All That Is Wicked: A Gilded-Age Story of Murder and the Race to Decode the Criminal Mind | 
pickThis was the story of Edward Rulloff, the serial murder who tried to convince everyone that he was too intelligent to kill. Oh, the narcissism! The really interesting part was at the end when his actual brain was used to debunk some racist theories, like how a white person's brain is bigger than others. It isn't 😼
#WickedWords #survivors @AsYouWish
panThis author just isn‘t for me. This is the third book I‘ve read from them and the third pan. I just don‘t get on with the writing style. It‘s frustratingly repetitive and while the topic was interesting I feel like it suffered because of the writing. Needed a few more edits to tighten it up in places and to stop explaining the same things over and over again. Could‘ve been half the size without the repetition. #MCBC pick for January.
pickThere‘s a lot of really interesting info here, not just about the killer, but about early neurological and behavioral sciences. I found a lot of the science and detailed legal proceedings fascinating. My main issue is that much of this reads as almost a love letter to Edward Rulloff, as though the author fell victim herself to his charms. You lose sight of the victims in the quest for understanding Rulloff‘s motivations.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Safe to say that I‘ll consume all KWD media. 📚 🎧
Her deep dive into Edward Rulloff goes beyond the content of her first season of “Tenfold More Wicked” - I was worried it would be a “rehashing” & was happy to be wrong. #Roll100
pickI definitely thought this was a going to be a study of multiple cases, but I eventually saw the importance of focusing on Edward Rulloff. This was the beginning of the battle between Alienists, Phrenologists and Neurologists. It was the beginning of forensic science and the study and understanding between nature vs. nurture, and psychopathy. The chapters focussing on these budding sciences were truly fascinating.
Vacation read: 1
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
pick23/150 An interesting examination of a "brilliant" killer, a psychopath who charmed and duped many people. I don't believe Edward Rulloff was brilliant, but he was very lucky. Lucky to have committed his crimes before the advent of forensic science, before photography was wide spread, before finger printing. In that time, a criminal could just move from place to place, change their name and start over, none the wiser. Continued in the comments ⬇️
Today‘s library haul is all non-fiction. What in the what?
pickI mostly enjoyed reading this but I didn't get the sense of Rulloff being some criminal mastermind. Whilst he was undoubtedly extremely intelligent, in my view a great deal of Rulloff's 'genius', like Jack the Ripper, was down to the luck of committing his crimes before the advent of forensic science & the widespread use of photography. (Continued in comments)
Day 3 prompt for #ScarathlonDailyPrompts is Killer.
This is my next read, an ARC published 6th October (so I'd better get a move on) about a serial killer in New York in the 19th century. (non-fiction).
#TeamSlaughter #Scarathlon2022 @clwojick
