Pleased, But Not Satisfied: The Navy Years

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What makes people kill? Specifically, what are the motivations behind serial, mass, and spree killings? Drawing from cases such as the mass murder in Dunblane, Scotland, in which a lone gunman mowed down 16 children and their teacher, the still-unsolved Tylenol poisonings, and the Unabomber, former FBI profiler John Douglas and coauthor Mark Olshaker try to explain the unthinkable. What sets The Anatomy of Motive apart from so many of the theories about these horrific acts of violence is that Douglas and Olshaker have no obvious political agenda. They don't look for easy answers and they don't provide easy solutions. They do, however, offer some insight into the twisted kind of thinking that can lead a person to believe that the solution to his problems lies in bloodshed. They also provide some danger signs that may help to identify the potentially violent criminal before he has a chance to act out his morbid fantasies. While The Anatomy of Motive is undeniably horrifying, it is also illuminating, and Douglas and Olshaker approach their topic with grace and insight. --Lisa Higgins

Book Description

From legendary FBI profiler John Douglas and Mark Olshaker -- authors of the nonfiction international bestsellers Mindhunter, Journey into Darkness, and Obsession -- comes an unprecedented, insightful look at the root of all crime.

Every crime is a mystery story with a motive at its heart. With the brilliant insight he brought to his renowned work inside the FBI's elite serial-crime unit, John Douglas pieces together motives behind violent sociopathic behavior. He not only takes us into the darkest recesses of the minds of arsonists, hijackers, bombers, poisoners, assassins, serial killers, and mass murderers, but also the seemingly ordinary people who suddenly kill their families or go on a rampage in the workplace.

Douglas identifies the antisocial personality, showing surprising similarities and differences among various types of deadly offenders. He also tracks the progressive escalation of those criminals' sociopathic behavior. His analysis of such diverse killers as Lee Harvey Oswald, Theodore Kaczynski, and Timothy McVeigh is gripping, but more importantly, helps us learn how to anticipate potential violent behavior before it's too late.

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In this eagerly anticipated paperback release from the international bestselling authors of Mindhunter, legendary crime fighter John Douglas explores the root of all crime -- motive. Every crime is a mystery story with a motive at its heart. Understand the motive and you can solve the mystery. Here, Douglas offers a dramatic, insightful look at the development and evolution of the criminal mind.

Customer Reviews:

Inside Smoldering Minds.......2006-09-04

This is an engrossing book that was ahead of its time in presenting the often seamy, often searching field of forensic science. Douglas brings us onto the crime scene, and gives us a view through the eyes of profilers, pathologists, analyzers, and detectives.

The only fault I find with the book is its general contention that criminals choose their behavior. Without rehashing the nature vs. nurture controversy too much, a consideration of some of the possible physiological factors influencing criminals might have led to a more three-dimensional view of the criminal mind.

Douglas uses the fact that an offender can almost always restrain himself from committing a crime while a policeman is watching him as proof that virtually all criminal behavior is under the individual's control. I can't help but think though of the somewhat parallel condition of people with disorders such as Tourette's Syndrome. Tourette's sufferers can at times reduce or even eliminate their ticcing behavior when they are briefly in public. But their tics will return all the more insistently when they are alone again. So a criminal's ability to briefly control himself isn't necessarily an indication that he can always control himself.

A compulsive element seems to be especially apparent in crimes such as arson, which Douglas is often at his best discussing. He links this crime to a desire to command and manipulate. The arsonist gets the satisfaction of watching a whole slew of people, firemen and victims alike, scurrying around as a result of the problem he has created.

However, as Douglas himself reveals, there is also often some physically-rooted obsession that goads pyromaniacs. Douglas presents the case of Peter George Dinsdale in England for instance. This man was an epileptic who would set fires after he experienced a tingling in his fingers followed by some triggering, often trivial, altercation with his victims. This description also left me wondering if the flickering of flames might produce a more markedly pleasurable, fixating trance-like state in some people than in others.

A variety of criminal acts that Douglas describes center around fetishes and fanaticisms that might similarly have some neurological quirk as their basis.

Overall though, Douglas does a fine job of putting his readers on the trail of the criminal. He brings Sherlock Holmes onto current crime scenes by illustrating how a forensic scientist's work boils down to details - attention to details. He cites the case of arson in which a Torah was purposefully burned from right to left - cluing the detectives into the fact that the perpetrator must have been someone with a knowledge of Hebrew.

And like Holmes' classic clue of the dog that didn't bark, Douglas alerts us to the importance of details that are not there. Such observations are often important in insurance cases. When someone burns his own property for money, he will often remove items of special sentimental value first. If there are no family photo albums left in the ashes - that's a clue.

This book reminds us that no detail is trivial or uninteresting. Any mote might have a story to tell. If we could approach life from the viewpoint of the forensic scientists in these pages - we would never be bored.

A trip to a very dark place.......2006-03-17

When it comes to bringing serial crime psychology and profiling to a level that a layperson can understand, Douglas is peerless. He identifies several different types of serial killers and includes true-life stories of a few he's dealt with in his decades with the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit. It's an engrossing, easily understandable and fascinating read.

Not as riveting as I expected.......2006-02-03

When I saw this book in a used book store, I thought the title was "Anatomy of Murder". Only later did I see that it was "Motive". Based on Douglas' other books about serial killers, I expected this book to deal strictly with serial killers. And it did not.

Douglas' book described a range of killers; and his chapters are broken down accordingly. There are chapters on the anatomy of arsonists; people who use guns to commit crimes; those who poison and why; and other chapters ranging from guys who simply snap to those who commit random violence.

I wasn't really interested in serial arsonists so I skipped that chapter. The rest of the book was interesting but I think the chapters would have been much better if Douglas had focused on one or two specific cases rather than telling us snippets of several cases.

Would I read this book again? Probably not. Several of his other books are better.

The Best in the Series.......2005-09-18

Real info and facts on serial killers. The behind the scenes look at the killers that we don't get from the news. An excellent and well-written book. Also check out Robert Ressler's books.

An intregueing read.......2005-03-30

The criminal mind is a mysterious thing. The anatomy of a motive is a look the mind of criminals. It goes thru cases in the career of John Douglass. This book explores the mind of everything from your serial arsonists to your serial killer.
John Douglas was a criminal profiler for the FBI for over 20 years. He's one of the greatest criminal profilers in history. He's also been able to write many books on what he knows about the profiling of criminals. The work he's done in his career has led to the arrest of many of the worlds most dangerous criminals.
The anatomy of a motive starts out when John talks about a period during his time in the FBI where he went around interviewing criminals. Many criminals would try to talk themselves up and show off who they were. Many of them would lie and talk about things they may or may not have done. It took John much effort to get past this to get what he wanted from the people he interviewed. He said that criminals I (p. 22)"main goals in life are to kill and to hurt- or as I've stated many times in my career, to manipulate, dominate, and control."
We then come to the issue of fire in chapter two "Playing with Fire." He explore's the mind of your arsonists. He goes into the idea that many criminals early in life will play with fire. They will also have other traits in common with each other. They usually have (p.47) "violent, antisocial tendencies often mistreat animals or smaller children. This chapter goes into the arsonists as sort of a "ticking time bomb." They will set fire after fire and if they don't get caught they will become more daring. They will take more risks and eventually evolve into a killer if not stopped. He also states how many of these arsonists will start out in a place they are comfortable in only. They won't go out of their "comfort zone" until they believe they are comfortable doing so. This was a major thing in the world of tracking criminals. That means they can look around the area where the fire starting began (or other crimes as it turns out) and get an idea who they might be looking for.
"Magnum Force" explores the idea of guns used in crimes. Many criminals get there ideas from other things such as kojack In one case two air force enlisted men tied up and tried to poison some people in a Hi-Fi shop. They tried using poison and it didn't work like it did in the movies. They eventually had to some of them because the poison didn't work fast enough.
In "Name your Poison" the book goes into poisoning by tampering. It goes into adding poisonous pills to a Tylenol bottle. This led all drugs to be covered with a safety seal. In this chapter John talks about the Tylenol poisoner as someone who was proud of what they were doing. John figured this UNSUB was a passive person who would be afraid of confrontation. He was also able to figure that this offender wasn't that organized or methodical about his poisonings. He would just introduce a cyanide capsule to a bottle and put it back on the shelf. John eventually came up with an accurate profile of the Tylenol UNSUB. John was able to get the UNSUB out by getting him to write letters into a newspaper about his opinions and what he hated about society.

"Guys Who Snap", "On the Run" and "Shadow of a Gunman" all run along the same area and are about people who one day just can't take it anymore and snap. They snap for a number of reasons. They may have lost their job. Maybe their wife/husband left them. Or maybe they just realized there life is at a dead end. They see they aren't really going anywhere. Once they can no longer deal with the idea they won't achieve the great things they have always wanted to receive they decide to either relinquish their current situation and move on or go out in a blaze of glory. One UNSUB in this section for example, kills his whole family and quietly sneaks away to start life anew. Another UNSUB realizes that life is doomed for him and decides to go out in a blaze of glory by getting on top of a building and trying to take out as many people as he can with him. He had no plans to escape this situation. He just wanted to not go out alone. In a story of Brad Bishop who kills and burns the bodies of his family, he wants to start a new life somewhere else. He goes onto do so and is eventually caught. He never wanted to kill his family, but felt that he had to.
"Shadow of a Gunman" also goes into killers who have obsessions with weapons. Many usually have large collections. At some point they just snap and decide to go out in the blaze of glory and kill whatever they can, using what they have and know about they're weapons.
In "Random Acts of Violence" John goes into the idea of random violence. A mail bomber mails bombs to random members of the academic community. Many of his devices will either kill or extremely mangle his victims. As he progress's in his killings his bomb style becomes his "calling card." The UNSUB also likes to show how he's evolved as he goes on in his bombings. His bombs get a little better every time. This offender is a well educated person who knows a great deal. This person is also patient and willing to put in a great amount of time in constructing his weapons. This chapter also goes into the Unabomber. It talks about Timothy Mcveigh and about how he's always been a loner who liked doing things alone. He was a quiet and passive person who couldn't confront someone face to face.
The book ends with a summary type chapter called "You Make the Call." This chapter has a few examples of cases talked about in earlier chapters and asks that you make the call and eventually tells you the answers on whether your assessment was right or not.
The Anatomy of a Motive was an intriguing look into the way killers think. It will give you multiple examples of how criminals work. It explores the development of a criminal. It can give you an idea of how to profile a criminal. After reading this book I believe I could accurately profile many people. If you know the way someone was killed or the way the crime was committed you can learn everything you need to know about the person who did it. You can get a personality profile just by looking at the case. In many cases you can tell if the UNSUB was associated in any way with the victims. You can tell if this person was passive and afraid of confrontation. You can also see if the UNSUB will be around the crime scene and will want to witness his/her work. This book can benefit criminal profilers and even someone who enjoys things such as "America's Most Wanted." This book is quite strong in areas such as arson and murder. It falls short to me in areas such as rape, and burglary. This book is a great look into how FBI profilers think and a look at some of the cases that they can see everyday. It explains how many criminals think and where they get they're start. If we listen to the people in our lives who appear to be on edge and befriend those who look like they're all alone, criminals will eventually cease to exists and the world will be a better place for the future generations.

The Anatomy of Motive: The FBI's Legendary Mindhunter Explores the Key to Understanding and Catching Violent Criminals

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The Anatomy of Motive: The FBI's Legendary Mindhunter Explores the Key to Understanding and Catching Violent Criminals
John ; Olshaker, Mark Douglas
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NY3QQ8

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Widow to Widow

Equals C.S. Lewis in honesty and depth of emotion

Best book on grief ever

Very Helpful

Truly a companion...

Companion Through The Darkness: Inner Dialogues on Grief
Stephanie Ericsson
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Death & Grief | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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Book Description

As a result of her own experience with many kind of loss, Stephanie Ericsson offers an intimate, profoundly touching guide for those in grief, legitimizing the complex and often taboo emotions we all feel when loss transforms our lives. In Companion Through the Darkness, Stephanie Ericsson defines grief as "the constant reawakening that things are now different." Using a very simple format -- which combines excerpts from her own diary writings with brief essays -- she vividly speaks the language of loss and captures the contradictory, wrenching, and chaotic emotions of grief. The book can be opened at any point to chapters no more than a few pages long on such themes as:

Abandonment: The sudden state I am forced into. I no longer belong to you. I no longer belong to anyone.

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Customer Reviews:

Widow to Widow.......2006-08-16

This book is a must for anyone who is a widow. My husband died last year, and this book helped me look at many of the routine but-so-very-important questions and feelings that I was having; it was very comforting to know that they were normal, and someone did understand.

Equals C.S. Lewis in honesty and depth of emotion.......2006-07-13

This book saved me. I have read it twice and the heartfelt emotion of grief speaks clearly in every chapter. I gave it to a friend who had recently become widowed at a young age and it helped her with her grief enormously. Since that time, I have had several requests for the book, and I am going to order additional copies to loan out.
Although Ms. Ericson writes about her own husband's death, the experience of grief and loss in her book transcends her own situation. This book is the only book on grief that I can compare with C.S. Lewis's "A Grief Observed." When one is grieving, he or she can only grab onto someone else's experience who understands their own. I highly recommend this wonderful book to anyone who has experienced any loss of any type.

Best book on grief ever.......2006-03-13

This is a beautifully written, moving book. I am a minister and have read widely about grief since I deal with it often in my work. This is hands-down the best book on grief I have read. I use it often in my work with grieving individuals, and in sermons. I am very grateful to Stephanie Ericsson for sharing her experiences and wisdom.

Very Helpful.......2006-02-17

You could feel the authors grief along with your own. I lost a close friend and still found this book to be very comforting. I believe it would have been even more helpful if it was a spouse I was grieving for. It was written in a really down to earth fashion. It did not tell you "how" you should feel, she just wrote very open and honestly about how "she" felt. It made me feel like I was not alone.

Truly a companion..........2006-01-10

After sifting through countless books and articles about grief after my husband died, this book stopped me in my tracks. After losing your spouse (especially at age 32) you cannot even attempt to put into words what it is you are feeling. This book is the only way I could express myself to my friends and family. When I was feeling a particular way or they had trouble understanding what I was going through, I would get the book out and read the chapter to them that was applicable. I even took the book to my young widows/widowers support group to share it with them. This book is a "must-have" in the world of grief. One year after my husband's death, I have picked it up again to revisit my journey through this life-altering time in my life.

Companion Through the Darkness : Inner Dialogues on Grief

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Companion Through the Darkness : Inner Dialogues on Grief
Stephanie Ericsson
Manufacturer: HarperPerennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NJF81Y

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Companion Through the Darkness : Inner Dialogues on Grief
Stephanie Ericsson
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers Canada, Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OM7NXG

Book Description

The ever-popular Kitchen Confidential is now available in Spanish. Get the truth about the real conditions of a three-star restaurant, and read about what goes on behind kitchen doors. Find out from Bourdain why you should not order fish on a Monday, why it is not wise to order well-done meat and why seafood frittata is not a good selection for brunch. "Hysterical ... Bourdain gleefully rips through the scenery to reveal private backstage horrors." -New York Times.

Description in spanish: "Os quiero hablar de las oscuras y recónditas entrañas de un restaurante. La vida de cocinero ha sido para mi un largo enredo amoroso, cono momentos tanto sublimes como ridíclos.Nunca he lamentado el inesperado giro de mi vida, que me hizo caer en el ocio de los restaurantes.Siempre he creído que laq buena cocina, el buen yantar está por encima de todo riesgo.Lo mismo da que hablemos de un queso azul sin pasteurizar, de ostras crudas o de trbajar con socios del drimen organizado.Para mi la comida siempre ha sido una aventura".

Muy seguro de entretener a entendidos y profanos, Anthony bourdain no deja títere con cabeza en su exquisito, divertido y delicioso relato.Un recorrido desde el modesto oficio de lavaplatos, hasta la cocina de Rainbow Room en el Rockefeller Center, mafia incluida.

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This inclusive guide delivers the most current market information, along with extensive details about trends in the handgun trade and its history. Colt, Browning, Ruger and Smith & Wesson models are among the large selection reviewed in this recognizable and trusted reference.

All the latest commercial handguns are featured in Handguns 2006. Each listing includes caliber, weight, barrel length, size, retail price and more. Articles bring readers the latest on gun tests, handloading, custom and engraved guns, self-defense and concealed carry, vintage and replica firearms and use of handguns in hunting. This user-friendly resource combines 500 photos with up-to-date specifications and informative pieces to create the most well rounded resource for using and collecting handguns.

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Customer Reviews:

Disappointing Hodgepodge.......2006-11-13

This should be a book-size collection of articles on handguns, ranging from semi-automatics to revolvers. The problem with these annual productions is that it wastes most of the pages with a catalog of available guns (information readily available on the Internet). Also, it wastes even more space on black powder guns, a real ho-hum for most modern handgunners. Finally, only in-production handguns tend to be featured, when many readers have older, but fully functional models that could be compared to today's models as a frame of reference.

Another problem with such books is the influence of gun manufacturers. You won't find the scathing comments that perhaps should be included about guns that have spotty reputations. It's all politely overlooked. Of primary concern is that it's difficult to find any 1911 pistol to be reliable out of the box; most require some "work" to reach a point where someone would want to bet their life on them. In contrast, most newly designed guns for the same price (or even less expensive) are flawlessly reliable right out of the box.

Again, the chief criticism of these annual books is that perhaps half of the book consists of a catalog, which is a waste of space in my view. I'd rather it contain articles from fore to aft.

Handguns 2006.......2006-07-24

I've found over the last few years that one not need to buy this book if one has purchased Gun Digest 2006. Many of the articles in this book are exact copies found in the Gun Digest book.
Save your money and buy somthing that is not just a re-run!!!

Florida Firearms Law, Use & Ownership 2006

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Florida Firearms Law, Use & Ownership 2006

Manufacturer: Warlord Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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The authoritative guide that explains Florida & federal laws on firesrms, weapons, and self-defense issues. A no-nonsense guide that gives information that can't be misinterpreted.

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Must read for working moms

Balancing Acts: An Inspirational Guide for Working Mothers
Danielle Kennedy
Manufacturer: Berkley Trade
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ASIN: 0425163156

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Whether single or married, with one child or several, every working mother must find her own unique way of balancing home and work. Here Danielle Kennedy-- a mother of eight--shares the secrets of more than thirty successful working mothers from all walks of life. Ranging from self-employed mothers to mothers formerly on welfare, they offer their wisdom and advice on such issues as: * avoiding the common trap of guilt * being aware of the dangers of perfectionism * enlisting the help of family members * working with your company to meet your children's needs * creating energy both physically and emotionally * being present for your children

Customer Reviews:

Must read for working moms.......2001-05-02

I keep re-reading this book whenever I need some extra strength. Danielle Kennedy has touched upon the sensitive area of how to cope with working, achieving success and still making quality time for your family.

The author uses true stories to illustrate her points and ends each chapter with a list of things to help you reach your goals. She manages to fill this self-help volume with fresh, positive thinking for the reader and never allows you to feel sorry for yourself.

The thrust has some religious underpinnings, but even as a member of another faith, I felt the message was so strong and so clear that it didn't really matter. She makes you identify with each woman's situation and applies solutions based on their experiences.

The best book I have read on the subject, and I've read them all.

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