many people in some ways. But his singleminded hatred of cryonics and cryonicists represents an extreme.

But if you can look beyond the hatred and hyperbole and gossip and unfounded wild accusations and innuendos in this book, there is a mythic, epic tale hidden inside this book. I can see the heroes that cryonicists really are, even from this book. Cryonicists are in my opinion heroes without peer in this world.

First, addressing some of the miscellaneous nasty accusations that AK directs at Alcor:

There are references to drug smuggling by Alcor and various principals. There are hints of evil-doing and even murder by Alcorians at an "arizona redoubt". All very much unproven and unsubstantiated. Nonsense, really.

What provides a lot of information in this book is AK's relation of Mike Perry personal journal up to the time of Dora Kent's death while he was living with other cryos in Riverside CA at the Doherty St Alcor location. AK and the county govt seized all the ALcor records there after Saul Kent and Mike Darwin walked into the Riverside county coroner office hand carrying Dora Kent's death certificate.

For example, AK relates his reading of Perry's journal entry where Perry was allegedly listening to mike darwin having sex with another man in the next room, and Perry was writing comments about it in his journal. Umm...yikes!

Various well known members of the cryonics community are discussed to some degree of depth in this book, e.g., Mike Darwin, Saul Kent, Mike Perry, Carlos Mondragon, etc.

AK does not bother to hide his prejudices--he claimed that all the 6 Alcor members who were arrested were "fags" (except Hixon).

One more nasty little tidbit: AK claims one of the arrested Alcor members castrated himself (in college) because his sex drive distracted him in his search for knowledge. AK called him a "nutless nut." Or maybe it was not one of the arrested ones, but one of the other volunteers.

AK claimed that he found evidence that Alcor was paying dividends to alcor management. But the IRS looked at it, and nothing ever came of it.

THere was a chemist who had worked with Alcor or saul kent (something to do with developing vitamins). THe biochemist played stoolie and talked to AK about a number of matters regarding the supposed nefarious dealings of the Alcor management.

AK claimed that Jerry Leaf and Alcor rented out UCLA medical equipment to use for movies and tv and Alcor got the money from the rentals. He also claimed that Alcor stole a lot of medical eqpt from UCLA. But the UCLA police never did anything about it.

However, Alcor claims on their website they have proof they bought the equipment from UCLA. Why didn't AK address that rebuttal? Just another example of many where AK did shoddy research in some ways.

One of the most revealing statements, and one that is perhaps at the heart of this book is this description of Alcor members by AK: BRIMMING OVER WITH SMUG SELF IMPORTANCE, ARROGANCE, SELF CONGRATULATIONS.

In particular, AK exhibited a deep seated animus for Mike Darwin. Hatred, really. THe above description by AK was perhaps more directed at Darwin that anyone else. But he did apply it to all Alcor members.

In some ways, AK may have somewhat of a good point with respect to how cryonicists are perceived as smug and arrogant by some people. Maybe there is something we cryonicists need to learn-- sometimes a humble, down home, self-deprecating, "aw shucks" manner is the smartest demeanor.

After reading this book, I played a video tape I have of a cryonics science conference from a few years ago. The conference includes a presentation Mike Darwin made about his work with perfusing dogs. I have never met Darwin, and I wanted to see if AK's description of his manner was true.
Eh, maybe a little.

BTW, AK claimed that the dogs that were used to guard the ALcor building (which had been deanimated and revived by Darwin) were basically zombies.

But the dogs I saw on the videotape with Darwin clearly were not zombies.

Turning to the central point of AK's case against Alcor, the idea that Dora was killed by barbituates, and did not die a natural death:

From Mike Perry's journal, there is a relationof a WI case where a Alcor member had died, and while the Alcor team was carrying her away from the hospital, she revived, and in perry's words, they were "forced to put her down."
So AK is claiming this happened before. It has the ring of truth to it, in all fairness. But so what? I have no moral compunctions about it.

There is an inherent contradiction: AK claims Dora was put on barbituate cocktail as soon as she was brought in, and that was why she took a "turn for the worse." But then he writes that Perry's notes say that she was later put on oxygen. If she was put on a barbituate cocktail to kill her, as AK claims, then why put her on oxygen to prolong her life?

Then Mike Perry's journal says Mike applied "heroic measures" when she stopped breathing. AK notices the contradiction but cannot answer it.

AK still does not understand the critical point--that the barbituate cocktail was not given to kill, but to prevent revival. Two different things.

Luckily, none of AK's colleagues seemed to care about Alcor.

AK was basically alone in his longstanding vendetta. In fact, it is clear from the book that he was seen as obsessing about Alcor.

Miceli, the judge that ended the entire episode with rulings that favored Alcor, apparently never understood the gist of the county's case, which was that the barbituates killed DK. THe judge ruled as he did on the basis that there was no evidence that DK was decapitated while she was alive, which was not was the county was asserting at all. So, Alcor may have dodged a bullet.

AK never even mentioned the fact that Alcor used CPR to circulate the barbituates. His argument was that bccause they were found in excretory organs (bladder, kidneys), they must have been ingested/injected while she was alive. He never addresses this argument of Alcor's in the least bit.

All in all, a deeply flawed book, but an essential one for those interested in cryonics.

Someone wanting to learn about cryonics would do much better
by going to Wikipedia or doing a Google search on "cryonics"
than to read this book. If Kunzman was not so ignorant of
cryonics protocol he would have realized that postmortem
circulation is standard procedure in cryonics, not a "smoking
gun". He uses the word "profusion" in referring to "perfusion".
His sloppiness as an investigator is clinched by the fact that
the autopsy memo he reproduces on page 79 refutes the essential
thesis of his book. The best use of this book is to instruct
cryonicists about the psychology of those who are ignorant
and hostile concerning our goals and procedures. THE FIRST
IMMORTAL by James Halprin, although nominally fiction, is a
far better book to learn about the goals of cryonicists -- and
there is much accurate technical information as well. But
an Amazon search on "cryonics" does not yield Halprin's book
as one of the top search results. THE SCIENTIFIC CONQUEST OF
DEATH is a nonfictional collection of essays that has much
background material relevant to cryonics -- the chapter on
"Medical Time Travel" is written by a cryobiologist who has
extensive knowledge of the technology and potential benefit
of cryonics.

The book is really hard to read. It seems as if the author has some sort of learning disability. I gave up on it after a couple of chapters. I have to wonder whether the excerpt of the book I read had been written by someone else, it was so different from the rest of the book that I struggled through.

Good luck trying to read this book!

I signed up for cryonic suspension with Alcor in 1990, in my early 30's, and I read this book a few months back just to see how a not-too-bright cop involved in the Dora Kent case interpreted what he saw. Clearly Alan Kunzman couldn't form the new neural pathways necessary to understand any of it, and he tried to project familiar explanations on the whole cryonics project based on analogies with insurance scams and urban legends about satanic cults, flavored with gratuitous ridicule of some cryonicists' psycho-sexual preferences. Nowhere does he show any comprehension of the underlying principles motivating cryonicists, namely, that in a rational society with the kinds of material and cognitive resources we have at our disposal, we would quickly and efficiently works towards conquering aging and death through scientific and technological means. Cryonicists want to invent and perfect "medical time travel," so to speak, because we feel that the biotechnological revolution implies the ultimate goal of indefinite life extension later in the 21st Century, and we need a way to reach that time to take advantage of it.

In the kind of world Kunzman understands, however, he would probably prefer to use those resources for building more sports stadiums, fast food restaurants, shopping malls and other monuments to moral and intellectual mediocrity.

As for the reviewer who professes to hold a Ph.D. in mammalian physiology and denounces cryonics as pseudoscientific, I would like to ask him: You and everyone you care about face death, so how would you invent "medical time travel" given what you claim to know? I welcome any scientist who can inject some new ideas into solving the universal emergency.

I thought the book would explore some of the false science behind the concept of cryonics using real science and skeptical review. I should have know by the title that it was knee-jerk and emotion based low brow name calling...very childish and poorly written... If anything It has turned me twards the idea of Cryonics since the arguments put forward by both Alcor and The Cryonics institute are actually very sound and obviously much better articulated by the people who propose them.
I am glad I didn't pay full price for this one...It was a pretty bad read!

Being involved with a cult during the 70's and 80's who had a direct relationship with the subject matter of this book, I can certainly say it ran chills up my spine. As I read through the chapters, it was if I was reliving the events. Mr. Kunzman's account of the entire situation is extremely accurate and very true. This particular issue is a hot topic right now in Arizona where State lawmakers are attempting to gain a foothold on this company. As a further note to readers of the reviews regarding the book Mothermelters. Several supporters of Alcor who are called "cryonicist" or "Alcorians" are organized and will be writing negative reviews regarding this book. Please disregard these negative remarks and chalk it up to the ranting of some very deranged individuals. I recommend to purchase this book, read it, and you be the judge.

I have heard about the Ted Williams thing at Alcor, but this was an eye-opener. The folks at Alcor have a ton of explaining to do if even half of this book is true. Contrary to other reviews, I found the book to be well written and entertaining, as well as informative. The subject matter is extremely controversial, so I expect that most reviewers on Amazon will have a bias one way or the other (so read the reviews, including this one, with a grain of salt). All in all, a very good read.

Mothermelters is a wake up call for those who live in AZ, FL and MI. It should be a wake up call for our elected officials in D.C. as well. This charade is going on in all three states, and in Europe. Ted Williams's fate merely brought it to the surface. The Dora Kent story is cadaver desecration at its worst, and criminal. People who follow cryonics have no reasonable, substanitive rationale for the pseudo-science. It defies pharmacology, toxicology anatomy and physiology, and even legitimate peer-reviewed cryobiology researchers, where the "official" society of cryobiology calls these proponents, "body-freezers," refudiate their approach to preservation and immortality. Cryonics practitioners are not trained in credible, medical research or any biological science for that matter.
Kunzman should be commended on his revealing scenario. A diabolical charade is being played on the elderly and the now deceased. A compelling read that focuses on questions of crimes that remain open, unanswered and unpersued, in L.A., for staters. As a Ph.D. mammalian physiologist myself, I was shocked by the fact that this science fiction is real, not fiction.

"Mothermelters" is one of the most twisted and macabre stories of creepy behavior that I have ever read, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Ex-Riverside County Coroner Alan Kunzman has taken a complex investigation and has written a very accurate account of a bizarre and ghoulish crime involving the bogus science of "cryonics" and the Alcor Life Extension Foundation. "Mothermelters" is extremely readable and not couched in overly academic language, the book is useful for anyone who needs solid, reasonable information on the subject of this particular cult. I recommend "Mothermelters" enthusiastically to anyone interested in true crime. Buy it, and read it and experience the madness of some seriously misguided individuals.