Let Me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman, the Man Who Killed John Lennon

by Jack Jones

Book Overview

Mark David Chapman rose early on the morning of December 8 to make final preparations.... Chapman had neatly arranged and left behind a curious assortment of personal items on top of the hotel dresser. In an orderly semicircle, he had laid out his passport, an eight-track tape of the music of Todd Rundgren, his little Bible, open to the The Gospel According to John (Lennon). He left a letter from a former YMCA supervisor at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679411445
• ISBN13: 9780679411444
• Release Date: November 1992
• Publisher: Villard Books
• Length: 281 Pages
• Weight: 1.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Solid piece of work, but...

By his own admission, Chapman was a self-professed nobody, upset with his lot in life, and was looking to lash out at somebody famous. By killing Lennon, Chapman attained status as somebody (namely, "the guy who killed John Lennon"). In an odd way, reading this book only feeds into the attention Chapman craves. I wouldn't say this book is necessarily "pro-Chapman". Using Chapmans own words via interviews and in print form, the material within the book portrays Chapman (to me) to be every inch of the nobody he felt himself to be. There's really no deeper explanation to be found behind the assassination of John Lennon and the reasons why it happened are made abundantly clear; Chapman was exactly what he thought of himself as. A loser. The in-depth probings of the voices inside his head that drove him to do it just illustrate that point in detail, and after reading the book I felt that I was (in an odd way) just giving Chapman a degree of satisfaction, as he was and is little more than a child in a man's body content with receiving negative attention rather than none at all.

Nothing Is Real

This book is not necessarily one for Lennon fans, and I can imagine that plenty would avoid it because they can't forgive Chapman for what he did.However, the story that unfolds helps to explain why Chapman did what he did, and is a chilling examination of an unsound mind. It is also compelling evidence why handgun law reform is essential, and Lennon's death is a perfect example of what can happen when madmen can buy a gun and carry it around.Don't judge the book by its subject..judge it by the fact that it is a superbly written explanation of why a tragedy happened.

Thought provoking. Can we prevent future killings?

The book takes you back to Mark's childhood and offers the reader an inside understanding of the experiences that shaped his twisted thoughts. In looking at current tragedies such as the killings at Columbine High School, Jonesborough, Arkansas and others, books like this that delve into the minds of unlikely killers offer educators a reflective look and may help in the identification of future killers, before they kill. The information gained offers one a reflective look into the mind of a child and brings up the question, "What can we do to help prevent killings in the future." It turns a child from a number into a human being that needs to be understood during their developmental years. There are two emotions felt while reading: compassion for the man whose childhood experiences broke your heart, enmity as he describes his cold calculating plan of murder. Well done.

Where is Mark David Chapman today?

Why has this book not been reprinted? Parole December, 2000? Jones' book recorded death threats towards Mark Chapman. Where is he today? Why is there no press coverage of his impending release. Would you like to live next door to this man? Well in less than a year that will be a possibility. My searches on the web have so far come up fruitless. Anyway, the book appeared to be objective and was an interesting read for anyone who was a fan.

An angel died

Lennon died. Maybe destiny, maybe a schizofrenic man took his life. It's a world full of little kids, or great devils... Jones makes us see what that being seemed to feel. Cause he was used as an instrument of evil. And now, we are waiting for some words of freedom and peace.