Amel Afzal

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Cute Book Club

Amel Afzal

I met Anne Porter at Hearst where she leads up UX and Research. A cute human being who started The Cute Book Club in Jan 2019. I’m happy to say I’m a member! Check out Anne’s site, she’s also a killer cook and has great taste in music.

So far we’ve read Padma Lakshmi’s book in Jan, Helter Skelter in Feb and we’re onto Calypso next month. I particularly loved Helter Skelter and would like to share some thoughts about the reading intertwined in 5 fun-spooky facts.

Helter Skelter is a book by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry. Bugliosi had served as the prosecutor in the 1970 trial of Charles Manson. The book presents his firsthand account of the cases of Manson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and other members of the self-described Manson Family.

5 facts about the book that had me shook:

  1. Helter Skelter was essentially a vision by Manson about racial tensions. In 2019 we’re struggling with the exact same situation. Ironic and sad.

  2. Helter Skelter actually comes from a Beatles song. Along with the Book of Revelation, music was a big influence on Manson. Another interesting fact is that the Manson murders were carried out in the “Summer of 69’”. Also, the Manson family lived on an old movie set “Spahn's Ranch” .

  3. Charles Manson Learned How To Manipulate People By Reading A Very Famous Book “How To Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie.

  4. Charles Manson’s mother sold him for a pitcher of beer — This particularly interested me when thinking about the notion “Are you born Evil or become Evil”, I’ve always gone back and forth with this idea. Is it environment and nurture (or lack thereof) that flips certain individuals to the “dark side” or is it simply a genetic deficiency of some sort that nobody has any control over?

  5. While Charles Manson will go down in history as one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, he never actually committed murder. All of the “Manson murders” were carried out by Manson’s Family members upon his orders. Manson was not even present during the Tate and La Bianca slayings.

It’s pretty long but if you’re into scaring yourself to death then you will enjoy it. Here’s a link to the book. Check out Charles Manson’s “Famous Answer”.