Would anyone here be interested in reading a full-length (~300 page) biography of Ted Kaczynski aka The Unabomber?

OP here. For some context, I posted this a while back about Ted: archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/104495239/

I've done a lot of research on him (I'm not a fanboy by any means) and I think his story is so interesting yet for the most part has been summarized as "mad genius living in woods spergs out on society"

Thank you.

I suppose you may be right, although I have already read several books about Ted's life and researched him in great detail (archived articles etc). I am also trying to get my hands on a copy of his autobio at the moment (Truth Vs Lies). I'm just trying to get a sense of how interested people still are in a guy whose "moment" was two decades ago.

OP here. I am not. If I'm serious about this then I may try and contact some people he was associated with way back when (including obscure figures such as former employers, potential lovers etc) though really I don't want to commit yet and get peoples' hopes up having done little more than LARP on Veeky Forums about doing this.

His story involves childhood alienation, parental expectation, loneliness in college, academic success, turmoil regarding romantic relationships, wide-ranging academic interests, intense sibling rivalry, family trauma, distinct ideological beliefs, attempts to rejoin society, and far more self-doubt and hesitation than would expect of a "cold-hearted" autistic killer etc.

His 'moment' is two decades from now on. I'd read it.

What about the CIA MKULTRA experimentation that flipped a switch in his head?

OP here. The MK Ultra thing is definitely important. He described it as the "worst experience" of his life. There is, however, a lot of detail and context. It was a psychological experiment targeting intellectually gifted but temperamental individuals in an effort to see what their breaking point was. It involved bullying subtle attempts to get the subject (Ted et al.) to react.

I would 100% be interested in that. Please write it

R U srs? My uni had like 10 biographies on him lolol.

Great read OP, would readily read anything you posted about him. I know others who would be as well.

I'm curious: has anyone here contacted Ted?

Do you think he'd reply to a third-worlder who think he's a nutjob but is nonetheless fascinated by him?

I've seen a couple random twitter people get responses from Ted but most of them agree with his worldview and have specific questions

Are you the guy who already showed up here once or a couple times before and provided us with hard to find quotes and letters from him?

I had a professor who used to exchange letters with him, for whatever reason. No idea what about. So, anyway, I'd say if you're able to articulate yourself, sure.

Didn't he write his own biography in his manifesto?

I strongly advice you to contact him and talk it out with him in letters. This is his adress.

Theodore John Kaczynski
04475–046
U.S. Penitentiary Max
P.O. Box 8500
Florence, CO 81226–8500

Dont mention any illigal stuff is basics around writing letters to convicts.

Or else contact Joy Richards or anybody else to know what to say and ask. If you are looking for a publisher then just contact the publisher who released his latest work wich is '''Anti-Tech Revolution: Why and How'' i assume you have read it?

Thanks for the book idea
Writing it as we speak

I think people would buy that under the right circumstances.

>I've researched his life in great detail and there is currently no biography of his available to my knowledge, or at least none that cover his entire life or is well-researched and carefully edited (there are some 30 page self-published ones on Amazon).
How much research have you done, exactly? My public library has multiple biographies on him, one being written by a Princeton Ph.D who corresponded with Ted while he was writing the book

I would like to add to the OP's comments and general idea by reminding the board that I've compiled an important part of his writings: his /mathematical/ bibliography.

Obviously Veeky Forums won't be /as/ interested in this material, but it is literature of a sort. And so if anyone would care to see some of it reproduced, I can do so ITT.

However OP, there is plenty of biographical material of one kind or another on Kaczynski. A TV biography has been written, I found a substantive true crime book in a shop a few weeks ago which goes into his background (if not his total life story), and most recently, his own brother David has written a memoir of what life was like growing up with Ted.

OP, if you're serious, can you keep us updated with a trip? If you have time, can you give pic related a cursory glance and tell me if it's accurate?

Not the OP but the picture you've posted are early fragments from the manifesto. Their general accuracy can be verified by comparing the image against the manifesto, which is reproduced here:

washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/unabomber/manifesto.text.htm

Thanks lad. I've had the unibomber manifesto in my amazon cart for awhile. You just saved me 10 dollarydoos.

Why would you buy that? I mean it's interesting to read but owning a copy would put you on so many watchlists

only if you buy it off Amazon or similar, with your associated credit card, IP info and so on attached; simply clicking on the above link will presumably have roughly the same effect.

In any event, it was widely published, and is very thorougly a matter of public record.

Do it but he's a hack. I hope you know this and don't idealize him.

>implying all of us here are not on watchlists.

He's written his own biography, which as far as I know is locked up in some FBI storage building. That would be more interesting to read than your book.

Are you the quotes user?

If so, go on.

I'd probably read it if a nearby library had a copy, but I wouldn't buy it. That being said, I feel like there would be a pretty good market for this book. People loving reading/hearing about killers.

no

Regarding his missing dissertation. According to the catalogue of Michigan University library do they have a microfilm copy of it. The online version available is indeed only a fragment, but the microfilm is catalogued as containing 80 pages.

I work at an university library. Might try to get a copy of the microfilm through ILL.

If you would get this copy yourself and put it online somewhere where I could get at it, I would be very, very pleased. It is extremely annoying to have actually printed out copies of all the other content for myself (it occupies a slim binder), only to be stopped short on this rather important item.

Apparently the only extant copies are the Ann Arbor microfilm, and a few print copies at uni libraries surrounding the DC area.

I post regularly in Veeky Forums and Veeky Forums FWIW.

Yes. Unlike other recent individuals with a manifesto and a penchant for violence (such as a disturbed boy with a nice car), Kaczynski has brought up some societal things that really need to be addressed. Not that I condone his tactics, because I don't

nah

If I get it, I will post some threads both on Veeky Forums and Veeky Forums.

Yes.

Thanks in advance, good hunting.

You may have an easier time procuring one of the "secondary" copies from the DC-area libraries, for the reasons I suggest in my intro blurb. The topic isn't as personal for them, and they haven't had their pieces go missing (the original Ann Arbor copy has apparantly done so).

Have you had any personal contact with him?

Is your project simply going to consolidate the information about him thats already out there or have you discovered new bits?

I would totally read that. The guy is totally fascinating

OP here.

I haven't contacted him (yet).

And at the moment I intend to pretty much compile every scrap of information regarding Ted's life and to write a biography based on that information, pretty much providing a detailed and interesting narrative of his life from childhood to today.

Existing books either tend to focus on specific aspects of his life (his legal trial, his time in Montana, his time at Harvard) or provide a very superficial summary of his life. He spent over two decades pretty much drifting around the US working countless jobs and visiting various places, there is a really tragic story there also. There is evidence he tried to rejoin society several times (applying to study at University of Montana, telling a psychiatrist he intended to find a wife, etc). There is a lot of hesitation and internal torment, rather than just the narrative of "mad genius living in woods attacks society"

As for novel material: I have compiled a list of individuals who have not really contributed much information but who have known Ted quite intimately (former employers etc) so I may try and contact those, although a lot of time has passed obviously and I'm just an amateur with no credibility. I'm currently trying to get my hands on an original copy of Ted's autobiography Truth Vs Lies.

That sounds like a worthwhile project, OP
I have seen somewhere that there is a noticeable correlation between mathematicians and libertarian politics; one thing I would wonder about would be the extent to which that was the case with Kaczynski in the course of his life and the conclusions he came to

>He spent a lot of time in the local library, reading newspapers and books. Periodically, he'd show up at the phone company to use a pay phone.

>He mostly dressed in black, sometimes in Army fatigues, and usually wore dark glasses.

>"People just figured he was an eccentric, just somebody who just wanted to be left alone," says Bob Orr, manager of the Lincoln Telephone Co.

He looks like PT Anderson.

Hey OP, i don't know if you are still here, but i'd like to ask you if you can link me to your previous threads on Goebbels, Hitler, Mcveigh and others, i thoroughly enjoyed those posts.

Hey user,

Here you go:

Adolf Hitler
>archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/86086584/

Ted Kaczynski
>archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/104495239/

Timothy McVeigh
>archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/118541028/

Anders Breivik
>archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/87875112/

Joseph Goebbels
>warosu.org/lit/thread/S9031886

William Cottrell
>desuarchive.org/r9k/thread/30930679

Adam Lanza
>desuarchive.org/r9k/thread/24985710/

Christopher Knight
>archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/122023099/

Christopher McCandless
>archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/122167113/

> I'm currently trying to get my hands on an original copy of Ted's autobiography Truth Vs Lies.

How is that going?

Not well. Sent off a few emails, no replies. The publishing house which intended to publish it folded in 1999. I'm trying to track down the email of its former editor, who may have a pdf on his computer or something.

Thanks, really appreciate the effort of these posts.

If you didn't at least communicate with him for this shit then don't bother.

If you are not on all the watchlists already you are using the internet wrong.

I would be very interested in this. I have thoroughly enjoyed your biography threads and you seem to aim for something that none of the other books on him have provided.

May I ask which already existing books on him you would recommend?

OP here.

I recommend:

"Every Last Tie" by David Kaczynski

"Unabomber: The Secret Life of Ted Kaczynski" by Chris Waites

"Harvard and the Unabomber: The Education of an American Terrorist" by Alston Chase

"The United States of America Versus Theodore John Kaczynski: Ethics, Power and the Invention of the Unabomber" by Michael Mello

I also recommend reading through public archives of old newspaper articles about Ted:

Example: usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/index/una0.htm

What's interesting is that at the time, many small-time regional publications (say in Utah) obviously saw an opportunity to get some attention and sent their reporters to interview people who met Ted in various capacities. What we get as a result is the often overlooked story of a man roaming around the United States, working a series of "dead end" jobs, living cheaply, unknown, unloved, an anonymous individual dismissed as "crazy" or a "weirdo" by those he spoke to, and so on. I'm by no means pro-Unabomber, I'm just interested in what is a story that reflects the extremity of the human intellect and personality, both in its genius and its isolation, loneliness, hatred, desperation and so on.

Hey OP did you check this place out yet?
wildwill.net/blog/tag/ted-kaczynski/

just stopping by to tell you that these are amazing. I always appreciate it when I see a new thread of yours on here

OP! I love your Unabomber threads. I wholeheartedly encourage you to pursue a full length biography. Try to apply for some grants to keep the funds going while you're doing further interviews/research/writing.

Please keep posting on Veeky Forums with updates, again, love your threads