Most Popular Books by Colin Wilson

The classic study of alienation, creativity and the modern mind ''Excitingly written, with a sense of revelation'' GUARDIAN ''Exhaustive, luminously intelligent'' OBSERVER THE OUTSIDER was an instant literary sensation when it was first published in 1956, thrusting its youthful author into the front rank of contemporary writers and thinkers. Wilson rationalised the psychological dislocation so characteristic of Western creative thinking into a coherent theory of alienation, and defined those affected by it as a type: the outsider. Through the works and lives of various artists, including Kafka, Camus, Hemingway, Hesse, Lawrence, Van Gogh, Shaw, Nietzsche and Dostoevsky, Wilson explored the psyche of the outsider, his effect on society and society''s on him. Nothing that has happened in the decades since has made THE OUTSIDER any less relevant; it remains the seminal work on this most persistent of modern-day preoccupations.

Creatively and intellectually there is no other species that has ever come close to equalling humanity’s achievements, but nor is any other species as suicidally prone to internecine conflict. We are the only species on the planet whose ingrained habit of conflict constitutes the chief threat to our own survival. Human history can be seen as a catalogue of cold-hearted murders, mindless blood-feuds, appalling massacres and devastating wars, but, with developments in forensic science and modern psychology, and with raised education levels throughout the world, might it soon be possible to reign in humanity’s homicidal habits? Falling violent crime statistics in every part of the world seem to indicate that something along those lines might indeed be happening. Colin and Damon Wilson, who between them have been covering the field of criminology for over fifty years, offer an analysis of the overall spectrum of human violence. They consider whether human beings are in reality as cruel and violent as is generally believed and they explore the possibility that humankind is on the verge of a fundamental change: that we are about to become truly civilised. As well as offering an overview of violence throughout our history – from the first hominids to the twenty-first century, touching on key moments of change and also indicating where things have not changed since the Stone Age – they explore the latest psychological, forensic and social attempts to understand and curb modern human violence. To begin with, they examine questions such as: Were the first humans cannibalistic? Did the birth of civilisation also lead to the invention of war and slavery? Priests and kings brought social stability, but were they also the instigators of the first mass murders? Is it in fact wealth that is the ultimate weapon? They look at slavery and ancient Roman sadism, but also the possibility that our own distaste for pain and cruelty is no more than a social construct. They show how the humanitarian ideas of the great religious innovators all too quickly became distorted by organised religious structures. The book ranges widely, from fifteenth-century Baron Gilles de Rais, ‘Bluebeard’, the first known and possibly most prolific serial killer in history, to Victorian domestic murder and the invention of psychiatry and Sherlock Holmes and the invention of forensic science; from the fifteenth-century Taiping Rebellion in China, in which up to 36 million died to the First and Second World Wars and more recent genocides and instances of ‘ethnic cleansing’, and contemporary terrorism. They conclude by assessing the very real possibility that the internet and the greater freedom of information it has brought is leading, gradually, to a profoundly more civilised world than at any time in the past.

Newman and Littleway are two researchers who make astonishing discoveries abou the human mind. Armed with unheard-of powers of heightened consciousness, they catapult themselves into the deep recesses of history--finally to a confrontation with the creators of the human race.

Extraordinary accounts of forensic crime detection—from poisoners in ancient Rome to modern day serial killers—by the bestselling author of The Outsider. In 44 BC, a Roman doctor named Antistius performed the first autopsy recorded in history—on the corpse of murder victim Julius Caesar. However, not until the nineteenth century did the systematic application of scientific knowledge to crime detection seriously begin, so that the tiniest scrap of evidence might yield astonishing results—like the single horsehair that betrayed the murderer in New York’s 1936 puzzling and sensational Nancy Titterton case. Many such dramatic tales appear in this updated edition of the most gripping catalog of crimes by acclaimed criminologist Colin Wilson. The book follows the progress of forensic science from the first cases of suspected arsenic poisoning right up to investigations using an impressive armory of high-tech methods: ballistic analysis, blood typing, voice printing, textile analysis, psychological profiling and genetic fingerprinting. “Colin Wilson has made himself the Philosopher-King of forensic speculation, the Diderot of the path labs.” —The Times Literary Supplement “Will enthrall connoisseurs of violent crime.” —The Glasgow Herald

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

This follow-up to the international bestseller, The Occult, is essential reading for anyone interested in the mystical and the paranormal—from ESP and clairvoyance to poltergeists and spirit possession Colin Wilson has explored the paranormal universe ever since he researched his first highly successful work, The Occult—hailed as “the most interesting, informative and thought-provoking book on the subject” The Sunday Telegraph). Now, he offers an even wider examination of the mystical and paranormal. The result is a thoroughly convincing general theory of the occult. Wilson powerfully posits that our so-called “normal” experience may in fact be subnormal, and that evolution has brought us near the edge of a quantum leap into a hugely expanded human consciousness. Combining fascinating glimpses into the paranormal world with the latest scientific thinking on the nature of “physical reality,” he reveals the usually unseen powers of the human mind and discusses why he has become convinced that disembodied spirits do exist.

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''.

Wilson has blended H.P. Lovecraft''s dark vision with his own revolutionary philosophy and unique narrative powers to produce a stunning, high-tension story of vaulting imagination. A professor makes a horrifying discovery while excavating a sinister archaeological site. For over 200 years, mind parasites have been lurking in the deepest layers of human consciousness, feeding on human life force and steadily gaining a foothold on the planet. Now they threaten humanity''s extinction. They can be fought with one weapon only: the mind, pushed to--and beyond--its limits. Pushed so far that humans can read each other''s thoughts, that the moon can be shifted from its orbit by thought alone. Pushed so that man can at last join battle with the loathsome parasites on equal terms.

This "immensely stimulating story of true crime down the ages" tells the history of human violence, from Peking Man to the Mafia ( The Times, London). This landmark work offers a completely new approach to the history and psychology of human violence. Its sweep is broad, its research meticulous and detailed. Colin Wilson explores the bloodthirsty sadism of the ancient Assyrians and the mass slaughter by the armies led by Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Ivan the Terrible, and Vlad the Impaler. He delves into modern history, exploring the genocides practiced by Stalin and Hitler. He then takes a chilling look into the sex crimes and mass murders that have become symbols of the neuroses and intensity of modern life. With breathtaking audacity and stunning insight, Wilson puts criminality firmly in a wide, illuminating historical context. "A work of massive energy, compulsively readable, splendidly informative . . . it establishes Wilson in a European tradition of thought that includes H. G. Wells, Sartre and Shaw." — Time Out London "A tremendous resource for crime buffs as well as a challenging exposition for some of the more subtle criminological thinking of our time." — Kirkus Reviews

Crashing noises and disembodied voices, coming from nowhere and everywhere at once. Invisible tormentors slapping and pinching and pulling hair. Fires starting spontaneously, pools of water materializing out of thin air, pots and pans and knives and knick-knacks flying through the room. These are the hallmarks of the poltergeist phenomenon. In this classic book on destructive hauntings, Colin Wilson, renowned authority on the paranormal, examines the evidence and develops a definitive theory of the poltergeist phenomenon. Countless true-life cases of poltergeist infestations have been recorded since the days of ancient Greece and Rome to the present. But what are poltergeists? Where do they come from? And why do they appear in our world? From the case of a black-robed monk that terrorized a family for years, to the investigation of a talking mongoose, to true stories of gnomes, sorcerers, witches, and demons, this guide explores a bone-chilling gallery of the mysterious entities known as poltergeists.

Colin Wilson revitalised existentialism with a completely new approach to the philosophy. The six volumes of his ‘Outsider’ series created an existentialism that is not paralysed by its own nihilism. This book, first published in 1966, is a clear summary of the ideas of the ‘Outsider’ cycle, and also develops them to a new stage. Wilson’s ‘new existentialism’ sees philosophy as an intellectual adventure that aims at a real command and control of human existence, and this book is its clearest exponent.

Throughout history there have been references and examples in literature, art and philosophy of an increased awareness of life while under the influence of extreme emotions - these have become known as Peak Experiences. Here, Colin Wilson investigates the effects and history of the phenomenon.

As the number of serial killers worldwide has risen steadily - from the emergence of Jack the Ripper in 1888 to Harold Shipman and Ivan Milat, the backpacker killer of the Australian outback - the need to understand mass murder is becoming more urgent. Using privileged access to the world''s first National Centre for the Analysis of Violent Crime, Colin Wilson and Donald Seaman bring you this incisive study of the psychology of serial killers and the motives behind their crimes. From childhood traumas to issues of frustration, fear and fantasy, discover what turns an ordinary human being into a compulsive killer.

In this intense and revealing essay, Wilson analyses our literary heritage from the standpoint of existential criticism. Using specific examples and detailed biographical data, he reveals a fact that we tend to ignore: that almost all modern literature is an ode to despair, a stubborn cult to the man in the street, to the defeated, the loser. The prevailing romantic disability we suffer has diminished the stature of man to unforeseen levels. The imagination to which Wilson appeals in this book is a power capable of transcending the immediate, of freeing us from the limits of what is possible. Those who can imagine in this way have dominion over the earthly world and for that reason alone are liberated from the futility of the ordinary. To imagine is to invoke the impossible, to reject things as they are and dare to shape them as they should be. "...art in the twentieth century - literary art in particular - has ceased to take itself seriously as the primary instrument of existential philosophy. It has ceased to regard itself as an instrument for probing questions of human significance. Art is the science of human destiny." Colin Wilson "Existential criticism is therefore the attempt to judge works of art by the contribution they make to the science of living, to judge them by standards of meaning as well as impact." Colin Wilson

Now available in one tremendous volume is a compelling and remarkable history spanning over two thousand years of the greatest unsolved 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 zombies Includes a mystery never examined before - the missing maps of Atlantis Colin Wilson is an acknowledged expert in the field of the unexplained and is in constant demand by the media Colin has a track record of proven successes with the Mammoth series, including, most recently, The Mammoth Book of Murder

''What an unforgettable, really great evocation. Terrible and tragic insight ... An important book.'' - Sunday Times ''Not since Dickens has a British fiction writer dealt with murder in a book of such size and seriousness.'' - Sunday Express ''Brilliant ... Magnificent! Murder mystery raised to major art!'' - Chicago Sun-Times ''[A] powerful metaphysical thriller.... It is fascinating to think about; but it is no less fascinating to read and re-read.'' - Nicolas Tredell Gerard Sorme is a lonely young Londoner at work on his first novel, in which he intends to express his belief in the meaninglessness of life. His life changes suddenly in unexpected ways when he befriends Austin Nunne, a wealthy and charming gay man with violent sexual desires, and meets Austin''s circle of friends: Gertrude, his well-meaning but naive Jehovah''s Witness aunt, the ugly but kindly Father Carruthers, and a strange and fanatical artist named Oliver Glasp. Meanwhile, someone else is busy exposing life''s meaninglessness in a different way: a serial killer is brutally murdering women in Whitechapel in a manner reminiscent of the Jack the Ripper slayings. The police suspect a crazed sex maniac, but Gerard has his own theory of the killer''s motives. As the killings continue and the investigation proceeds, Gerard suddenly finds himself haunted by a terrible suspicion: could his new friend Austin Nunne have anything to do with the crimes? Colin Wilson''s classic first novel, Ritual in the Dark (1960), remains a chilling page-turner, a brilliant fusion of murder mystery and existential philosophy. This edition is newly typeset from the first London edition and includes the author''s introduction to the 1993 edition and a new foreword by Wilson scholar and bibliographer Colin Stanley.

What makes a good scandal? Money, politics and power, and a huge dose of media interest. Scandal reigns in the world of politics, celebrity, business, religion, royalty and art, and this book covers it all - from Watergate to Michael Jackson, Diana to Oscar Wilde. Distinguished writer Colin Wilson delves into the murky intrigues of British and American life to bring the most scandalous secrets to light. Containing brand new chapters on Michael Jackson, ENRON, the death of David Kelly, the Catholic Church sex scandals and the cash-for-honours scandal, and an updated chapter on OJ Simpson, here are the embarrassing true stories the rich and famous tried but failed to hide.

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.

An examination of the motives for murder from the bestselling author of The Outsider—“Colin Wilson puts the Manson murders in coldly sharp perspective” (Evening Standard). Why is the “motiveless” murder an increasing phenomenon today? What is the mentality behind the Manson massacres and other shocking cases of brutal killing—too frequent to be written off as isolated cases? In his penetrating exploration of murder, Colin Wilson suggests that the apparently meaningless violence so frighteningly prevalent today is the result of boredom and frustration induced by a repressive society. Particular individuals of high creative potential are thwarted in their natural drives and ambitions and are forced to tread the deadly path of homicide. Colin Wilson traces this path, describing in detail many instances of violent crime, and provides valuable insights that may point to an explanation.

A spellbinding blend of history and science, scholarship and speculation, this landmark work presents startling new evidence that traces archaeology''s most enduring mysteries back to the lost civilization of Atlantis.... The Great Pyramid. Stonehenge. Machu Picchu. For centuries, these and other sacred sites have inspired wonder among those who ponder their origins. Conventional science tells us they were constructed by local peoples working with the primitive tools of a fledgling civilization. But these megaliths nonetheless continue to attract pilgrims, scholars, and adventurers drawn by the possibility that their true spiritual and technological secrets remain hidden. Who could have built these elaborate monuments? How did they do it? And what were their incomprehensible efforts and sacrifices designed to accomplish? Now comes a revolutionary theory that connects these mysteries to reveal a hidden global pattern -- the ancient work of an advanced civilization whose warnings of planetary cataclysm now reverberate across one hundred millennia. International bestselling author Colin Wilson and Canadian researcher Rand Flem-Ath join forces to share startling evidence of a fiercely intelligent society dating back as much as 100,000 years -- one that sailed the oceans of the world, building monuments to preserve and communicate its remarkable wisdom. The Atlantis Blueprint is their term for a sophisticated network of connections between these sacred sites that they trace to Atlantis: a sophisticated maritime society that charted the globe from its home base in Antarctica ... until it was obliterated by the devastating global changes it anticipated but could not escape. Here is adventure to realms beyond our imaginings ... to shifting poles, changing latitudes ... into the world of ancient mariners who recharted the globe ... to astonishing discoveries about our ancestors. Here are the great mysteries ... the incredibly complex geography of the Temple of Luxor ... the startling sophistication of Egyptian science and math ... and tantalizing similarities among the Hebrew, Greek, and Mayan alphabets to the Chinese lunar zodiac. The Atlantis Blueprint opens up a Pandora''s box of ancient mysteries, lost worlds, and millennial riddles. It is a story as controversial, fascinating, dangerous -- and inspiring -- as any ever told.

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.

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.