Where In The World is Osama Bin Laden? (Morgan Spurlock)

Where In The World is Osama Bin Laden?

Morgan Spurlock

Blurb: With a baby on the way and a need to make the world safe for infantkind, an unassuming film-maker from West Virginia employs his complete lack of experience, knowledge and expertise to find the most wanted and dangerous man on earth.

Beginning his epic quest in New York City, Morgan Spurlock zigzags the globe in search of the bearded man: to Britain, France, Egypt, Morocco, Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, drawing ever closer to the heart of darkness in the tribal regions of Pakistan. Along the way he interviews experts and imams, breaks the Ramadan fast with Muslim families, identifies the surprising similarities between Osama Bin Laden and Keyser Soze, helps disarm bombs with an Israeli squad, accompanies the British and US Armies in Afghanistan, and much, much more... all in an attempt to understand the Muslim world and the roots of the conflict overshadowing the globe today.

He emerges with a much deeper knowledge of the world into which his child will be born, and of the roots of fundamentalism and the 'war on terror'.

ISBN: 9781846552212 (Paperback)

Year: 2008

Publisher: Harvill Secker

Pages: 305 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Film of the book

2. Wikipedia page for the film/book

3. Buy the book from Amazon

4. Review of the book

5. Another review

The World's Most Evil Psychopaths - Horrifying True-Life Cases (John Marlowe)

The World's Most Evil Psychopaths - Horrifying True-Life Cases

John Marlowe

Blurb: Carl Panzram was gang-raped at the age of 14 and by way of revenge forcibly sodomised more than a thousand boys and men as well as committing over 20 murders.

Ed Kemper shot his grandmother once in the head and twice in the back and went on to murder his grandfather, his mother, her friend and six female hitch-hikers.

Jerry Brudos strangled Jan Whitney in his house and left her body dangling from the ceiling for several days.

Pietro Pacciani got 13 years in prison for killing a travelling salesman who had slept with his fiancee. Not only did Pacciani stab the man 19 times, but he also raped the corpse. 

The World's Most Evil Psychopaths provides a concise, yet detailed look at some of the most dangerous individuals who have ever lived. Starting with examples of the earliest recorded psychopaths, author John Marlowe presents a carefully chosen cross-section of history's most infamous criminals, whose fascinating life stories are viewed with an unflinching gaze, making for a chilling, but engrossing read.

ISBN: 9781841937533 (Paperback)

Year: 2009

Publisher: Ice Water Press

Pages: 208 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Google books page

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Goodreads page

4. Buy from the Book Depository

5. Other books by the author

Evil Serial Killers - In The Minds of Monsters (Charlotte Greig)

Evil Serial Killers - In The Minds of Monsters

Charlotte Greig

Blurb: Our fascination with serial killers is at once disturbing and understandable: disturbing because according to society's mores we should condemn the killers' crimes and avoid all thought of their horrific actions, but understandable because we are so fascinated by their motives - what leads them to behave in such perverted ways and what makes them become killers who strike again and again?

Charlotte Greig has chosen and written in details about fifty of the world's most infamous serial killers, ranging from Jack the Ripper to Ted Bundy. Documenting each of the fifty, it is easy to see similar themes emerging: David Berkowitz or Anatoly Onoprienko who grew up to be loners and subsequently wrought revenge on society which they felt had rejected them; the killers who kill purely for the sexual thrills, like Albert Fish or John Christie; and occult practitioners like the Chicago Rippers and Richard Ramirez who were inspired by macabre rituals to take their dark fantasies into even darker realities.

Whatever the personal stories that emerge from this line-up of twisted individuals, Evil Serial Killers is a compelling testament, and warning, of the potential of human behaviour for true horror and pure evil.

ISBN: 9781841934600 (Paperback)

Year: 2009

Publisher: Ice Water Press

Pages: 208 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Goodreads page

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Buy from Angus and Robertson

4. Wikipedia page on Hannibal Lecter

5. Buy from Amazon UK

My Life With Asperger's (Megan Hammond)

My Life With Asperger's 

Megan Hammond

Blurb: Imagine finding yourself in another culture. One where the language is familiar but all the little signals such as facial expressions and body language are foreign. How do you make sense of that? How hard would it be to build friendships, keep a job or find love?

Welcome to the confusing world of those trying to cope with Asperger's.

Asperger's syndrome is one of the more common autistic spectrum disorders. ASDs have been identified in one in every 100 people. The diagnosis is given to individuals with impairments in social interaction and communication as well as restricted and repetitive interests in activities that are generally evident prior to three years of age.

Megan Hammond has had a lifetime of battling the condition, struggling with employers who don't understand, lovers who have taken advantage of her and a health system that does not fully comprehend the special needs of people with Asperger's syndrome.

In this painfully honest and inspiring account, Megan takes us into her world hoping it will bring understanding and tolerance. 

ISBN: 9781741107883 (Paperback)

Year: 2010

Publisher: New Holland

Pages: 160 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from the publisher

2. Article on the author

3. Interview with the author

4. Buy from Amazon

5. Blog on the book

Sherlock Holmes: The Complete and Unabridged Novels - A Study In Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Fear (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sherlock Holmes: The Complete and Unabridged Novels - A Study In Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Fear

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Blurb: 'I have my eye on a suite in Baker Street...'

So said Sherlock Holmes when he and Dr Watson first met. Their humble address at 221B Baker Street has since become almost as famous as the great detective himself, the incredible popularity of Sherlock Holmes' adventures never wavering over the last 120 years.

Dr Watson's initial encounter with Holmes came in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes novel 'A Study in Scarlett', first published in 1887. The tale involves the investigation of a grisly murder in foggy South London that casts sinister shadow all the way across the Atlantic to the sun-scorched plains of Utah.

The Sign of Four, the second novel, was first published in 1890. This is a tale of a damsel in distress, intrigue in colonial India, stolen treasure, a baffling murder and four despicable ex-convicts. 

Perhaps the most famous of all Sherlock Holmes stories was the third novel, The Hound of Baskervilles. Featuring bizarre behaviour and mysterious deaths on the Devon moors, the tale first appeared in print in 1901. 

In 1914, the final Sherlock Holmes novel, The Valley of Fear, saw Holmes unravelling the mystery of a dead man's mistaken identity while facing up to his old foe, Professor Moriarty. 

Although many more of Holmes' cases were recorded in short stories, these were the only novels. Each is faithfully reproduced in this one epic volume, complete and unabridged, providing an ideal introduction to Sherlock Holmes for the uninitiated as well as a nostalgically familiar collection for long-established Holmes fans.

ISBN: 9781741758436 (Softback)

Year: 1887, 1890, 1901, 1914

Publisher: Crows Nest

Pages: 652 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Free PDF file of the stories

3. Buy from Readings

4. Wikipedia page for Sherlock

5. Site for the Sherlock Holmes Museum 

The Pacific (Hugh Ambrose)

The Pacific 

Hugh Ambrose

Blurb: Historian Hugh Ambrose deepens the experience of the HBO miniseries The Pacific - revealing the intertwined odysseys of four US Marines and a US Navy carrier pilot and producing a powerful blend of first-person immediacy and historical perspective.

Sidney C Phillips, an easygoing Alabama teenager, enlisted along with a buddy. 'Manila John' Basilone was the son of immigrants who found happiness in the rough-and-ready life of a marine. Eugene B Sledge watched his best friend and his brother go off to war - and finally rebelled against his parents to follow them. 'Shifty' Shofner was the scion of a prominent family with a long record of military service. Ensign Vernon 'Mike' Micheel left the family farm to complete flight school.

Between America's retreat from China in late 1941 and the moment that MacArthur's plane landed in Japan in August 1945, these five men fought many of the key battles of the war in the Pacific. Here, Hugh Ambrose focuses on their real-life experiences and those of their fellow servicemen, enhancing and expanding upon the story told in the HBO miniseries.

Covering nearly four years of combat with unprecedented access to military records, letters, journals, memoirs, photographs, and interviews, this volume offers a unique historical perspective on the war against Japan, from the debacle in Bataan to the miracle at Midway, the relentless vortex of Guadalcanal, the black terraces of Iwo Jima, and the killing fields of Okinawa - and ultimately the triumphant yet uneasy return home.

These are the true stories of the men who put their lives on the line for their country, who were dispatched to the other side of the world to fight an enemy who preferred suicide to surrender; men who suffered hardship and humiliation in POW camps; men who witnessed casualties among soldier and civilian alike; and men whose medals came at a shocking price - a price paid in full by all.

ISBN: 9781921656101 (Paperback)

Year: 2010

Publisher: Text Publishing

Pages: 489 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Author's official site

3. Review of the book

4. Conversation with the author

5. Wikipedia for the TV series of the same name

Befriend and Betray: Infiltrating the Hells Angels, Bandidos and Other Criminal Brotherhoods (Alex Caine)

Befriend and Betray: Infiltrating the Hells Angels, Bandidos and Other Criminal Brotherhoods

Alex Caine

Blurb: Alex Caine started life as just another mixed-up kid in rough-and-tumble Hull, Quebec. But after a tour in Vietnam and a stretch in prison on marijuana-possession charges, he fell into the cloak-and-dagger world of contracted agent, infiltrating criminal groups that cops across North America and around the globe were unable to penetrate themselves.

Thanks to his quick-wittedness and his tough but unthreatening demeanour, Caine could fit into whatever unsavoury situation he found himself. His assignments ran the gamut from Bandidos and Hells Angels to Triad toughs, Russian mobsters and the KKK. When a job was over, he'd slip away and cozy up to another group of bad guys, assume a new identity and start collecting evidence for another major takedown. 

An outrageous and heartrending page-turner told from the frontlines of law enforcement's war with organised crime, Befriend and Betray offers an unvarnished account of this never-ending conflict that rages all around us, and the terrible toll it takes on the lives of those who serve its cause.

ISBN: 9781405038997 (Paperback)

Year: 2008

Publisher: Macmillan 

Pages: 296 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Goodreads page

3. Publisher's page for the book

4. Reviews of other gang related books

5. Author's Facebook page

Insomnia (Stephen King)

Insomnia

Stephen King

Blurb: You'll lose a lot of sleep.

Ralph does. At first he starts waking up earlier. And earlier. Then the hallucinations start - the colours, shapes and strange auras. Not to mention the bald doctors who always turn up at the scene of a death.

That's when Ralph begins to lose a lot more than sleep. When he begins to understand why his hitherto mild-mannered friend, Ed, is getting out of control - dangerously so. And why his home town is about to become the new Armageddon...

Insomnia is a relentless waking nightmare in which the master of horror and suspense guarantees you won't rest in peace.

ISBN: 9780340952795 (Paperback)

Year: 1994

Publisher: Hodder

Pages: 902 (Fiction)

Links

1. Wikipedia page

2. Author's official site

3. Goodreads page for the book

4. Buy from Amazon

5. Wiki on the book

A Drink Before the War - A Kenzie and Gennaro Thriller #1 (Dennis Lehane)

A Drink Before the War - A Kenzie and Gennaro Thriller #1

Dennis Lehane

Blurb: Summer in Boston.

The week before Independence Day. A city steeped in history and racial strife. A city abut to be ripped apart by an unspeakable scandal and a raging gang war...

Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are tough private investigators who know the blue-collar neighbourhoods and ghettos of Boston's Dorchester section as only natives can. Working out of an old church belfry, Kenzie and Gennaro take on a seemingly simple assignment for a prominent politician: uncover the whereabouts of Jenna Angeline, a black cleaning woman who has allegedly stolen confidential Statehouse documents.

But finding Jenna proves easy compared to staying alive once they have. The investigation escalates, implicating members of Jenna's family and rival gang leaders, while uncovering extortion, assassination, and child prostitution extending from bombed-out ghetto streets to the highest levels of state government.

ISBN: 9780553820546 (Paperback)

Year: 1994

Publisher: Bantam Books

Pages: 334 (Fiction)

Links

1. Wikipedia page on the book

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Goodreads page for the book

4. Author's official site

5. Review of the book

Beowulf (Caitlin R. Kiernan)

Beowulf

Caitlin R. Kiernan

Blurb: Who will come to the aid of the beleaguered King Hrothgar, whose warriors have become the prey of the outcast creature Grendel?

A grand and glorious story that has endured for centuries, this classic tale of heroes, gods and monsters takes on breathtaking new life in a remarkable new version for a modern era.

Brilliantly reimagined by acclaimed, award-winning author Caitlin R. Kiernan, based on the screenplay by the No. 1 bestseller Neil Gaiman and Academy Award winning screenwriter Roger Avary, it tells of a noble lord and a terrible creature who has brought death, blood and destruction to his kingdom - and of the great hero, Beowulf, who is called to a land of monsters to triumph where so many have failed...or to die as so many of the brave have before him.

ISBN: 9780553819373 (Paperback)

Year: 2007

Publisher: Bantam Books

Pages: 371 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Publisher's book

3. Review of the book

4. Wikipedia page for the author

5. Goodreads page for the book

Rum Punch (Elmore Leonard)

Rum Punch

Elmore Leonard

Blurb: Ordell Robbie makes a fine living selling illegal high-powered weaponry to the wrong people. Jackie Burke couriers Ordell's profits from Freeport to Miami. But the Feds are on to Jackie - and now the ageing, but still hot, flight attendant will have to do prison time or play ball, which makes her a prime 'loose end' that Ordell needs to tie up - permanently. Jackie, however, has other plans. And with the help of Max Cherry - an honest but disgruntled bail bondsman - she could even end up with a serious nest egg in the process. 

ISBN: 9781407217093 (Paperback)

Year: 1992

Publisher: Phoenix

Pages: 245 (Fiction)

Links

1. Wikipedia page for the book

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Review of the book

4. Goodreads page

5. Browse inside the book