New Releases by Colin Wilson

This fascinating, in-depth account of how serial killers are tracked down and caught is by Colin Wilson, one of the world''s leading authorities on the subject. Wilson''s thorough tome covers the tried-and-true methods from the beginning of the 20th century to the cutting-edge, innovative processes now featured on shows such as CSI. The illustrated book includes 15 black-and-white images of victims, killers, and crime scenes. This is an exceptional book for a society morbidly fascinated by this unsettling topic.

Poet, Magician, Mountaineer, Polemicist and Pornographer, Aleister Crowley was the most famous, or infamous, name in twentieth century occultism. With his usual flair and style, Colin Wilson brings this complex and enigmatic figure to life and provides an engrossing portrait of the self-styled Great Beast, the man whom the contemporary press dubbed "The Wickedest Man in the World".The popular image of him as, in the words of Francis King, ''an insatiable sexual athlete, a pimp who lived on the immoral earnings of his girl-friends, and a junkie who daily took enough heroin to kill a roomful of people'', has a basis in fact; but there were other, less obnoxious and despicable, aspects of this highly original character. Crowley''s greatest legacy is his eclectic occult system: his Magick persists, a potent synthesis of Golden Dawn magic, oriental esoteric techniques, sexual magic, and the all-encompassing Law of Thelema with its two fundamental principles, ''Every man and woman is a star'' and the notorious ''Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be the Whole of the Law''.

In this compelling book, Colin Wilson argues that thousands of years before ancient Egypt and Greece held sway, there was a great civilization whose ships traveled the world from China to Antarctica. Their advanced knowledge of science, mathematics, and astronomy was passed on to descendants who escaped to Egypt and South America. From Atlantis to the Sphinx bases this assertion on a true fact: that archaeologists and geologists are at odds over the age of the Sphinx. Archaeologists claim that the Sphinx dates to classical dynastic Egypt, around 2,400 b.c. But some geologists claim that it could have been built as early as 7,000 to 10,500 b.c. The geologists'' claim is based on the curious fact that the erosion of the Sphinx is more characteristic of water erosion than that of wind and sand. Starting from the assumption that there was an advanced civilization in existence much earlier than previously thought, Wilson goes on to claim that it could very well be Atlantis--not a literal island that sank, but more of a great civilization that either declined naturally or experienced a great catastrophe, passing on only a fraction of its knowledge to other peoples. From Atlantis to the Sphinx delves into what might have been a completely different knowledge system from that of modern man--one as alien to us as that of the Martians. The book sets out to reconstruct that ancient knowledge in a fascinating exploration of the remote depths of history, a ground-breaking attempt to understand how these long-forgotten peoples thought, felt, and communicated with the universe.

Colin Wilson’s classic work is an essential guide to the mind-expanding experiences and discoveries of the occult in the 20th century. He produces a wonderfully skillful synthesis of the available material—one that sees the occult in the light of reason and reason in the light of the mystical and paranormal. The result is a wide-ranging survey of the subject that provides a comprehensive history of magic, an insightful exploration of our latent powers, and a journey of enlightenment. “I am very impressed by this book, not only by its erudition but…above all for the good-natured, unaffected charm of the author whose reasoning is never too far-fetched, who is never carried away by preposterous theories.”—Sunday Times

An expert examination of the most perplexing and still unexplained mysteries in more than two thousand years of human history. From Atlantis, the Bermuda Triangle, and Bigfoot to Tunguska, vampires, and zombies, the most fascinating subjects previously featured in Colin Wilson''s popular Unsolved Mysteries Past and Present, The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries, and The Unexplained now appear along with new, equally mystifying material in one tremendous revised and updated volume. In it, Wilson shares his expert research and investigation into seventy-five of the world''s most enduring mysteries, among them crop circles and crystal skulls, monsters and meteors, pyramids and poltergeists, the Hope Diamond and the Holy Shroud of Turin.

This volume presents the history spanning two thousand years of the most enduring mysteries known to mankind, including: Atlantis; the Bermuda triangle; Bigfoot; crop circles; crystal skulls; the Holy Shroud of Turin; the Hope Diamond and other cursed jewels; the mystery of the Mary Celeste; mummies and their curses; poltergeists; sea monsters; spontaneous human combustion; Tunguska and other falling meteors; vampires; and Zombies. There is also included an examination of the missing maps of Atlantis.

"Colin Wilson looks at the troubled history of charlatan messiahs, taking as a starting point the most famous ''prophet'' of recent times. But Koresh was neither the most excessive of cult leaders, nor was he the most misguided. Others trod the path before him, and Colin Wilson looks at the lives of cult leaders from the earliest days of Christianity, through the stories of, among many others, the ''Rev'' Jim Jones - some 900 of his followers died ''committing suicide'' - and Jeffrey Lundgren, who tried to back his claim to be a Mormon prophet by brutally killing an entire family." "Colin Wilson goes on to consider what it is that makes these messiahs believe they are who they claim to be; and why there are those prepared to follow them - a messiah is nothing without someone to believe in him. What starts out as a study of self-delusion and powermania, leads Colin Wilson into an exploration of the human psyche, as he untangles the history of the charlatan messiahs and explores their world view."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This compelling true-crime volume spans 2,000 years of murder, from ancient Rome''s gory games to cannibal killers today.

At the dawn of the second millennium, Colin Wilson offers a fascinating and often shocking view of mankind''s violent history spanning some two thousand years, from the ''games'' of ancient times to modern-day serial killers. Starting with the horrifying entertainments of Ancient Rome, the author moves through the centuries illuminating such infamous figures as Vlad the Impaler, Ivan the Terrible, Gilles de Rais, Countess Elizabeth Bathory and the Marquis de Sade. Jacobean witch hunts, the gaslit Victorian underworld of Jack the Ripper and the gangland killings of the Jazz Age lead up to the serial killers of the modern day, among them Fred West, Jeffry Dahmer, the Russian Chikatilo as well as gruesome cannibal killers, random spree gunmen and the growing phenomenon of murder and the occult.

Examines various explanations and evidence related to UFO sightings and alien encounters throughout history.

One of the most infamous decades in the history of murder, the 1930s brought to the fore such infamous criminals as Peter Kurten, the most sadistic killer in the annals of crime; Buck Ruxton, the dismembering doctor; & Albert Fish, the first convicted cannibal killer. You''ll meet Bruno Hauptmann, the man who kidnapped the Lindburgh baby, & Tony Mancini, acquitted of a horrifying murder, but who confessed afterwards in the pages of a national newspaper. These & many more shocking & fascinating stories of killers & the men who caught them combine in this portrait of a classic era of crime.

Wilson, who shares his home with over 20,000 books, pinpoints the books that have made a difference in his life and challenged him to learn.

A comprehensive guide to every kind of ghost and supernatural creature that people declare they have encountered - Dracula - Hallowe''en - Poltergeists - Zombies - Vampires - Voodoo.

This account of holy sites and mysterious ruins aims to capture the spirit of the places themselves. It explains their myths and legends and shows their continuing importance down the ages. Part One examines over 100 key sites and shows how they came to be regarded as sacred and their subsequent history. The sites are divided geographically into sections, such as Africa and the Middle East, Europe and Australia, and the Pacific. Each of these areas is introduced by a hand-drawn map showing all of the sites described and other areas of interest, such as ancient burial grounds, temples and natural sites. Part Two is a map-based gazetteer of over 1000 sacred sites. The sites are plotted over 20 maps, which are then followed by listings giving information about each holy place. The maps show the location of each site and the period in which it was built or used.

A collection of tales of the world''s worst crooks and conmen, the criminals who got away, the world''s most amazing heists and robberies, the most nauseating mobsters and history''s most horrific murders for which no murderer was ever found.

Recounts a variety of cases in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and elsewhere, including the death of Julia Wallace as told by Dorothy Sayers and the story of Ma Barker

42 amazing true cases of unnatural events with no rational explanations"--Jacket.

In The Misfits Colin Wilson examines sexual deviance and pornography from de Sade to Mishima--covering, along the way, the lives and works of Samuel Richardson, Lord Byron, James Joyce, T.E. Lawrence, and Henry Miller. Wilson sees deviant sexual behavior as an effort to break through our daydream life into a greater reality.

An ordinary family house in a quiet West Country town - 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester - is now known throughout the world as the House of Horror: the home of Fred and Rosemary West and the scene of one of the most shocking cases of serial murder England has ever seen. United by acts of unimagingable cruelty, the West''s partnership was one of the most deadly in criminal history.

Somewhere in the Delta''s hundreds of square miles of jungle and swamp, a power exists that could free mankind from its merciless eight-legged masters. Psionic rebel Niall and his band of adventurers seek the mysterious force deep within a green hell--searching for an ancient, god-like being holding the secrets of Creation.