Mindhunter
by John E. Douglas
★ Top 5 book of 1995 · #4 on Best Books of 1995
A veteran FBI agent recounts twenty-five years spent profiling serial killers, from famous interviews to cases that tested him to his limits. He explains how he imagined himself in both killer and victim to anticipate what came next.
Best for: True crime readers fascinated by psychological profiling and the minds of killers
Mindhunter is #4 on BookWard's Best Books of 1995, out of 28 1995 books that cleared our data bar.
What Mindhunter is about
John E. Douglas spent twenty-five years in the FBI's Investigative Support Unit, and this memoir recounts that career. His method was to study the minds of violent offenders and build psychological profiles that could help investigators narrow a search. To do it, he sat down with some of the most notorious killers and assassins, among them Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, and Ed Gein.
He also walks through cases he worked, including a man who hunted prostitutes in the Alaska woods, the Atlanta child murders, and the Green River killer, a pursuit that nearly cost him his life. Douglas was the inspiration for Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs, and the book later became the basis for a Netflix series. Readers of true crime who want the view from inside the work will find it here.
Mindhunter on the Best Books of 1995
Mindhunter came out in 1995. Of the 28 books first published in 1995 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #4 on our Best Books of 1995 list.
Why it made the list: 545 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.1 out of 5 (19 ratings); 40 are reading it right now. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
It earns Being read right now.
Nearby on the 1995 list
- Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman, #2
- Northern Lights Philip Pullman, #3
- Rose Madder Stephen King, #5
- Wicked Gregory Maguire, #6
See all Best Books of 1995 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 1994 Best Books of 1996.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 473 want to read it, 40 are reading it now and 32 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.1 out of 5 from 19 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 86 | 55% |
| Reader love | 75 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 93 | 20% |
Questions about Mindhunter
When was Mindhunter published?
Mindhunter by John E. Douglas was first published in 1995.
Was Mindhunter one of the best books of 1995?
Mindhunter is #4 on BookWard's Best Books of 1995, out of 28 1995 books that cleared our data bar. 545 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.1 out of 5 (19 ratings); 40 are reading it right now.
Why is Mindhunter on the Best Books of 1995 list?
545 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.1 out of 5 (19 ratings); 40 are reading it right now.
More of the best books of 1995
- The Lost World Michael Crichton, #1
- Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman, #2
- Northern Lights Philip Pullman, #3
- Rose Madder Stephen King, #5
- Wicked Gregory Maguire, #6
- The Demon-Haunted World Carl Sagan, #7
See the full Best Books of 1995, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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