Reviving a Creepy Tradition

Simply titled "Ghost Stories: Volume Two", this audio book is distinctly different from other classical collections I have listened to or read in the past. The reason for this being that each of the four tales contained within are the works of M.R. James. Despite an undeniable legacy and influence over the genre in the 20th century, James's tales are still very different from what we expect in the horror or, more specifically, the ghost short story genre. They often have the superficial criteria of a contemporary pompous upper-middle class scholar uncovering an ancient object in a remote area and subsequently becoming haunted by a supernatural entity or curse. This has become known as Jamesian. They are also not particularly horrifying, not by today's standards, not by the standards of his day and not for the standards of Victorian ghost or horror stories that preceded them. These are stories that create atmosphere and imply an unknown menace, which are perfect for the function James originally intended them: as fireside tales to be told at night to a group of gathered friends.

Justify this! A review of "Mistakes were Made (but not by me)"

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This is the second book I have read that looked at the nature of human error. The first one, "Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error" by Kathryn Schulz, was a half-philosophical work that looked at the whole scope of wrongness and our relationship with it. Although scientifically sound, Schulz's excellent work was far more to do with making peace with mistakes. Similar aspects are also present in Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson's joint work, "Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)", but this is a far less sympathetic book driven by the passion of two straightforward and eminent psychologists who focus specifically on the human reaction to personal error. Tavris was given a special award for her working contribution towards the empirical scientific sceptical movement and "Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)" seems destined to be the sceptic's go-to work on the phenomena of confirmation bias.

Paint it a Blacker Shade of Dark

 Fear, for all the unpleasant and sometimes embarrassing affects it has on us, tells us one major thing – we are alive! As time has gone on a reoccurring pattern has emerged with me – what I have feared becomes my object of fascination.

The Best Horror Through the Ages

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Seeing as we are getting close to Halloween I thought I would post up some suggestions for your viewing pleasure. These are what I regard to be some the greatest scary movies of all time. Debate, discuss, whatever...

“The Perfect Nazi” could be described as the darker side of tracing one’s family tree. Imagine discovering that a close blood relative, your grandfather to be exact, was a high ranking member of the SS? For Martin Davidson, a man who has enjoyed senior positions at the BBC, RDF and again at the BBC in charge of history, the challenge and revelation must have been considerable. For most of his life, Davidson grew up knowing that his grandfather had served in Germany during the Nazi regime. Little was ever spoken to him about his mother’s father, Bruno Langbehn’s involvement with the Nazi party.

Strength Through Error - Review of Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz

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When was the last time you admitted to being wrong about anything? It is a question that journalist Kathryn Schulz has pondered for some time, so much so that her book, "Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error", appears to be a veritable bible on something she calls "wrongology". This work investigates, dissects and embraces the whole concept of wrongness, letting no one off the hook in its research and conclusions. Being fully aware of the many ways that error has helped shape the way we progress as a species, she takes first half of Alexander Pope's famous idiom "To err is human" literally and explores the truth of this statement at great length. As Schulz, explains in her opening chapters this is not book about forecasting errors, but more about how we as deal with errors and how we can use them to our advantage.
The book is divided into four parts: "The Idea of Error", "The Origins of Error", "The Experience of Error" and "Embracing Error". Each part is divided into different numbers of chapters. The first and fourth parts only have two chapters a piece and act introductory and conclusive bookends to the whole piece. Schulz's tour of the way error affects and changes us as human beings is contained within the two meatier parts, containing six and five chapters respectively. Despite coming under the category of "Popular Psychology/Philosophy" the whole book is handled like a scholastic work. It is footnoted on many of its pages to provide fascinating additional information on certain case studies and has meticulous endnotes to provide all of the book's reference material.

Ten Best True Crime Books Currently Available

Image via WikipediaTrue crime, at its best, is a fascinating combination of historical investigation dominated by primary source evidence often with strong aspects of prominent scientific psychological theory and an understanding of cultural dimensions. Their authors range from thorough historians who have enough discipline to not be led away by confirmation bias or too many preconceived ideas and prejudicesto objective interviewers who gain a unique insight into their subject's personality. Unfortunately the majority of books that go under title "true crime" are actually close cousins of the ghost story or urban legend. They range from tabloid style reports on cases to outright fabrications to ghost-written romantacized autobiographies of criminals trying to capitalize on their parasitic and rather sad lives. However, we shouldn't be too hard on all these modern day evolutions of penny dreadful compilations. Often they are the tantilizing baits that draw us in originally.
Below is a list of 10 particularly significant books that come under this genre and, for the most part, will steer you in the right direction to get the most out of this landmine filled area of non-fiction reading...