Book recommendations.

[Fiver]

Hello Herlock,

I am a big fan of Krakauer as an author. He has two books which are considered classics of outdoor literature. I highly recommend both if you have not read them:

https://www.amazon.com/Into-Thin-Air-Personal-Disaster/dp/0385494785/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2L7QW3YU7ADUQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9 .ZwVcFI0j6IUIzjfPTUhgZ3iLqRLD51nJlarzHdPHFCdIrY34i GGsEB3K-zvJu7zHAYxQ4E0XMVFhiXEH-DfUIBq4fO9DlqB0okFTbsQUUBZbFni1Lubo9n9hv5jBUvmnDmF buqJ122N9cSIxucyUkHHti3qN3ukuZVHCuB53jb3OrMvgXyZap-mohDYx_sz1KZ-oHGonktKLpKfXenrq9ODJmXRKLOIRPyjjDdOoE6yeS6ynol3wy RGzmTA28EpWE1dC7c43NhdyRu1TXWdWhtMfCyTL5uV05bawgW6 oU00.UMoBFdZsrAmY9CTW__OmtzH-96Cr-l32SCYIdZCSxIo&dib_tag=se&keywords=krakaue r&qid=1718845389&sprefix=krakauer%2Caps% 2C 194&sr=8-3

c.d.

Krakauer is a skilled writer, but he has some strong personal opinions that aren't necessarily fair and his statements don't always agree with those of other climbers. That's not to say he was a liar, but he was exhausted and out of oxygen for a lot of the descent, he was dependent of secondhand accounts for many events, and he didn't always have complete information. Hutchinson, Pittman, and Namba, for example, were a lot more experienced than Krakauer realized.

And I don't think Krakauer has truly realized the unintentional part he played in the disaster. People knew he was a journalist who would be writing about the climb, which almost certainly led to expedition leaders and individual climbers being subconsciously pushed to take additional risks.

[c.d.]

Hello Herlock,

I am a big fan of Krakauer as an author. He has two books which are considered classics of outdoor literature. I highly recommend both if you have not read them:

https://www.amazon.com/Into-Thin-Air...s%2C194&sr=8-3


https://www.amazon.com/Into-Wild-Jon...s%2C194&sr=8-1

c.d.

[Herlock Sholmes]

It’s a coincidence that you mentioned that one because I was looking at it the other day and I couldn’t make my mind up if I’d read it or not?

Not surprised by that. My guess is there is only four or five books that you have not read.

I can't help but think of that great line by Groucho Marx -- "I love my cigartoo, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while."

c.d.

It’s a great line.

I’ve found out why I thought that I’d read a book on the subject written by someone called John. The name in my mind was Jon Krakauer who wrote a review. That was the name that I’d kept seeing, it may even have been on the cover of the book that I bought. So I have read the book but I’ve just started it so I’ll read it again.

[c.d.]

It’s a coincidence that you mentioned that one because I was looking at it the other day and I couldn’t make my mind up if I’d read it or not?

Not surprised by that. My guess is there is only four or five books that you have not read.

I can't help but think of that great line by Groucho Marx -- "I love my cigartoo, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while."

c.d.

[Herlock Sholmes]

I just got the Kindle version of the book.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hello Herlock,

By coincidence I had just put that on my list of books to read yesterday.

Here is one for you. Just started it but so far really good and a page turner. Got super reviews on amazon (over 75,000 reviews). By the same author as The Lost City of Z (another good one).

https://www.amazon.com/Killers-of-Fl...%2C2425&sr=8-1

c.d.

Hi c.d.

It’s a coincidence that you mentioned that one because I was looking at it the other day and I couldn’t make my mind up if I’d read it or not? It looks really familiar to me but I’m just not totally sure. I thought that the book that I’d read was written by a John something (it’s bugging me to be honest). I might get the kindle version though because if I’ve already read it then I’ve only lost £7.

[c.d.]

Hello Herlock,

By coincidence I had just put that on my list of books to read yesterday.

Here is one for you. Just started it but so far really good and a page turner. Got super reviews on amazon (over 75,000 reviews). By the same author as The Lost City of Z (another good one).

https://www.amazon.com/Killers-of-Fl...%2C2425&sr=8-1

c.d.

[Herlock Sholmes]

I just read American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America’s Jack the Ripper by Daniel Stashower.

I bought this with a level of confidence that it was going to be good. Stashower wrote one of the best Conan Doyle biographies ever and he also wrote The Beautiful Cigar Girl and The Hour of Peril (about the plot to kill Lincoln before he arrived in Washington to take up office) which were both very good. So with this one he’s written another excellent one.

Its main focus is the career, rise and fall of Eliot Ness with the second have incorporating his quest to find the Cleveland Torso Killer. There’s plenty on his work to nail Al Capone and some interesting stuff on the fight against bootlegging and other organised crime and on Ness’s attempts to weed out corruption from the force. Hoover disliked him, mainly because he disliked anyone who took the spotlight away from him. A man with failings but one who achieved much. In case anyone hasn’t read James Badal’s In The Wake Of The Butcher, which is THE book on the case, I won’t name Ness’s suspect (although most probably know it) To be honest, he’s just about the only suspect, and has to be overwhelmingly the likeliest.

Very good book. If you want a book just on the murders then Badal’s is the one that you want.

[Pcdunn]

I’ll amend that Pat. It’s not that they don’t quote their sources it’s just that they don’t quote every one. They have clearly done their research though and have gone through all of the available records. There are also quite a few appendices at the back with things like the full Police Case Closure Report which I hadn’t seen before. This certainly isn’t an amateurish effort.

Ah, okay then! Sounds interesting, certainly.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Cheers for the low down Herlock. I might just give this one a go. I've only ever read about the case in short format, usually as part of a compendium of cases so it'll be good to get an in depth book. I may just pick the Merrill books too.

All three are worth it Al. I don’t know how much the Merrill books are going for these days but I didn’t pay much. If you were choosing I’d definitely go for the new one. Until someone comes up with an aliens theory then I’d say that this one is a hard act to follow.

[Al Bundy's Eyes]

I’ll amend that Pat. It’s not that they don’t quote their sources it’s just that they don’t quote every one. They have clearly done their research though and have gone through all of the available records. There are also quite a few appendices at the back with things like the full Police Case Closure Report which I hadn’t seen before. This certainly isn’t an amateurish effort.

Cheers for the low down Herlock. I might just give this one a go. I've only ever read about the case in short format, usually as part of a compendium of cases so it'll be good to get an in depth book. I may just pick the Merrill books too.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Thanks for a great review!

Though not listing their sources does give me pause. Definitely moves it from a scholary book into popular nonfiction (and even those tend to have indexes.)

I’ll amend that Pat. It’s not that they don’t quote their sources it’s just that they don’t quote every one. They have clearly done their research though and have gone through all of the available records. There are also quite a few appendices at the back with things like the full Police Case Closure Report which I hadn’t seen before. This certainly isn’t an amateurish effort.

[Pcdunn]

Thanks for a great review!

Though not listing their sources does give me pause. Definitely moves it from a scholary book into popular nonfiction (and even those tend to have indexes.)

[Herlock Sholmes]

There haven’t been many books dedicated to this case but it’s one that gets regular mentions; especially in books, documentaries, blogs and websites focusing on the supernatural. Even Donald McCormick got in on the act with Murder By Witchcraft. I’ve only read 3 books dedicated to the story prior to this one though. First I read 2 slim volumes by a teenager called Alex Merrill with help from his dad Pete which were both excellent and deservedly highly regarded. Then I read MJ Trow’s The Hagley Wood Murder: Nazi Spies and Witchcraft in Wartime Britain, which was a disappointment. I’ve considered a couple of others but the reviews haven’t been encouraging so I was looking forward to the release of The Hagley Wood Tree Murder: Reviewing the Case of Bella in the Wych Elm by Keith Swallow and Rachel Joy. I haven’t been disappointed. This is definitely the book that you want to buy on this case.

This is a well researched and very readable book that covers all aspects of the case. Part One is a detailed chronology of events. Part Two is a detailed analysis of the investigation and the theories and Part Three is the conclusion. The analysis is well done, detailed and sensible. They have clearly gone through all of the police files and everything else written on the case.

I’ve only read of two criticisms of the book. They don’t list their sources and there’s no index. One thing that I do like (and in books in general) is that there are numerous photographs running through the book in the relevant sections which I prefer to a central plate of photographs.

If you want a book on this case this is the one. It’s impossible to label it ‘the last word’ because no doubt there will be others written about he case, but anyone wishing to put out a well researched and well written rundown of the case with sensible conclusions now has a very high benchmark to reach.

Highly Recommended.

[c.d.]

Just finished The Last Wild Men of Borneo by Carl Hoffman. Non-fiction/true outdoor adventure genre.

Focuses on the lives of two men. One is a sort of hippie/guru/Christ figure who travels to Borneo to live the pure unadulterated life. Taken in by a tribe he eventually leads a worldwide effort to end logging in Borneo. He eventually disappears. Murder by government authorities with so much to gain from logging? Accident? Suicide? The other goes deep, deep into the jungle at great personal risk and hardship to buy Dayak artifacts. Fascinating contrast of the two men. Also a very interesting expose of the worldwide buying and selling of cultural artifacts and how even the most famous and prestigious of galleries and museums just look the other way.

A really fascinating look at the disappearance of one of the last truly wild places on earth and what it represented to two men so totally different in their approach to it.
Really liked this one and definitely recommend.

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Wild-Men...s%2C354&sr=8-1

c.d.