It's Halloween month! What spooky scary nonfiction might you be reading? I mean yes -- real life is scary enough, especially this year, but perhaps you're distracting from the everyday horror and existential angst with some nonfiction about less-present scariness? Just me? The wonderful Molly at Silver Button Books is again hosting Frighteningly Good Reads,... Continue Reading →
A Sociologist Explores “The Science of Fear”
Book review: Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear, by Margee Kerr (Amazon / Book Depository) Last year I'd read enough spooky nonfiction to make a list for October, but this year I didn't have enough appropriate titles to compile one (though you can also terrify yourself by just browsing the "true crime" tab). But the positively wonderful... Continue Reading →
7 Spooky Nonfiction Books for Halloween
Every autumn I find myself looking for at least a few spooky-themed books to read as Halloween approaches. It's a little trickier with nonfiction, especially if you avoid the more unquestionably accepting/woo-woo ones, but there are still plenty of possibilities if you like your creepy stories full of truthiness! With Halloween weekend upon us, here's... Continue Reading →
Life After Death from a Scientific Perspective
October is naturally the perfect time for creepy, scary, haunty reading, so I'm reviewing some ooky spooky supernatural, paranormal-themed titles throughout the month. Personally, I find nothing scarier than some of the true crime cases out there, so delving into the supernatural side of things feels more light-hearted than sinister and I love Halloween-time for... Continue Reading →
Conversations About the Other Side
Book review: Psychics, Healers & Mediums, by Jenniffer Weigel It's Halloween! Time for a ghosty post! I haven't read much recently that's Halloween-applicable, but as a favorite spooky read, I recommend Colin Dickey's scary but skeptical Ghostland. Now for the less skeptical... Jenniffer Weigel is a Chicago Tribune columnist, radio host, and reporter who's already written about her... Continue Reading →
Spirit of Santa Fe: Tracing a Ghost from Germany to the American Southwest
Book review: American Ghost, by Hannah Nordhaus Book Depository I'd saved this for a Halloweeny read, and I'm glad that I read it after Colin Dickey's Ghostland. It got a fair amount of negative, or at least disappointed, Goodreads reviews, and I might have felt the same if I hadn't learned so much from his book about why... Continue Reading →
Spooks and Storytelling: We Scare Ourselves in Order to Live
Book review: Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places Ghostland is a perfect October read. It's hard to find a nonfiction book about ghosts and hauntings that's not an utter cheeseball groanfest. And although it's sometimes (sometimes!) fun to watch ridiculous, guilty pleasure TV shows about spookiness (I mean, we have networks devoted to the genre - I came... Continue Reading →