TV Shows

Do any of you watch The Mentalist? It's so good. I've liked Simon Baker in other shows he's been in and am glad to see him in this role, too. Penn Jillette was on NUMB3RS a few weeks ago and added so much to an already good show. Criminal Minds is another favorite. The writers have brought in more of the profilers' personalities and back stories, which makes it even more interesting.

What fascinates me most about Criminal Minds is the profiling. I read one of the books written by John Douglas . This biography is from his website:

John Douglas

Legendary head of the FBI’s
Investigative Support Unit

He has hunted some of the most notorious and sadistic criminals of our time: the Trailside Killer in San Francisco, the Atlanta child murderer, the Tylenol poisoner, the man who hunted prostitutes for sport in the woods of Alaska, and Seattle’s Green River killer, the case that nearly ended his own life.

He developed the first psychological profile of the Unabomber, but found the FBI wary of his pioneering techniques. His aggressive plan of action was ignored.

He has confronted, interviewed, and studied dozens of serial killers and assassins — including Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan, Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy, David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) and James Earl Ray — for a landmark study, to understand their motives and motivations. To get inside their minds.

He is able to become both predator and prey. He examines a crime scene and creates profiles of the perpetrators, describing their habits and predicting their next moves. Ultimately, when his work has helped snare the criminals, he can help build strategy for interrogating and prosecuting them.

He is Special Agent John Douglas, a legendary figure in law enforcement and the model for the Scott Glenn character in The Silence of the Lambs. (He was also the original choice to play the role.) As chief of the FBI’s Investigative Support Unit — the team that tackles the most baffling and senseless of unsolved violent crimes — Douglas is the man who ushered in a new age in behavioral science and criminal profiling. Now, after 25 years of service, he has retired and can finally tell his unique and compelling story.

Expanding on his national best sellers, Obsession, Mind Hunter and Unabomber: On the Trail of America’s Most Wanted Serial Killer (all co-authored with Mark Olshaker), Douglas’ lecture program delivers a fascinating inside look at some of the most intriguing criminal cases of our time. His most recent book, The Anatomy of Motive, analyzes such notorious criminal minds as Lee Harvey Oswald, Theodore Kaczynski, and Timothy McVeigh - and helps us learn how to anticipate potential violent behavior before it’s too late. Drawing from his long and extraordinary career, Douglas takes us inside the cat-and-mouse struggle between his elite squad of investigators and a chilling rogues gallery of assailants, a sort of surreal chess game with life-and-death consequences.